Seems about right.
My surgeon called last night! Last night was Sunday night. Always good news when it’s a weekend call. Amiright? I’m glad I got the call. We were watching a movie – Lucky Logan – and it was funny and entertaining. Not a movie that will change your life, but that’s most movies. Sidetracked. Sorry.
Biopsy results are in! I received an apology as they had apparently been uploaded Friday night but no notification had been sent to the surgeon. Even though they’re all on the same network. And in the same building. It’s okay. I’m not upset about that. I wanted everyone to just have a good holiday weekend. I probably made the person who was checking the pathogens sad before the weekend. No one wants to go into the weekend having just discovered cancer, yours or someone else’s.
Results: Right side, additional invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC). Near the original site, not a complete surprise. Left side: Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). Again, ductal – the cells in the milk ducts, carcinoma – cancer, and then a new one – in situ – meaning “in the original place.”
Meaning? It’s non-invasive. Yippee. Still cancer. And it’s only non-invasive because it hasn’t spread beyond the milk ducts. There’s a higher risk of it coming back than the IDC because cancer totally makes sense. The chances are apparently less than 30%, but that’s much higher than, oh, say, 0%.
I need to find out the grade of it – I was a little stunned, so failed to ask questions. I will contact them soon. And also, find out if it is hormone positive or negative. My initial diagnosis is negative, so this one is probably positive because, as I informed the surgeon last night: I’m not normal.
Decisions now. Lumpectomy with radiation drops the recurrence chance to around 15%. Still higher than the 0% I’m looking for. If it does reoccur, it’s 50/50 invasive/non-invasive. To help myself, I’ll need to maintain a healthy weight – something to work on, absolutely – and exercise regularly. This one is frustrating as I have exercised regularly more than anyone else in my family probably ever. Rant over. Limiting or avoiding alcohol – that’s fine. I’ll miss it, but not more than staying alive. I’ve got stuff to do. Eating healthy food and limiting sugar. I’ve done this for the most part. I will admit to being on a Reese’s binge at the moment, but I’m even limiting those.
Not smoking. I’ve never smoked. I grew up in a household where my parents smoked inside. No, I will not blame them because at the time everyone smoked and it was just the norm. For a long time I’ve had adverse reactions to the smell of cigarette smoke. It makes me sad, because many people in my family smoke and some of my friends smoke. I wish they’d stop.
Radiation. Not excited about this one, I must say. We are waiting on the results of genetic testing to see how prone I am to all this fun stuff. I’m honestly hoping it comes back and just tells me I’m an anomaly and there’s no current genetic reason for this. That would help me feel like maybe my relatives would be safe from all this.
I’m leaning toward just saying, ta-ta, tatas! The less I have to look over my shoulder for the rest of my life, the better.
Pros: Hiking will be easier! Won’t have to hunt for the elusive ‘bra that fits.’ No more getting punched in the boob by the dogs. I can opt for reconstruction, or not. Prosthesis are available. I could go as a Fembot for Halloween.
Fun fact: Did you know that reconstruction was not required to be covered by insurance until 1998?
Cons: I’ll miss them. We’ve been through a lot together in 38, almost 39 years.
So, that’s the news for today. Chances are I will still be looking at chemotherapy first, followed by surgery. Or not. Next oncology appointment is on July 16th and we should have all the pieces together by then including the genetic testing. Then we will move forward. In the meantime, we will be revamping this page a bit, make it prettier, and I’ll be working because that’s a good way to keep my mind occupied. Cheers.