Update 12/31

I know, I know, its been a while since I have last updated.  Well here it goes...

I need another surgery. : (  I had what I thought would be my only surgery on December 8th.  The MRI that I had done a week or so prior had shown no cancer remaining.  This should have been a good thing - meaning go in for surgery, take out the remaining scar tissue, check a few lymph nodes and be done RIGHT?  Well it didn't quite turn out that way, which sucks!

The results of the pathology report were that the top margin was not clear (there was still cancerous tissue in the breast) and 1 out of 3 lymph nodes that were taken out had cancer in it.  What a let down. 

I had also been having back pain off and on for a few weeks.  In my mind, the positive lymph node plus the back pain meant that the cancer had spread to other parts of my body.  I let my doctor know and he scheduled me for a bone scan.  I went and had that done and then went over to the oncologist right away so he could read my results.  The bone scan showed NO areas of concern.  So, I'm not sure what was/is causing my back to bother me, but its not because of my cancer.  That's one good thing!

I have to allow my breast to heal before my surgeon can go back in and operate again.  My "repeat" surgery is scheduled for January 19th (one month before my birthday).  He will be taking more tissue from the area that was not clear as well as taking out more lymph nodes to check them fully.  Keep your fingers crossed that the outcome will be better this time around.

Because I need another surgery, I have to put off radiation until a later date.  Hopefully I will be ready to start radiation by my birthday.

On a good note though, my hair is starting to grow back!  I have eye lashes, eye brows, and hair on my head all starting to come back - although it is all baby fine and still teeny tiny!

Moving Along

Thursday is the big day... Surgery Day!  I will be having a lumpectomy to take out the scar tissue that is remaining from chemo.  The surgeon is also going to take a lymph node out to test and see if any cancer has gotten past the lump that was present.  He does not expect to have any of it come back as cancerous.  (keep your fingers crossed)  When the MRI and 3-D mammogram reports came back, my surgeon referred to them as "boring"!  That is a good thing, because it showed that the chemo did its job!

I also met with the Radiation Oncologist last week.  I will be having radiation - between 30-36 treatments total - starting either the first or second week in January.  If all goes according to plan, I will be done with everything by the end of February!

Its been a month since my last chemo treatment, but my hair has still not started to grow back.  I've read that it should start growing back around 4-6 weeks after your last treatment.  Hopefully it will start happening soon!

But the best part of all is that very soon I will be able to say that I am truly a SURVIVOR and that I am CANCER FREE!