SOOOOO.... I will do my best to explain what I found out today. I will also finally be able to share a picture of my gorgeous surgeon, Jamie Wagner (see below), who held my hands and did nothing to rush me through the weight and the tears that came as she provided some long awaited information.
The past several days have been a bit of a blur as pain, pain meds and the busy-ness of taking care of myself post surgery have kept me engaged and distracted (for the most part, in a good way). It wasn't a terrible thing to have other things to think about besides the fact that we'd found Cancer cells in my lymph nodes on Tuesday.
My incisions are healing well. Aside from an annoying rash on my chest and arms from the skin prep they use during surgery, and that should fade quickly, all is moving in the right direction. I am hopeful that at least 2 of the drains I have in place will be removed Wednesday.
Drains (see above): Since I never thought to explain these before now, this is how I understand them. When tissue from your body is removed, your body's natural response is to fill that empty space with fluid. The fluid, if it can't escape can cause lots of problems so the drains are placed temporarily in the wound draining to the outside. They are emptied periodically (by me) and the output monitored closely. When the output dwindles to the amount deemed acceptable by those smarter than me, the drains are removed. Drains are used in many types of surgeries (ex. Organs, limbs, head and neck, etc).
When I spoke with Dr. Wagner the day after surgery, neither of us were pleased at the presence of cancer cells in any part of my lymph nodes. We discussed scary and not so scary possibilities but she encouraged me to wait for the full pathology report before worrying too much.
Today, I learned that that the full pathology report indicates that 10% of the cancer cells that started inside my breast tissue remained at the time of surgery. Good news: Dr. Wagner expected more than that.
The size of the largest metastatic area in my lymph node was 40 mm. AND there was evidence of treatment response meaning that the chemo was trying to kill it....and it was working. GOOD News!
Out of 18 lymph nodes removed: only the 1 had cancer cells in it. GREAT news!
Where to go from here??
Dr. Wagner is taking all of my information to this "meeting of the minds" redarding all things Cancer this week. Based on that meeting and then MY meeting with Dr. Mitchell (also KU) a radiation oncologist and the advice of my medical oncologist (Dr. Khan), we will decide what radiation could do for me. If it is likely to reduce my chance of recurrence by 15-20% or more, Dr. Wagner would suggest that it would be worth moving forward with radiation therapy. Anything less than that in terms of reducing my risk, it would really be up to me.
Is it bad that I don't want it to be up to me? Is it bad that there are times when I just want someone smarter than me to tell me what to do? I don't feel that way often....but I do now.
I couldn't be more thrilled with my results!! I am truly excited at the prospect of radiation NOT be recommended! God is an amazing, loving, powerful God. He loves me and has gone before me in all of this! And He knows....how very tired I am....and that my brain just hurts.
Please celebrate these amazing results with me and if you would, continue to pray that God makes the decisions ahead "easy" to make.
Until next time......
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