Ok people, here’s the scoop. Yesterday went to see breast surgeon with Sam. Because clearly I retain nothing on the phone. Apparently, I’m still very swollen from surgery one, which will be addressed in surgery two. I was kind of liking it because I looked surprising equal on both sides, but no such luck.
We discussed margins. I thought I knew the story but she made it much clearer. Picture a cube:
That’s the mass, with tumor, that was removed. After mass removed, she goes back and takes tissue from all 6 sides to be analyzed. In the operating room, all looked good, disease was not visible anywhere but in the one node & tumor. The tissue then goes to the pathologist who slices it up in pieces and examines. His findings were that five out of the six sides were normal. So that’s actually good news. The nodes, although healthy looking and negative in OR, had cells in 3. So heres the dilemma, go in and take more nodes which would mean drains and no radiation to that area.
On the other hand, radiation would take care of stray cells in nodes, plus I would be able to have it under my arm, up my neck etc, PLUS in continuing Ibrance, more cells, if any, would be taken care of. I think this is the way it’ll be handled. I think the boobie’s going to be quite deflated after all of this, but that is an ordeal yet to come…
Im doing to speak to Stamford oncologist today, although they’ve all been chatting about my case so hopefully they come up a good plan.
On the upside of all this crap, my niece gave birth to her daughter Rose. She is perfect. I already adore her and can’t wait to get my hands on her. She came right when I needed her to lift up my spirits. Just take a look at this angel:
Also, I told dr about my crazy foray into internet medical charts. She whipped out her phone and brought up her chart, which puts all the variable of my specific case in and came up with: while Im still a stage 3A, my prognosis is actually 1B. So good news there, and I can look forward to spoiling Rosie.
Still scary, but Im getting through it. Hopefully this will be that last I see of the OR for a while.
For Fuck's Sake, Now I Have Cancer 