Surgery went well. My parents got here on the 10th and stayed until the 19th. Surgery day started early with blood work and surgery prep. Then it was a trip in my very own bed on wheels to something called Nuclear Medicine. Those of us now in the biz call it "Nuke Med". I was there so they could map my Sentinel Node which is the node the lymph ducts drain into and they test this node to see if there is any sign of cancer cells. They do a preliminary test while you are still on the table if they see cancer cells they take out more nodes and if cells are not found they are pretty sure that the cancer has not spread though the lymphatic system. Which in my naivety I thought it meant the cancer hadn't spread - Angel Nancy has since pointed out that cancer can spread in other ways - darn that sneaky cancer!! So, to find the Sentinel Node they shoot you up with a blue radioactive dye and then they put you under some sort of claustrophobic inducing scanner. You know the "don't move for the next 20 minutes" type of scanner. I counted 400 slow breaths and it ended up being not that bad. The shot of blue dye hurt like crazy though - luckily the assistant told me before hand that there would only be one shot. So, I sucked it up while he injected me and then gave her a look of terror when he said that he was giving me another shot. She apologized after he left saying she had never seen him give two shots. No idea what was up with that! Another interesting note - the radiologist with the big needle of blue mentioned that he had seen my name on the agenda of their cancer convention the next day. He said I was a main topic of conversation. So, an hour or so later and the Sentinel Node is found - call my sherpa and wheel me back to pre-op.
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There were Mom and Dad waiting for me - my stuff was even still there - no one had absconded with anything! I had a few hours to wait and all sorts of blue dye to get out of my body so a couple of trips to the bathroom with my little IV buddy, fashionable hospital gown with all the ties gone, and my lucky sunflower socks - I got to where my lucky sunflower socks during surgery!! I ended up earlier on the operation schedule than we planned so next thing I know I'm being wheeled away. Mom and Dad sure looked sad so I think I had the easy part! Surgery sure went fast from my point of view - I think I ended up being under the knife for a little over an hour. No idea how long I was in post-op but next thing I know I'm being told to get dressed and get out - woohoo! I never did get to talk to the surgeon again that day but Mom and Dad did and he said it went well. So, loaded up on Oxycodone and on our way home. Long ride home - every time I started to fall asleep I got nauseous. Took the next day off and slept it all off and back to work on Wednesday. Pretty sore - two incisions, one on top of my chest and one under my arm. On day two I decided to look and see what was going on - the doctor said he couldn't tell me until he got in there how things would look cosmetically afterwards so I was a bit nervous. I pulled up some of the bandages and remember the blue radioactive dye? Yeah - I was still blue. I couldn't tell a thing but it did crack me up! Ended up looking pretty normal but can't believe my cool biopsy scar has been incorporated into the lumpectomy scar.
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We met with the surgeon again that Friday. I was feeling good, had accepted that one way or the other I could survive 6 weeks of radiation, and was actually stupid enough to think "this breast cancer thing is way overrated, this is cake". He said all sorts of good news - no cells were found in the Sentinel Nodes, they got all of the cancer with good margins (healthy cells) around it, it was 100% estrogen positive (can means recurrence/growth can lessened with medication). Then he said that it was fairly large 2.9cms (over an inch) and that he was pretty sure I would need 6 months of chemotherapy. Talk about having the rug pulled out from under me. You would think after my previous two weeks I would know/expect/suspect/be in any way ready for - bad news. Nope - denial runs pretty thickly through my blood. Never saw it coming. Chemo?!! Six months?!! He pointed out that with all the other good news and with my age that we weren't talking about slowing the cancer down, we were talking about totally curing me with no recurrence. He said that if it was him he would not even blink at having chemo treatments.
Have you ever looked up chemo side affects? It runs into pages and pages. I won't even get into it now. Angel Nancy has since pointed out that until my ocnotype test results come back I am kind of in a grey area for chemo so it's not a given yet. The ocnotype test tells how fast my cancer cells grow. Chemo kills off fast growing cells so if mine are slow growers chemo won't help much at all. But one funny note on side affects - on one of the cancer sites I was reading about hair loss and their suggestions of dealing with it. Consider wearing more makeup and jewelry to draw attention away from your baldness. Yeah - I think that will work!
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OK - so there is where we are today. It's been two weeks since surgery and I am still sore but better everyday. Tomorrow I have my first appointments with my two oncologists. Yep - a month ago and I couldn't really tell you what an oncologist was and now I not only have one, I have two! A radiology oncologist and a medical oncologist. I don't think all of my test are back yet but I might have a better idea tomorrow of what the game plan is. Here's to no chemo!!
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