just keeps getting better...

The title is my sarcasm coming out if you didn't quite catch that! Which news to tell first...

With her permission of course, I think the first news would be to inform everyone that my Aunt Sheila has also been diagnosed with breast cancer. As she is still in the running test and gathering information stage of things we really don't know much yet. The type is the same as mine, but if you are familiar with cancer you will know that there are many different variations of even the same types. Please add her and her family to your thoughts and prayers!

Now for updating my status! Well the pathology didn't come back as good as we had hoped, but not really any worse than we were prepared for. The lymph node biopsy showed that there is lymph node involvement and the re-excision the doctor did came back with still positive margins. So what does that all mean... well, first it means that we start chemo.

For that I had a port put in on Wed. (probably the worst part so far!!). The surgery itself was a piece of cake. I was awake, but sedated and numb! The procedure consist of inserting a needle in a vein in your neck and running it to a device about the size of a half dollar that is put in about 1-2 inches below your collar bone. After the numbness wore off, now that was when it got really fun! YEAH RIGHT!! It hurt like crazy! Had they just warned me so I could have taken medicine before the numbing went away, but NO! Why would they tell me something like that??? I guess they just think you will figure that out on your own!

So as I mentioned first is chemo, which will start the first week of May. This will take about 4 months ( I have an appointment on Monday May 2 to get the final decision on how long and often I will have chemo). Three weeks after chemo is finished then I will have surgery on the left side (mastectomy and a lymph node dissection, or removal of lymph nodes). Then I will start radiation treatments. Once I am finished with radiation I will have about a six month break and then a final surgery (right side mastectomy and reconstruction of both sides).

Some of you may be thinking if there is no cancer in the right side, why the proactive surgery?? Well, there are a few reasons. One, the genetics test is a little questionable. If you are keeping up with this blog you will remember that when it comes to me nothing is ever SIMPLE!! So the genetics test was not really a yes or no, but more a strong probability that there is a genetic link. This being the case it makes for a higher percentage that I would at some point get cancer in the other side. Reason two, I had actually made the decision to do the right side before we even got the genetic test results back. I asked the doctor if I had elective surgery on the right, what were my chances of not getting cancer again, and she said 95%. Well, from where I'm sitting, or where I was sitting at the time, that sounded like pretty good odds to me. I DO NOT WANT TO GO THROUGH THIS AGAIN!!!! So for someone not in my shoes I can see where they may think the idea a little crazy, but for me I plan to do everything in my power so see my kids grow up! and grand kids, even though I hope that's a long way off!

I hope I explained all that well enough! If anyone has any questions please feel free to ask. I think you can leave comments, but to do so I think you have to click on one specific title or post, and down at the very bottom of it there should be a place where you can post a comment!?!? If anyone has more info on that you can let me know as this is all still new to me. Prayers and thoughts are certainly appreciated, as this is going to be a long, hard road. I plan to keep up with the blog as much as possible. I will face this battle with a positive attitude, strength, courage, and most importantly God! That does not mean that there won't be tough and hard times, but I know God will help me through them. I don't look forward to what the next few months hold for me but at the same time I don't fear my future - God has given me PEACE!