Post Surgery Blues

So, they said the pathology would take about a week and after that, they said I would most likely not need chemo and could start the radiation shortly thereafter. Path came in on Friday (5/14) and one node of the 4 (that tested negative in the OR) came in with what they call micrometastases. Plus, they did not have what they call clean margins around the tumor. So now everything is looking REAL different. Saw the radio onc on Monday. He said because of the node, I couldn't do Mammosite. For those who don't know what this is, it is a 5 day twice a day radiation treatment where they insert a balloon-type thing into the excision area then drop a seed of radioactive stuff in twice a day, taking it out after each 10 minute treatment.

He also said I would most likely need chemo. Bummer. So home I went, awaiting the appointment with the surgeon on Tuesday.

The surgeon said I could 1. Do a mastectomy 2. do a double mastectomy 3. Do another excision (called a re-excision).

I picked re-excision for the same reasons as before. The boob felt fine. I didn't even need any pain pills or even a Tylenol after the surgery. He felt comfortable that we could get clean margins and I felt comfrortable that another surgery was no big deal. He said he would put the chemo port in during the surgery saving me an out-patient surgery for that. He also said that the pathology was not real clear and that they were having a tumor board meeting the next day to discuss my case. The tumor board consists of my three doctors plus the head pathologist. He said he would call me if there was any change from the plan. Anyway, we went to schedule it. His first opening was Thursday, 2 days from then, so I went for it. Just wanted to get it over with.

The next morning the surgeon called. He had GREAT news!! They were pretty sure I wouldn't need chemo so no port on Thursday. The onc ordered a genomic test called the OncoType Dx test which looks at cancer at the genetic level and comes up with a recurrance score. The test takes two weeks so I won't know anything for sure for two weeks.

So surgery the next morning.