biopsy pathology report questions

Biopsy was July 28th. Pathology report was sent to my doctor on July 31st, with the two pending items I mention in the top post. Now here we are 11 days later (7 business days), and the two pending items are still unresolved. One was the FISH test and the other was the Mitotic score - both necessary items for characterizing the cancer.

I called the hospital and the desk jockey insisted the report was final. How is it possible for a report with pending items to be final?? She couldn't answer that, but continued to insist it was final and no matter how much I tried to get through to her how pending and final have two completely different meanings, she only got more and more irritated the more questions I asked. She also couldn't give me any reason why pending items would be left unresolved.

So I had the doctor's office call the pathology department directly, and they sent them what was supposed to be the final report, but it was the same exact one with the pending items still on it.

What am I supposed to do to resolve this if neither the doctor nor I can get an answer? I think my HER2 status and tumor grade are pretty important nuggets of information to have when I see the surgeon on Thursday.

Any suggestions?

The original surgeon's office called that had ordered the mammo/US. He's the one they sent the 2nd identical report to, so he didn't get a different answer than I did.

SP, you have no idea how much I appreciate the time and personal attention you have given to my various issues. I hope you have some good karma headed your way!

I'm sorry it's always a long story with me, but this is just one more example of how difficult it has been to find good care where I live. The surgeon I'm seeing Thursday does not have a staff per se, just a single all-in-one, receptionist/office manager/medical assistant, who is harder to get past on the phone to the doctor than the Great Wall of China. In fact she is one of the reasons I chose this surgeon only as a last resort. When I first started to worry about the itching, I was looking for lumps and found one that was ambiguous but maybe something. When I called to make an appointment, this woman, a medical assistant, refused to make one and told me to go to a dermatologist (when I told her there was also a lump!). I tried two more times and the first time was discouraged from making an appointment, and the second my phone message was not even returned. I did go to other doctors but as I've said no one else ever took me seriously either.

My plan to get through the surgery as painlessly as possible is to avoid having to deal with that woman as much as possible. So I guess I'll just have to wait until I see the surgeon, and let her figure it out. I've thought about complaining about the fact that it did turn out to be cancer and I was denied access three times by someone who is not qualified to diagnose me at all, let alone over the phone. However, I don't want to cause hard feelings when I need the surgeon on my side since I have no other choices at this point. Maybe later.

With almost everything I do having to be such an ordeal I should be losing my mind right now, but I'm holding up surprisingly well. After the positive appt with the ND yesterday I haven't needed any anti-anxiety meds, first time since the dx. All it took was one person acting like they actually wanted to help. You'll probably laugh at this, but unfortunately he left for vacation today so he can't help me now. But he did stock me up on supplements and told me how to adjust my diet etc. until he gets back, so I'm fine with that.

Great idea to meet with the oncologist before surgery. I will make that happen.