Liz writes:
"I saw my surgeon today, and got my pathology report. It's very long and complicated, and I'll be going over it in more detail with my oncologist soon. But here are the major points in a nutshell:
1. I get to keep my nipples! There was just enough (2mm) of a clean margin to make keeping the right one safe, and the left one was fine. Very glad about that.
2. It turns out doing the bilateral mastectomy was a very good choice. Some stuff was found in the left breast, which never showed up on the MRIs or mammograms, that is abnormal. Not pre-cancer, but kind of like pre-pre-cancer. It's called atypical intraductal epithelial hyperplasia. It might never have developed into cancer, but I'm relieved that I'll never have to worry about it.
3. My surgeon removed 27 lymph nodes, and cancer was found in 6 of them. The report says metastatic carcinoma was found in the 6 nodes. That word (metastatic) is scaring me. The surgeon didn't mention it, but now I am very anxious to discuss this with my oncologist. I think it means that the cancer had moved from the breast into the lymph nodes...which I already knew...but seeing the word in the report is scary.
4. There was a lot of bad stuff in my right breast: multiple small spots of invasive ductal carcinoma, measuring up to .6cm; the larger and smaller tumors that were showing up all this time on the scans, which the chemo reduced but were still there, the larger one which was in a lymph node measuring 2.3cm; multiple microcalcifications; an extensive field of high-grade ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS--stage 1 breast cancer). There are a lot of other technical terms in that section of the report, which I will be asking my oncologist to interpret.
5. All of that bad stuff is OUT of me now! I am in shock at the extent of the cancer (I knew it was bad, but seeing it written in the report made it so frighteningly real), but am relieved beyond words that it is now out of my body.
I am so grateful that I will be able to get radiation therapy (starting end of August), which will be kind of like a "clean-up crew" coming in after the surgery/chemo and zapping any microscopic bad cells that might possibly be lingering. And so grateful as well that I will be able to benefit from Tamoxifen, the long-term drug that will keep estrogen and progesterone from feeding any more cancer cells in the future. I'm reading the book The Emperor of All Maladies--a Biography of Cancer; it's a fascinating book so far, and it makes me so thankful that I'm living in this time and have such a good chance of surviving. Just in my lifetime, chemotherapy (the way it's used today, with combinations of drugs) has been developed from an idea to reality, and even more recently Tamoxifen and other hormone therapies have been invented. To all the scientists and doctors who developed all these ways of fighting cancer, which used to be thought of as impossible to treat let alone cure, I am forever grateful.
A big huge thank you to Kara and Alexa, who brought us two more delicious meals this week, and to all the wonderful ladies who have had the girls over for playdates: Rashne, Arlene, Adele, Stacey, Janet, and Kathy! Go Camp Green! Thank you Kim, for your bravery and friendship, which has inspired me to also be as brave as I can through all of this. Thank you to Kerstin Perini, of the Cancer Resource Center at the hospital, who came to see me twice in hospital and brought the lovely pink basket of breast cancer 'swag', which has been very helpful. (If anyone wants to donate to help provide these comfort baskets to other breast cancer patients, here is the info: www.KeepTheCandleGlowing.org). And thank you to my husband and family...there are not enough words...
I will post again after meeting with the oncologist and plastic surgeon next week, and keep you all updated regarding radiation therapy and the pancreas issue.
Love you all,
Liz"
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