SSDGMbyCancer

 

Yesterday, we had the first “post-results” appointment. They did an ultrasound of my lymph nodes and they looked good- no signs of cancer on the imaging. Because of its invasive nature, there is still some (fairly minor, I think?) concern that it could have spread through blood vessels, but for now, it appears to be fairly well “contained”.

This cancer type is reactive to both estrogen and progesterone, so I will have to go on hormone blocking medications. This might not be awesome… Some other science-y tests came back without concerns for other cancer characteristics, which is good. One test is still out, and if it does not come back with the desired results then my plan of care may change.

I had a genetics consultation this morning via phone. They are going to mail me a “spit-tube”. If they don’t get enough DNA from that then I’ll have to do a blood draw at an upcoming appointment. There seems to be a lot of cancer in my family tree, so they are going to see if I have any markers of concern. These results  could provide useful information to other family members, and also could alter my plan of care.

On September 20, I will have a breast MRI. This will get a clearer picture of anything and everything that’s going on in ALL of my breast tissue prior to surgery.

On September 22, I will meet with a plastic surgeon to discuss my “aesthetic” options. I don’t know if this is something I will want to do, but I do want to know what my options are.

On September 23, I will meet with a radiation oncologist here in Bloomington. After surgery, I will have  5 days/week of targeted radiation for 3-6 weeks, and I can do that here in town. As of now, I do not have any chemo planned, but they let me know that that could change.

Once my MRI imaging is viewed and my genetics results are in, I will have the surgery scheduled. At this time, the plan is for “breast conserving surgery” aka “lumpectomy”,  and testing of one lymph node. Mastectomy recovery would be twice as long, and once you’ve had a mastectomy… you can’t get a mammogram. That does not seem ideal, so my preference st this time is the smaller surgery. If the actual testing of the lymph node shows something different than the ultrasound, then I could need additional surgeries and/or treatments.

My surgery will be done by Dr. Liu, and it will be a same-day procedure.

That’s pretty much all of it, for now. I’m happy to report that my doctor and navigational nurse both insisted that we keep our plans to (FINALLY) see Faith No More in St. Louis, so we’re going, and hopefully I’ll feel well enough to enjoy it! We were supposed to see them in 2020 but… you know… 😡

I have been feeling really sick for a few weeks, and I shouldn’t have these symptoms with breast cancer, so I’m not really sure why it’s happening. But that’s a thing I want to mention to everyone- when I first had changes, I was concerned, but I thought that it couldn’t be cancer because I felt fine. I really had no idea that you could have cancer without feeling sick. Maybe some of you didn’t know that, either? So if you think something doesn’t seem right, even if you “feel fine”, please get it checked out!