Austina Geiger

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       My story begins in April 2020 when I found a small lump on my left ankle.  I took a picture of it and didn’t give it much thought. I had an appointment with my primary doctor in June, I would see what she thought of it. Due to Covid, my doctor appointment in June was canceled and rescheduled for July 16th. The lump was getting bigger and I considered making an earlier doctor appointment. I reassured myself that the lump was just a cyst and it could wait until my July 16th appointment. My doctor appointment was for my annual physical and medication review and I almost forgot to mention my ankle. At the end of the appointment, I said “oh, I almost forgot, I have this lump on my left ankle”. She took one look at it and said “we need to get this imaged”. She sent in the referral for an MRI. The next day, July 17th, I went and got the MRI of my ankle. On July 21st, my doctor received the results of the MRI. She contacted me and told me that the  MRI was inconclusive and that the radiologist recommendation was that I see a general surgeon. She made the referral and I called to make an appointment. As I explained where the lump was located, they said “due to the location of the lump, you’ll need to see an orthopedic surgeon”.  My doctor made the referral to Summit Orthopedic and I called and made an appointment for July 31st. On July 24th, I finally received a copy of my MRI results. In the report, the radiologist recommendation is to see an ORTHOPEDIC ONCOLOGIST. I called Summit Orthopedic and told them about the radiologist recommendation. They asked for a copy of the MRI to review and see if they should be the ones to see me. They agreed with the radiologist and gave me the name of a orthopedic oncologist at the U of M, Dr. Cheng. On  August 3rd , Dan and I met with Dr. Cheng’s intern and spoke to Dr. Cheng via the telephone. Dr. Cheng said “the probability of the tumor being cancer is very low”. He said that I have 2 options, the first was to wait 4 months and repeat the MRI and the second was to remove and biopsy the tumor. On August 25th, I had my surgery to remove the mass. That’s where my journal entries begin.