Dear Friends and Family,
First of all, let me begin by thanking each and every one of you from the bottom of my heart - the e-mails, tweets, cards, phone calls - have all just been so wonderful and mean so much to me. I wish I could call each one of you personally to thank you, but for now, I hope this will do. So thank you very much.
This week we got all the test results in that we were waiting for. The big take away for me in all of this is that the tests showed I am so lucky that we found it when we did. Based on the second biopsy and MRI results, we are pretty confident that the cancer has already spread to the lymph nodes on the right side. This can't be absolutely confirmed until surgery, but it would be surprising at this point for the surgery to show other results. The biggest surprise from the MRI is that the left side, which we previously thought was clear, actually has precancer forming.
The good news is this is all very manageable. And we now have a treatment plan in place. Surgery will be taking place in the next few weeks. We are still waiting for a concrete date - we have to coordinate the OR, my surgeon, and the plastic surgeon. (Thankfully, the offices are talking to each other because I can't even imagine how I would try to organize all of that!!) During the surgery I will be getting a bilateral mastectomy. A few weeks afters surgery I will begin chemotherapy treatments. And then radiation to follow. During this time I will also begin taking both herceptin and tamoxifen. I will be on the herceptin for a year and tamoxifen for five years. Basically because of what they know about my cancer, I am able to utilize every treatment available for breast cancer. While that feels overwhelming, again it makes me very lucky and helps decrease chance of recurrence.
Anyway, for now the doctor's appointments are done and we won't know anything else until after surgery. As an aside, I don't want to bombard everyone with lots of e-mails so I am trying to regularly update my blog, which you can feel free to read at any time over at http://journeyof1000stitches.
Thank you very much for the prayers and good thoughts. It really does mean so very much to me!
Love,
Me =)
Prayers aplenty
ReplyDeletePrayers aplenty
ReplyDeleteThank you for the update. I will hold onto the fact that you are lucky in that so much has been discovered so early on. Again, I promise to continue to pester you with love and notes. I am always available for you online, on phone or in person if you need me. Hope today was a Mother's Day filled with love and kisses and positivity for the coming year.
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