I don't know why I was so nervous seeing the surgeon. I was just so keen on getting a quick date and getting this over with!
He recognized me, 14 years later, almost 15 really. He joked "If I closed my eyes, I would still recognize you!" Um yeah...
He hadn't looked at my file yet but he went through all the papers I brought quickly. I could see by the look on his face. He was fixated on my mammogram. "There isn't anything, is there?"
"No, this is only visible on the ultrasounds." Then, looking at me sternly, "Do you realize how lucky you are? To have a skilled radiologist who not only did ultrasounds on you, who recognized that you had the dense tissue that meant it was necessary, who know how to do it properly??"
Yes, I assured him. So many stories, I don't know of anyone who had such a small tumor.
He was especially pleased with the lab results. "You have strong receptors for both hormones. This is like an umbrella against the storm of reoccurrence. Five years of anti-hormone pills after treatment..." He did confirm that it was a medium grade cancer but the rest was as good as one can hope for, low reproduction rate-15%.
He would be surprised if there is anything in the lymph node, or in the margins. "...and if there is?"
"Then I have to go back in and take out more tissue. But don't worry, the way Dr. N. does this, I'll know exactly where to go. There is little chance of this happening."
Whew.
I did mention my sister's lymphoma, and he again, assured me that there is no link. I mentioned the BRCA genes and he's not that convinced I should do it.
The MRI will be the Last Word on whether there's anything in either breast. He's doubtful they'll find anything because of my clean mammogram.
He confirmed my "light" risk factors. I told him, look, I really didn't dig into the whole subject much. I knew I had a higher risk, I got my checks and lived my life. He said that I did exactly the right thing. I just don't want people to think I mulled over this much. I really didn't.
I've been thinking about this because my sister-in-law's mother-in-law died of Breast Cancer a couple of years ago. This will put her daughter in that risk category. I was telling her daughter, long before I was diagnosed, you're going to go in, get checked, told everything is fine and continue with your life. You're not going to Live in Fear or let it dominate your life and the decisions you make for the future.
He got on the phone. He got me next Wednesday and booked appointments to inject the dye and insert the radioactive liquid. One is the day before, one is the morning of, and perplexingly, two different locations (didn't bother asking why.)
They want me to check in the night before, to be there by 10am. I told them, I'm here in this neighborhood at 8am, dropping my kids off anyway. Not keen to be away an extra night. The surgery itself is at 3pm. My mom says this is a good sign. No one does major surgery that late in the day! They want to clean up and go home...
I'm going to see my generalist today. I have a couple of issues that I didn't want to "get into" with the specialists. One is genetic testing.
To be honest, I would be surprised if I were BRCA I or 2 positive. It tends to happen with families with a lot of cancer, and nastier cancers. But my sister is going for the test, because she's already at risk because of her lymphoma. It's the treatment for it that causes the risk. We do know of someone who got a double mastectomy, a few years after after being treated for lymphoma.
Yesterday, I got the blood test for whatever they check with the kidneys for the MRI on Friday. It'll be done by Dr. N.'s partner Dr. S, whom I also know.
I get questions about the kids. My kids have an aunt who survived lymphoma. The older two don't remember and Davina wasn't born yet but they've seen pictures and we've talked about it. Then, Talia had a girl in her class come down with leukemia. She was out of school for almost a year. I recommended to her mom to make an email list, or start a blog to keep everyone informed. I explained that with my mom, she couldn't keep straight who knew what and where to start with updates. So she did and the poor girl had a rough time with one of the drugs. There were months in isolation too. But they held a big party when she returned. The mom couldn't come. She was home crying!
It made for a very un-cancer-phobic class.
He recognized me, 14 years later, almost 15 really. He joked "If I closed my eyes, I would still recognize you!" Um yeah...
He hadn't looked at my file yet but he went through all the papers I brought quickly. I could see by the look on his face. He was fixated on my mammogram. "There isn't anything, is there?"
"No, this is only visible on the ultrasounds." Then, looking at me sternly, "Do you realize how lucky you are? To have a skilled radiologist who not only did ultrasounds on you, who recognized that you had the dense tissue that meant it was necessary, who know how to do it properly??"
Yes, I assured him. So many stories, I don't know of anyone who had such a small tumor.
He was especially pleased with the lab results. "You have strong receptors for both hormones. This is like an umbrella against the storm of reoccurrence. Five years of anti-hormone pills after treatment..." He did confirm that it was a medium grade cancer but the rest was as good as one can hope for, low reproduction rate-15%.
He would be surprised if there is anything in the lymph node, or in the margins. "...and if there is?"
"Then I have to go back in and take out more tissue. But don't worry, the way Dr. N. does this, I'll know exactly where to go. There is little chance of this happening."
Whew.
I did mention my sister's lymphoma, and he again, assured me that there is no link. I mentioned the BRCA genes and he's not that convinced I should do it.
The MRI will be the Last Word on whether there's anything in either breast. He's doubtful they'll find anything because of my clean mammogram.
He confirmed my "light" risk factors. I told him, look, I really didn't dig into the whole subject much. I knew I had a higher risk, I got my checks and lived my life. He said that I did exactly the right thing. I just don't want people to think I mulled over this much. I really didn't.
I've been thinking about this because my sister-in-law's mother-in-law died of Breast Cancer a couple of years ago. This will put her daughter in that risk category. I was telling her daughter, long before I was diagnosed, you're going to go in, get checked, told everything is fine and continue with your life. You're not going to Live in Fear or let it dominate your life and the decisions you make for the future.
He got on the phone. He got me next Wednesday and booked appointments to inject the dye and insert the radioactive liquid. One is the day before, one is the morning of, and perplexingly, two different locations (didn't bother asking why.)
They want me to check in the night before, to be there by 10am. I told them, I'm here in this neighborhood at 8am, dropping my kids off anyway. Not keen to be away an extra night. The surgery itself is at 3pm. My mom says this is a good sign. No one does major surgery that late in the day! They want to clean up and go home...
I'm going to see my generalist today. I have a couple of issues that I didn't want to "get into" with the specialists. One is genetic testing.
To be honest, I would be surprised if I were BRCA I or 2 positive. It tends to happen with families with a lot of cancer, and nastier cancers. But my sister is going for the test, because she's already at risk because of her lymphoma. It's the treatment for it that causes the risk. We do know of someone who got a double mastectomy, a few years after after being treated for lymphoma.
Yesterday, I got the blood test for whatever they check with the kidneys for the MRI on Friday. It'll be done by Dr. N.'s partner Dr. S, whom I also know.
I get questions about the kids. My kids have an aunt who survived lymphoma. The older two don't remember and Davina wasn't born yet but they've seen pictures and we've talked about it. Then, Talia had a girl in her class come down with leukemia. She was out of school for almost a year. I recommended to her mom to make an email list, or start a blog to keep everyone informed. I explained that with my mom, she couldn't keep straight who knew what and where to start with updates. So she did and the poor girl had a rough time with one of the drugs. There were months in isolation too. But they held a big party when she returned. The mom couldn't come. She was home crying!
It made for a very un-cancer-phobic class.
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