I drove to Plano with plenty of time. I didn't want to be rushed getting from the parking garage to the Dr's office. I wanted to be calm. Things would be o.k.
When they called me in to Dr. Canavan's office, I waited for her to come in. What was she going to say? Well, first she checked on my biopsy site. It appeared to be healing well. I hadn't had a lot of pain the night before. She sat on her stool in front of me, and said "we got the results from the pathologist, and it is cancer." Stage II, invasive lobular carcinoma. The lymph nodes were positive for cancer as well. She studied my face for my reaction. I didn't cry, I just shook my head up and down, like o.k., o.k. She immediately told me that it was treatable, and we were going to do everything we needed, and she wasn't going to let me die. I remained somewhat calm. She told me to get dressed and, that she would discuss with me what my treatment plan would entail. She asked if I was alone, and I told her my husband wasn't able to come home. She said I could call him on my cell, and he could hear what we talked about. After a few minutes, she came in, and showed me a diagram of the whole process. We talked about what hospital we would go to, and how she would perform a lumpectomy, and then I would have chemo and radiation. We set up further tests (MRI, ct scans and bone scan), and we would be able to tell if the cancer had spread. I learned that the term metastiasized refers to the cancer spreading to the lymph nodes, not necessarily to other body parts. But the further tests would tell us if it was anywhere else. I also learned that if it goes to your lungs, abdomen, brain, bones, or anywhere else, it is still considered breast cancer. Interesting. Well, it was Thursday, and McKay and I had planned to go to Utah that Sunday with Jacob and Martin Quintana, who was heading up to SOAR. I was so anxious to have further testing, that I just didn't know if we should take the trip. To further complicate it, my Dr. would be on vacation the week we got back, so it could delay our getting on with the process. She encouraged me to take the trip, and said I could have the MRI, etc. when I got back, and then surgery the last week of July. That put a little wrench into things, because our much anticipated trip to NYC was scheduled for Aug 1 to Aug 8. Could we delay the surgery for 2 more weeks and not jeopardize my health? Fear and doubt are not healthy for you. I promise.
Monday, July 28, 2008
My visit with the breast surgeon
July 9
I had my appt. with Dr. Canavan. She was the one who did my biopsy last year, and I really like her. She's no nonsense. She's thorough and caring. She looked at my mammogram and ultrasound, and read the report, which mentioned perhaps a history of a trauma to the left breast. She asked me if I remembered being hit there, like elbowed or something, in the past. I couldn't remember anything like that. She did not seem concerned with the discharge from the right side, and said that happens to a lot of women. Hmm. But she looked at the mass on my left side, and noticed there was shadowing. This was concerning to her. She also saw the enlarged lymph nodes, and asked if I would be willing to do a biopsy of both right then and there. I agreed, because I wanted to get to the bottom of it. The week prior to this visit, McKay and I did exhaustive searches on the web. 80% of lumps turn out to be benign or nothing more than harmless cysts or fibrous tissue. So this was going to be fine, right? Well, she could tell I was edgy, and I told her that I hadn't slept well over the last week. She asked if I'd like a prescription for a sleeping pill, and I thought that would be fine. We went into another room, where she was able to pinpoint the mass with an ultrasound, and then took a needle to the right spot to biopsy it. She took several tissue samples, and then she went to one of the swollen lymph nodes, and did a "fine needle aspiration", which was sucking out some fluid from the node with a very fine needle. She took about 20 samples from there. She told me we'd probably have results by Friday, Monday at the latest. Maybe it was the look on my face, but she could tell that wouldn't be soon enough. She had her nurse check to see if there was still a courier in the building so that the samples could go out that day and we'd have results the next day. That sounded good to me. I left the office pretty sober, and started bracing myself for the worst, but I also felt a peace in my heart, so I thought it couldn't possibly be cancer. I called McKay on my drive back home, and he asked me if I wanted him to be there when I got the results. I told him I would be fine, and I didn't think it was going to be bad news. He didn't need to come home early. That night, I had a hard time sleeping, but I was greatful that I would know by the next day.
I had my appt. with Dr. Canavan. She was the one who did my biopsy last year, and I really like her. She's no nonsense. She's thorough and caring. She looked at my mammogram and ultrasound, and read the report, which mentioned perhaps a history of a trauma to the left breast. She asked me if I remembered being hit there, like elbowed or something, in the past. I couldn't remember anything like that. She did not seem concerned with the discharge from the right side, and said that happens to a lot of women. Hmm. But she looked at the mass on my left side, and noticed there was shadowing. This was concerning to her. She also saw the enlarged lymph nodes, and asked if I would be willing to do a biopsy of both right then and there. I agreed, because I wanted to get to the bottom of it. The week prior to this visit, McKay and I did exhaustive searches on the web. 80% of lumps turn out to be benign or nothing more than harmless cysts or fibrous tissue. So this was going to be fine, right? Well, she could tell I was edgy, and I told her that I hadn't slept well over the last week. She asked if I'd like a prescription for a sleeping pill, and I thought that would be fine. We went into another room, where she was able to pinpoint the mass with an ultrasound, and then took a needle to the right spot to biopsy it. She took several tissue samples, and then she went to one of the swollen lymph nodes, and did a "fine needle aspiration", which was sucking out some fluid from the node with a very fine needle. She took about 20 samples from there. She told me we'd probably have results by Friday, Monday at the latest. Maybe it was the look on my face, but she could tell that wouldn't be soon enough. She had her nurse check to see if there was still a courier in the building so that the samples could go out that day and we'd have results the next day. That sounded good to me. I left the office pretty sober, and started bracing myself for the worst, but I also felt a peace in my heart, so I thought it couldn't possibly be cancer. I called McKay on my drive back home, and he asked me if I wanted him to be there when I got the results. I told him I would be fine, and I didn't think it was going to be bad news. He didn't need to come home early. That night, I had a hard time sleeping, but I was greatful that I would know by the next day.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
How this all got started
July 1, 2008
I was just going through my calendar, and decided to get some things on the schedule, like teeth cleanings for my kids before school starts, physicals, and other items that needed to get done. I called my OB/GYN office, because I knew I was due for my annual checkup. They had an opening that afternoon! Yea. So I decide to take care of it. I really like Martha, the nurse practitioner. She's always been so friendly and professional.
