The biopsy

I called the Capital Clinic the next day and scheduled the biopsy for Monday, March 9 at 8AM with Dr. La March. Both Michael and Lily agreed to go with me. The morning was typical of late winter Puget Sound days: cold and overcast with a tease of white, fluffy clouds trying unsuccessfully to overtake the gray weight of the sky. As usual we were running late. Michael dropped us off in front of the clinic while he parked the car. Lily and I caught the elevator just as Michael found us. Together we entered the radiology clinic and were ushered into a room designed to mimic a living room. There we met Dr. LaMarch, a beautiful French-Canadian radiologist. After explaining the procedure, I was led to the screening room. I had a stereotactic biopsy. I laid face down on a table with my breast hanging through a hole in the table. As my breast was grabbed, pulled, smashed, and rearranged I joked to the all-female team that I felt as if I had returned to high school and was in the back seat of a car with an inexperienced suitor! After a local anesthetic, Dr. LaMarch and her team made a small incision and took several worm-like samples in and around the area of the micro-calcifications, all guided by x-ray. A small metal chip was then implanted to mark the site of the biopsy for future mammograms. We were elated that Dr. LaMarch felt confident that she got all of the calcifications during the biopsy. The lab results, she said, would be available in 7-10 days.