A Year Ago Today: Lisa Called

During my cancer journey,  I was hesitant to let too many people know before I had all of the facts.  Since I let everyone know I was planning on Joining the Survivors Club, there have been many questions.  In this "A Year Ago Today" Series, I will attempt to answer those questions and also work out what the hell happened this last year in my own head, heart and soul.  Thanks for reading and if you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Hopefully, everyone who is sick has some medical professional that they can trust implicitly.  I was luckier than most because this person was also part of the family. Just about a year before, Lisa had been at my wedding, little did she or I know that less than a year later, my file would come across her desk.  As soon as she got it, she called me.  I was at work that day and didn't have her number in my phone.  Once I heard the words, "Kelly, this is Lisa, why didn't you call me?" I rushed into our Legislative Chambers, shut the door, and the flood gates opened.  I always knew Lisa worked with women with cancer, but before all of this happened, women's cancer to me was only Breast Cancer.  Since I didn't have breast cancer, I didn't call her.  Turns out, she doesn't work with breast cancer patients but with gynecological cancer patients. She quickly broke everything down for me.  She had read the file the OB-GYN sent over.  She thought everything looked good, they would have have to take out some lymph-nodes in order to prevent any type of spreading but that could be done laparoscopically.  I told her that I didn't realize that she worked in the practice that I was referred to or that I would have.  She told me she was taking over, that she had a new young doctor she thought would be a good match for me and that we would change my appointment to a day they were both in the Albany office.  I can't remember much else of what we said, I just agreed to what she wanted to do and trusted that she had a plan.  

I called my mother immediately when I got off the phone.  We both couldn't believe that we hadn't thought of Lisa.  Since she knew Lisa as well as I did, she totally understood why I would be so relieved and put so much trust in Lisa.  We both felt amazing about this. Lisa calling eased a lot of the fears I was hiding from others and hearing her voice and her words of encouragement gave me a huge amount of hope and confidence in the next step of treatment.

A year ago today, Lisa called and said she was taking over and I turned my trust over to her completely.  That is a decision I have never regretted.