I had a mammogram today and it all looked good.  My friend Roberta went with me.   It was one of those times where I was going to “do it myself”.  I am so glad I didn’t.

Since I did this thing backwards, it can be confusing.  I had the lumpectomy and then the mammogram .  Tomorrow is margin surgery and Sentinel Node Biopsy.

Tonight I am thinking that 24 hours from now I will know what the next months will bring.  I am scared.  (Can’t be funny all the time!)  I can’t wait for it to be over.

Scott will post when he can tomorrow.  We check in at 7 at the University of Washington Medical Center.   At 8 we visit Nuclear Medicine for the blue dye and radioactive injection.   We have to stay there for 1-1.5 hours.  After that, we hang out until 2 when the surgery is scheduled to begin.

Thank you for all your love and support!  I can hear the chanting from all over the country “Just Say No to Nodes” “Just Say No to Nodes”…………

On Wednesday, Feb 20 I will have a Sentinel Node Biopsy and additional margins taken from the surgery I had on Jan 31.  When the plastic surgeon removed the tumor, it was when we thought it was a cyst and he only removed the mass and did not take any margins.   His goal was to preserve as much breast tissue as possible.  When you are having something the size of a walnut (the entire walnut, not just the pieces or halves) removed from a breast, you want to keep as much as you can.

The Sentinel Node Biopsy is done to determine if the cancer has spread to my lymph nodes.  After the results of the biopsy, one of two things will happen:

1. Nodes are Negative – if the nodes are completely negative I will have 6.5 weeks of radiation, M-F (I get the weekends off) for 33 days.   That will be followed by 5-10 years of hormone therapy.

2. Nodes are Positive – If any of the nodes are positive, I will have 5 months of chemotherapy (exact cocktail to be determined.)  This will be followed by the 6.5 weeks of radiation and the 5-10 years of hormone therapy.

So my new mantra is “Just say No to Nodes!”

I was home from work for a week recovering from having a large sebaceous cyst removed from my right breast.  I decided I was gong to make Orange muffins that have garbonzo beans (I know, I know but they really are good) in them when the phone rang.  On February 5, 2013 at 11 am my life as I knew it changed forever with the words “The pathology report came back and it is not what we expected.  You have breast cancer.”    WHAT!!!!  The pathology report that no one, including me, was worried about.  WHAT!!!!  WHAT!!!!

I had the presence of mind to say “Wait, I need a pen.”    My heart was pounding out of my ears and I was having a hard time hearing and understanding.  I scribbled words like invasive, grade 2, mutifocal closeness, 2.9 x 2.6.  What the HELL!!  There must be a mistake.  A HUGE f@#$ing mistake.  I had a sebaceous cyst removed.  Not a cancerous tumor.  And certainly not something called invasive ductal carcinoma.  I was told years, and I mean years ago, that this was just a cyst and it did not need to be removed.  (See History above)  Six different doctors came to the same conclusion.  The pathologist, however, had something different to say.

Somewhere, in all that loud noise in my head, a calm voice told me that he would call back at 6 o’clock that night to talk to Scott (How am I going to tell my husband that I  have breast cancer?) and me further and to answer any questions we would have.  (More to come about this particular doctor.  He deserves a post of his own.)  I don’t think I thanked him at the end of the call because I can’t say I was thankful.  I was terrified.

What ensued was days of tears, phone calls, tears, phone calls, tears…..you get the picture.  Over the next either few or many months (exact timing yet to be determined) I will post here to keep you all up to date on the latest progress on my journey forward to health.  (But I don’t feel sick so how come I have to journey ?