Hi all!

Just thought I would write a bit about today.  I know some of you are very upset about the additional surgery.  But, it was always a possibility because the margins did not meet the acceptable minimum.  I would rather have more taken than not enough.  I will have the surgery a few weeks after I finish chemo and before I start radiation.

Having the scans themselves were ok.  We don’t have the results yet.  I had an IV that was used to inject the radioactive tracer used in the bone scan.  They also used the IV to inject the contrast for the CAT scan.  (I still consider myself more of a dog person,)  I did have to drink a liter of mostly water stuff.  It really tasted like water.  Since I was not able to eat or drink for a while, it all went down just fine.  I did have to pee a million times (maybe that was TMI?)  The weird thing about it all is that I am radioactive for the next 48 hours.  I have a piece of paper to carry around with me in case I set off alarms or whatever.

Thank you all so very much for your comments!  While I haven’t answered them I have read and love each and every one.

We had a nice chat with the surgeon.  She explained the pathology report from all the stuff they took out during the surgery.  It was all the same stuff that she had explained to Loretta over the phone.  The new part was that they had had a conference (“they” are all the doctors of various specialties) and they decided that some more needed to come out.  Yeah haw!  More surgery.  The best part of this otherwise bad news is that it will be after she is allowed to recover from the chemo – whenever that is.  This one should also be much less invasive and not involve a drain, etc.

Then there is the weird thing going on with her skin (see Vanna, I’d like to buy a vowel).  The surgeon, being a specialist in cancer, was concerned that maybe it was cancer exhibiting itself in very strange ways.  It is very unlikely, but, since the cancer was found in the skin, it concerned her.  Enough that she wanted some.  So, using the most expensive hole punch known to man, she got another piece of Loretta and sent it off to the lab.  We should have results from that tomorrow or Wednesday.

Next are the scans (bone and cat) with results for those ready on Wednesday when we meet with the oncologist.

Not that kind of drinking. Not as much fun and MUCH more expensive. She has to drink a liter of this contrast material. It is clear and tasteless. (Like me except for the clear part.)

On the way to have some scans (looking for bones and cats — I could have told them she has bones and no cats on the phone! — and a chat with a doctor or three. Exciting updates all day (I’m just going to be sitting there)!

My BooBooBooB has a booboo.  I am calling it my BooBooBooBBooBoo.  Poo!  As you can see, I bought an “O”.  Yes I actually have a spot that has decided to show its ugly head.  The other night I said “Hey Scott, come and look at this.”  (He is my nurse after all.)  “Hmmmmm looks like a spot”  So we decided to leave it alone and look at it in the morning.

Morning comes and you guessed it, the spot did not disappear.  So I called the surgeon and BLAHBLAHBLAHBLAH go see my primary care physician, BLAHBLAHBLAHBLAH, find an appointment buddy, BLAHBLAHBLAHBLAH, you have a skin ulcer, BLAHBLAHBLAHBLAH……….Didn’t think you needed to hear the boring details.  I have a skin ulcer.  It is on the right breast which is now definitely not my favorite of the two.  We are not sure how it formed, but needs to be treated with basic wound care, Bacitracin and bandages.  Yucky.

Scott comes home from work and I say, “Hey honey!  Guess what you get to do!  Along with stripping the drain tube and measuring the output you get to take care of my skin ulcer.”    I don’t think the last part of the previous statement was exactly what he had in mind when I said the whole hey honey, guess what you get to do part.

As I am being ministered to, I looked at Scott and said “You know, some couples just have drinks before dinner.”

I know a lot of you are waiting for this information.  I always like my family to hear this type of information from me first and not from the blog.  So, here it goes: There were cancer cells in the skin of the scar that was removed but was within 3 mm of margin.  They also found DCIS (ductal carcinoma in situ – precancerous cells) within 1 mm of margin.  While they usually like more than 1 mm of margin, the surgeon felt that future radiation treatments will take care of that.  She is going to run it by the team for a consensus.  There were 16 lymph nodes removed and 11 were positive.  This means I have Stage III breast cancer.  I was hoping for IIB but this is it so this is what we deal with.

Thank you all so much for you love, support, prayers and gifts.  I will never be able to tell you how much you all mean to me.  I am overwhelmed, awed, humbled by the outpouring of support.  I hope that one day I will be able to give back, tenfold, what I have received.

I am just hanging out waiting for the surgeon to call.  Today is the day we are supposed to get the pathology report from the surgery.  I know that no more lymph nodes will need to be removed but we don’t know whether there are clean margins.  If the margins are clean then no more surgery is needed.  If they are not, then more surgery until the margins are clean.  I have also been dealing with a pinched nerve in my upper left back which has affected the strength in my left arm.  This is a bummer as the right arm has the drain coming out of it and I need the left to push me up and around.  I feel like one of those bad jokes ‘Hey what do you call a person who can’t use their arms?   Matt!”   It has gotten lots better thanks to a fabulous PT but this morning it was on fire again.  Since I truly think this is partially stress related, I must be more stressed than I think waiting for the surgeon to call.

I thought I would update you all on Loretta’s condition….

She’s doing fine.  Of course, that isn’t good enough for her.  She would rather be taking 4 mile walks and baking and planning some poor client’s demise for the upcoming week.  Instead, she felt okay in the early morning but went downhill with nausea and general weakness.  This was really foreign to her so she called the surgical team’s resident on call.  Turns out it was the resident that saw Loretta first last Friday when we went in to meet the team and create a treatment plan.

The resident, Laura, is a cute and very personable 26ish newly minted MD who is doing all her rotations in various disciplines while she works towards her goal of being a plastic surgeon specializing in hands.  She was the first one to see Loretta at SCCA and was there for the surgery.  She called Loretta back immediately after Loretta left the message to contact her.  The story was much the same as what I had been telling her – she was under general anesthesia for four hours and that takes a toll.  Also, since Loretta is so active, the normal recovery time seems so much longer and harder to her.

At the end of the call she was reassured that everything was okay as long as she continued to feel better.  And she does.  She felt better today than she felt on Friday.  Tomorrow I expect her to actually want to take a walk.  I’m hoping that she also gets some sleep tonight.  Sleep has been particularly difficult for her.

So, the bottom line is: she is recovering and getting better and stronger every day.  Pain from the surgery isn’t a problem (Tylenol is all she has taken and she didn’t take any today).  She got a shower this evening (what an adventure that was!) so she’s even kinda clean.  She is asleep now and hopefully will stay that way until 6 or 7 tomorrow morning.

Tomorrow I will try to get her to post something here.  Your response to this blog and to her battle has been amazing, humbling, and entertaining.  All of your comments are read and appreciated very much so keep them coming.  Thank you all.

(Sleeping.  Don’t tell her I took the picture.)