Why such delays for breast biopsy. How long did you wait?

Waiting is so difficult--I am very sorry to hear of this. I looked up what NIHS has to say, and the standard of care is surgery within 3 months of diagnosis, and additional delays of several weeks are not considered dangerous. They say surgery, chemo, and radiation should be completed within a year of diagnosis. I have been very confused myself by being told I have a rare aggressive cancer--and then hurry up and wait. It took me months to get a PET scan and then a followup MRI. For about 90 days I had no idea if I had Stage 4 metastasis to the pancreas or not, which was suspected. (I didn't, just breast and nodes). But I guess my take away is that an "emergency" cancer is less time sensitive than a stroke or heart attack. NIHS also says that tumors growth is unpredictable, and often slows down, so patients shouldn't worry too much about delays. Frankly I find this hard to parse, but am passing it along on the chance that it is useful. When my first attempted MRI was cancelled I just kind of gave up hope and went for a nice walk with my husband. I figured I'd just be dead soon and threw out things I didn't want anyone to have to deal with and wrote up my funeral plans. However I did get treatment and am alive a year later. So wishing you the best.

Thank you. Glad to hear you are doing well. I’m very frustrated and upset about what I see as a nonchalant attitude toward regarding getting expedited biopsies and surgery for women with breast cancer.
Our health care system needs to ‘walk the talk’ regarding saving women from the death grip of breast cancer.