MRI

The Boob Report

If you’re hoping for a long, rambling blog (be honest, I know you are), I’m sorry, you’re out of luck.

Just talked to my breast surgeon and the MRI shows NO ADDITIONAL ABNORMALITIES in either breast! I should be able to get my lumpectomy scheduled today! Not sure when it will be, but soon.

I do plan to discuss options/alternatives to radiation and Tamoxifen when I meet with my team, but for now, full speed ahead to removal of the cancer!

Feels weird to be celebrating, “YAY I ONLY HAVE A LITTLE CANCER!” but you better believe I am! Thank you for all your kind words and thoughts!

48 hours

MRI tomorrow, results Wednesday. Very anxious, but so excited and relieved to be moving forward. The waiting is torture.

A friend of mine, Cheryl, recently traveled to Eastern Europe and promised to light candles for me in the cathedrals and churches she visited. I have a very close friend, Susan, praying for me on the East Coast. Our nanny and close family friend Araceli has been praying for me with her Aztec group, and friends and family of hers are praying for me in Mexico. Basically, I have people all over the world sending me positive energy, as well as my Dad looking out for me from beyond the grave – and what better month for him to do so than October?!

Meanwhile, as many of you know, I have my big charity Halloween party, Black Cat Bash, coming up on 10/24, so that’s keeping me busy and focused. Equally importantly, I found out about and decided to walk in the American Cancer Society’s Making Strides Breast Cancer Walk on 10/10 – this weekend. I am 79% to my goal of raising $1000, and have had so many friends and family make donations in my support – I can’t believe what generous, thoughtful, and supportive people I am blessed to have in my life. Sadly, not everyone is as lucky as I am, and it’s these women that the ACS helps support. If you have a few extra minutes and a few extra bucks, please consider making a donation – not just to support me, but also to help women all over the country who have been diagnosed with breast cancers far more serious and devastating than mine.

Kate’s Making Strides Page

To those of you who have already donated – thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Your support in this fight means the world to me, and I know with you on my side I can’t lose.

Fingers crossed for good news Wednesday.

Update on timeline

I talked to my doctor. He has no problem moving things forward, but here’s the catch.

I need to have an MRI before I can have the lumpectomy/axillary lymph node removal. The most accurate MRI results will not be till at least day 7 of my menstrual cycle, which is not until the second week of October. What does having an MRI before then mean? Potential false positives, i.e., areas of shading that appear to be cancer but are not. What happens if the MRI turns up (false) positives? Additional biopsies.

The biopsy SUUUUCKED and I do not enjoy the thought of having additional, possibly unnecessary biopsies. BUT I also do not enjoy the thought of chemotherapy, or twiddling my thumbs for another two weeks while I ponder the lesion growing in my boob.

With that said, MRI has been moved forward to 9/30, and results should be available 24 hours after the procedure. After that, doc says the lumpectomy/axillary lymph node removal (which from now on I’m calling ALNR because come on) can be scheduled fairly quickly.

So now, MRI in a little over a week. Fingers crossed for good (and in this case, “good” means “negative”) results so we can just go ahead and get this sh*t out of me without any further testing.

Out, out damn spots

So I emailed my doctor this morning, because I want the damned cancer out.

They KNOW I have two small spots of high-grade – that’s dangerous, fast growing – cancer in my right breast. Based on the tests they have done – mammogram, ultrasound, and biopsy – they THINK there is no other cancer in my breasts and that the cancer has not yet spread to the lymph nodes. And finally, only 1 in 500 women tests positive for the BRCA gene, and since neither of my grandmothers, my mother, nor any of my aunts have had breast cancer, AND my 23andme results came back negative for the three BRCA mutations they test for, I feel fairly certain mine will come back negative as well. With all these things in mind, how much sense does it make to keep waiting? It’s fast growing but not in the lymph nodes yet – how long will it take to get there? What if it only takes a month? So then I have to do chemo because rather than act quickly we chose to bide our time and see what the stupid test results said? The only test result that truly matters already came back and it said HI YOU HAVE BREAST CANCER.

My doctor replied and said he’ll call me today to discuss options. We’re going out of town this weekend and I am hoping he presents me with the “You can have the lumpectomy on Monday after you return” option.

A rolling stone gathers no moss and all that. Will update when I know more.