Tales from the Exam Room

It was my first meeting with this specialist. He had received detailed information through the referral process. He entered the exam room and started to summarize these facts both to confirm and add to them.

The history verified, he began to scold me. "Why did you wait until you were 40 to do anything about this? You should have been seen at age 37!" And on he lectured.

When there was a break in his objurgation, I said, "Hold on a minute. I've been 40 for just 4 days! And when I was 37, none of my sisters had been diagnosed with breast cancer."

It's only been 9 months since Roni was diagnosed with breast cancer, and Michelle is just 3 weeks post-op.

There was no way I was taking heat for this. His tone changed after that.