Overdue Post!

Wow! I can't believe that it is already January 27th! On January 16th I had a second surgery to clean up the margin in one area of my breast. That surgery was successful. Step 1 of treatment is finally done!

I got very sick from the sedation used during the surgery. It was different drugs than used during the general anesthesia I had for the first surgery. I had an appointment on the 17th with Dr. Gitau, my oncologist, that I wasn't going to miss. The appointment consisted of me puking and getting an IV! But I did get some more valuable information, if not all the information that I was expecting that day.

The pathology further classified my breast cancer as mucinous carcinoma. It is a rare form of breast cancer that is typically only found in older women that are post-menopausal.  It also tends to be a less aggressive form that responds well to treatment and is less likely to spread to lymph nodes than other invasive breast cancer. Mucinous means that the cancer cells are surrounded by mucin - if you're thinking mucus, you are right!

I'm still waiting to find out whether I will have chemotherapy. The Oncotype DX test needed was not ordered until I saw Dr. Gitau on 1/17. The results are supposed to be back when I see him again on February 1st. As I talked about in my post in November, the test determines chance of recurrence for early stage, estrogen-receptor positive breast cancer. Since it was also determine in surgery that I had DCIS, the test also determines the likelihood of recurrence of DCIS or new invasive cancer. It additionally, helps determine the likelihood of benefitting from radiation and chemotherapy.

Physically, I was doing ok until Wednesday when I tore some internal sutures in my breast. It was, and still is, very painful. My surgeon checked me out and sent me to the ER to make sure it wasn't anything else; it all came up clear. Dr. Bouton says I've got some pissed off, injured tissue in there that now needs to heal.  I've been set back to square one for healing.

I felt good enough to go to the Sundog 2013 kickoff meeting on Friday and even went to the holiday party for a little while. It was great to see so many of my great co-workers in person. The hugs were awesome! I was pretty tired on Saturday but made it out to one of Sarah's basketball tournament games.

Next steps: I check in with Dr. Bouton again Tuesday morning to make sure that the injury is getting better. Then Friday afternoon I will hopefully have my next step set. More to come...

Surgery 2.0

Last week when Dr. Bouton opened me up, he found the Invasive Ductal Carcinoma (tumor) that he expected and it was smaller than originally thought. Yay! But he also found a 5cm area of Ductal Carcinoma In Situ (DCIS) radiating around the tumor. Boo! If you remember from an earlier post, the cancer started in the duct but grew through the wall of the duct and started invading the surrounding breast tissue. The DCIS is the same cancer but grows along the pathway of the duct without breaking through the wall.

Long story short, I have two kinds of breast cancer. But it doesn’t change anything.

The pathology of the tumor and DCIS looks for the clean margin of healthy tissue. At one end section of one the ducts, there wasn’t a clean margin. Next Wednesday I will have a second surgery to clean up that area. It will only require sedation, Dr. Bouton will open up the existing incision, and I will be home the same day. Then we wait another week for the pathology to ensure a clean margin again.

The pathology on the lymph nodes removed found a few cancer cells but based on the ratio of bad to good cells, the nodes were still technically clear. I’m not sure how that works but I’m good with it! So the staging of the cancer remains the same as before, 1A. 

Healing is going well!

I am missing the daily routine and conversation at work immensely. I have given myself a week to be a total sloth; although I have been doing a few things here and there. I have many thank you cards to write and I started that yesterday. But spent too much time sitting at my desk and my belly and abs were screaming at me last night. Some Motrin took most of it away. Lesson learned. 

All the hoopla about Downton Abbey is justified in my opinion. I’m nearly finished with season 2 and can’t wait to watch the season 3 premier on DVR. I got a Kindle Fire HD for Christmas that came with a free month of Amazon Prime service. Between that and Netflix, which we already subscribed to, I have more movies and TV shows to watch than I think I can get through! And there are a couple new books from my favorite authors that have just come out.

I started a list today of things to accomplish while on my leave. Nothing too aggressive and stuff that I can realistically get done – organizing and sorting papers, sewing curtains for my craft room, doing some knitting when my underarm is healed some more. Like I said, I do need to pace myself or I crash hard; at least right now. 

Dr. Dangerfield's nurse called today to tell me that the pathology on my GYN parts was normal, as we expected. I have to say that I was vindicated in fighting for having the hysterectomy at the same time as my breast surgery. Dr. Dangerfield said I had an ovarian cyst when he removed everything. I knew it would happen and I didn’t want to deal with all that nonsense in addition to the rest of my treatment. Woohoo!

Dr. Bouton said he would call if the results from the breast pathology were back before I see him tomorrow, but I haven't heard anything from him yet. I don't expect to since today isn't an office day for him. (It's crazy how I file tidbits of information away for future use!) The most important news from him will be whether there was a clear margin around the tumor when he removed it. They look for cancer cells in that margin and if there were, I would have to have surgery again. I don't want that. 

On Thursday, January 18^th I meet with Dr. Gitau my oncologist to find out definitively about chemotherapy. I’ve tried to not think about it too much and I’ll deal with it when I have more information. It isn’t denial, as I have done some wig shopping to prepare for that side effect.

Lastly, I am really amazed that I haven’t had any menopause symptoms since the hysterectomy. Nothing. I’ll count myself really lucky. Now, can I return the dozen bottles of supplements that I bought in advance of surgery in case I might need them? 

Almost surgery time

Got the call that I need to be at Sanford by 7:30 am tomorrow. Lymph node biopsy stuff starts at 9:00. Surgery starts at noon. Todd will have my phone to make make updates to Facebook and respond to texts.

I'm ready.