Why does everythign take so long to set up?

Hi

this is the bane of almost everyone's existence.... especially at the front end. You do want them to do as much imaging and testing as possible before surgery so they know all that they need to know before they go in. However, that said, I think we all have experienced systemic slow downs during this part of the process. Some of it is volume, sometimes administrative glitches. I found that I needed to sometimes nudge things along.... but to give you some perspective, I was dx on 10/29/08--- had lumpectomy on 11/25/28 and treatment started on 1/16/09. Some of this was due to the holidays-- which can really slow things down. But there should be no reason that you cannot get alot accomplished in the next few weeks before the holidays..... I would just call regularly, be as calm as you can, and keep asking when you can be tested, or get test results or another appointment.......

take care.

Oh lord - there are times that you just want to scream. I had a 9cm tumor that I could literally feel growing. My surgeon wanted me to do chemo first to shrink the tumor - but before that I had an mri & they found some suspicious spots on the other breast, so they needed to do an mri guided biopsy. y mo wanted to start the chemo ASAP, but the people scheduling the mri guided biopsy said they didn't have an opening for TWO MONTHS! I was just about in tears when luckily the wonderful doc who had done my mri overheard them saying this & came out and said that they had to schedule me in the next two days - period. She told them that my getting my chemo started was more important than their hassle in shuffling things around to make it work. It only took them 2 phone calls & 5 minutes to change things around. Keep making phone calls. Sometimes you have to make yourself annoying. One thing to understand though is that generally when a cancer is found it's been around for years - so a week one way or another is not going to make an actual difference - but I totally understand the GET IT OUT feeling.

I was dx on 9/29/11 and started chemo Nov. 3, about. There are a lot of moving parts that have to be "oiled" by separate professionals. I wanted a second opinion before I started my chemo, and that took some time on top of everything else (scans, blood tests, appt to read pathologies, appts with oncology, surgery for a port insertion, etc.).

I understand that you want your cancer out. But try to remember that all these different needs and diagnoses have to come together to get you the best treatment. Definitely do follow up calls on your own if you've been told you will get a call by "this day" and you don't get one. I'm a firm believer in being proactive that way.

Claire