Last year we had a little scare when my mammogram showed some microcalcifications in my right breast, but we looked into them and after a core needle biopsy, found that there were no abnormalities. I even went back in February for a follow up, and all appeared to be fine.
July came, I had my annual well check, and Martha told me that I had a lump in my left breast. I was stunned. Why hadn't I felt it? It made me upset. She said she felt one in my right breast as well, and said that I should schedule a screening mammogram and ultrasound to determine what was going on. I immediately went home, and was able to schedule it for July 3.
The x-rays seemed pretty rountine, but when she was doing the right side, she squeezed so hard to get the x-ray, I had a dark discharge leak through my nipple. What the heck? She said it was probably a harmless cyst that just burst. I was not comforted. What was going on? Then the x-ray tech told me to wait and make sure that we didn't need any more shots. A few minutes later, she returned and said that everything appeared normal. She said, "so, you felt a lump?" I told her that I hadn't before my exam, but that the nurse had felt one on each side. She said that the radiologist would want to do an ultrasound, but that everything seemed normal. When the ultrasound person examined my breast, she was able to feel a lump, and she could pinpoint a lump on the ultrasound. It looked huge. Panic time. Then she pointed out what normal tissue looked like, and how this was different. She also told me that things on the screen looked bigger than they actually were. She found my lymph nodes, and pointed out that they looked enlarged. Gulp. I was getting pretty nervous. On the right side, she said the ducts appeared enlarged and to be filled with matter, which was the discharge I had seen minutes before. After what seemed like an eternity, the radiologist came in and said that the mass on the ultrasound was suspicious, not really having a definite form, and that he couldn't say for sure what it was, but that my lymph nodes were enlarged. He apologized that he couldn't give me a definitive answer, and that he recommended I get it biopsied at my Dr's office. Well, being that the next day was the 4th of July, I knew that I'd have to wait to find anything else out. My appt. with Dr. Canavan was set for July 9, and I was just going to have to wait it out...
I was just going through my calendar, and decided to get some things on the schedule, like teeth cleanings for my kids before school starts, physicals, and other items that needed to get done. I called my OB/GYN office, because I knew I was due for my annual checkup. They had an opening that afternoon! Yea. So I decide to take care of it. I really like Martha, the nurse practitioner. She's always been so friendly and professional.
Last year we had a little scare when my mammogram showed some microcalcifications in my right breast, but we looked into them and after a core needle biopsy, found that there were no abnormalities. I even went back in February for a follow up, and all appeared to be fine.
July came, I had my annual well check, and Martha told me that I had a lump in my left breast. I was stunned. Why hadn't I felt it? It made me upset. She said she felt one in my right breast as well, and said that I should schedule a screening mammogram and ultrasound to determine what was going on. I immediately went home, and was able to schedule it for July 3.
The x-rays seemed pretty rountine, but when she was doing the right side, she squeezed so hard to get the x-ray, I had a dark discharge leak through my nipple. What the heck? She said it was probably a harmless cyst that just burst. I was not comforted. What was going on? Then the x-ray tech told me to wait and make sure that we didn't need any more shots. A few minutes later, she returned and said that everything appeared normal. She said, "so, you felt a lump?" I told her that I hadn't before my exam, but that the nurse had felt one on each side. She said that the radiologist would want to do an ultrasound, but that everything seemed normal. When the ultrasound person examined my breast, she was able to feel a lump, and she could pinpoint a lump on the ultrasound. It looked huge. Panic time. Then she pointed out what normal tissue looked like, and how this was different. She also told me that things on the screen looked bigger than they actually were. She found my lymph nodes, and pointed out that they looked enlarged. Gulp. I was getting pretty nervous. On the right side, she said the ducts appeared enlarged and to be filled with matter, which was the discharge I had seen minutes before. After what seemed like an eternity, the radiologist came in and said that the mass on the ultrasound was suspicious, not really having a definite form, and that he couldn't say for sure what it was, but that my lymph nodes were enlarged. He apologized that he couldn't give me a definitive answer, and that he recommended I get it biopsied at my Dr's office. Well, being that the next day was the 4th of July, I knew that I'd have to wait to find anything else out. My appt. with Dr. Canavan was set for July 9, and I was just going to have to wait it out...
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