"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain."
That's one of my favorite quotes. In fact, we have it hanging above the door in our RV.
Met with the surgeon this morning at 10:45. We were in the room for almost an hour and a half -- first talking to the nurse practitioner and then the surgeon. They both let us ask all the questions we wanted -- and we had a lot of 'em!
Fortunately, he didn't paint a gloomier picture of the PET scan. He didn't even mention the lung nodule, although the nurse practitioner mentioned it but said it wasn't anything to be too concerned with at this point. Obviously, the main concern is the cancer in the breast and the lymph nodes, which fortunately has NOT metastasized anywhere else.
The pathology report (of the biopsy) was less than cheery -- infiltrating ductal carcinoma, stage IIIA, grade 7 (intermediate to high-grade).
But, hey, it is what it is. However, it won't be much longer because I am going to kick this thing in the butt! I WILL BEAT IT!
The surgeon said I could have the bilateral mastectomy first or the chemo first. He was sort of suggesting doing the chemo first, although he said the outcome/success rate would be the same. But he said it might be good to shrink the tumor as much as possible to see how it responds to treatment. He said if I wanted to have the surgery first, he could get me in next Friday (the 18th). But I'm really not too keen on having a bilateral mastectomy on my birthday!! The biopsy on our anniversary was bad enough. I told him I was supposed to be snowshoeing in Maine on my birthday, not having a mastectomy!
Anyway, I meet with the oncologist on Friday to get her opinion on the whole thing and see if she agrees with doing the chemo first and then the surgery or thinks I should do it the other way around.
These are very uncharted waters for me. I don't "do doctors," and now I'm seeing doctors 2-3 times a week. Scaring the heck out of me.
1 comment:
My dear,
I'm glad you began a blog - I think they're a great way to communicate. I have a knitting blog but I never get any comments, so I will be SURE to leave comments on yours!
It's good to hear that your meeting with the surgeon went well - or as well as can be expected. Are you leaning toward chemo first?
I love your quotes. You are amazing - strong, funny, thoughtful, brave. I love you.
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