This is the appointment that started it all, really.  June 9, 2008 was a Monday and the weekend before I was working a quiet afternoon shift at a strip club when I noticed a lump in my left breast.  When you've never felt a breast lump you wonder a lot what one might feel like and if you would know whether or not you had one... all I can say is that I had a sinking feeling that this was just wrong.  It was such a bad feeling that I wanted to visit the emergency room, but I managed to wait a day and a half and call my rheumatologist instead, a doctor that I trust and that has treated my family for years.  He suggested that I come in immediately and confirmed my fears that this did indeed seem wrong and scheduled a mammogram for me that same day.

Since he is my rheumatologist (a doctor that specializes in lupus and arthritis) the report from my office visit here will list a lot of things not cancer related.  Diclofenac is an anti-inflammatory, Loratadine is a generic allergy medicine, Vicodin is for pain management, and Provigil is for narcolepsy.  I don't remember what Promethazine was for, off the top of my head.  I have a mind like a steel sieve these days.

*Doctor, hospital, and other identifying information has been made anonymous in order to preserve the privacy of those people and places.