I got the results from my double-whammy biopsy last week. The lump in my left breast is a benign fibroid. The lymph node next to my tumor in the right breast is cancer. I expected that, but I had hoped for a pleasant surprise. Damn.
My medical team wants to schedule a PET scan and a bone scan, which is fine by me (though a little scary) as it just gives us more data. More data is more ammo in my arsenal to win the war against this thing. As frightening as it is to possibly find out the cancer has spread, it’s better to know now than find out later.
I was just speaking to The Husband. He found a paper from 2005 that speaks about how about 1/3 of BC patients had NO lymph node involvement, and still had their cancer spread to other parts of their body. Since my lymph node is cancerous, I will be getting the extra tests that I probably wouldn’t have gotten if it had come back clean.
Therefore – the cancer in my lymph node is a gift, because now we’re going to look deeper. It’s going to be a pain in my ass – the surgery scheduler (I love her, by the way) told me that you have to eat certain things, and avoid certain things for 3 days prior to one of the tests, I forget which. She said something about carbs, so that can’t be bad. I love carbs.
The two tests can’t be done on the same day, so that’s a pain. It’s going to take more time away from work, and I was really looking forward to boring-normal-work days for a week. And I suspect it’s going to be scary going into those scanners. I’m glad I refilled my anti-anxiety presecription.
My surgery date remains the same, but no pre-operative lympho the day before. The type of surgery will be different. The scheduler (did I mention I love her?) said it would be one of two things, the only one I remember is “modified radical mastectomy” whereas the one I WAS going to have was a “simple mastectomy.” My scheduler commented at the time “doesn’t look simple to me” and now I’m thinking “aren’t all mastectomies radical?” Because it’s not my physical well-being I’m worried about. My biggest hurdle will be my emotional adjustment to my new physical appearance.
*Deep breath, and exhale*
Super powers, engage.