Working in retail can make for a crazy, hectic day that often starts with early morning delivery issues and can end with several staff members lined up asking for 5 minutes of my time to resolve their issues. There is no such thing as a moment of privacy in my work world which makes taking care of my health situation even more challenging.
Yesterday my surgical doctor and I were playing phone tag and obviously I’m always anxious to talk to her. When she finally was able to reach me, I had picked up the page downstairs in our stock room where I was surrounded by 4 men working our large truck that had just been unloaded at our dock doors. I was planning on asking her about the relative size of my tumor compared with the size of my breast and how this would impact my surgical decision when one of the guys came up next to me to use the computer. I started to stammer around a bit when I decided that 10 minutes of privacy was necessary. I put the dr. on hold and ran upstairs to the manager’s office and closed the door. During the 10 min. conversation we had, someone knocked on the door, one person barged right in then backed out and there were 2 pages for me to the sales floor. I held my ground, ignoring all possible interruptions and kept my focus on all of the questions that I had prepared for this precious time with my surgeon.
I can tell this cancer thing is going to be hard for me to prioritize while I’m at work since I’m so used to putting our customers and our staff before my own needs. Pushing myself to the front of the line isn't something that comes naturally for me but I do know the store will not burn down while I'm on the phone and that everyone I work with would rather I take the time to get healthy again so I can be 100% focused.
As for the conversation with the surgeon, she still needs some more ultrasounds done before they can rule out any suspicious looking lymph nodes so we’re going to schedule that. I’ve also requested an appointment with the medical oncologist who is the person responsible for my upcoming chemo treatments. We talked about the possibility of doing chemo before surgery while I’m waiting to talk to plastics (that’s dr. talk for the plastic surgeon). I’m learning so much about the medical world and it’s kind of cool. Next appointment is Monday, September 27th with chemo dr. (that’s Karen talk for medical oncologist).
Karen, So much info to process, but it seems like you are getting the jargon down. Employees, customers, deliveries, and whatever else comes your way will be just fine when you have to put them on hold for a few minutes. I am learning a lot too, I had no idea you could do chemo before the surgery!!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you gave yourself the 10 minutes and talked to the doctor. I'm sure they would much rather you take care of yourself. Plus I bet half of those people could have solved their problems themselves. :-)
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