Thursday July 1, 2010: I had a diagnostic mammogram and an ultrasound to look at the lump that Jamey and I discovered in late April. Of course I didn't tell but a handful of people I even found the lump, because I knew it would be nothing...
I had 11 x-rays and then the ultrasound. The radiologist was looking at the ultrasound and said "I don't like what I see, I think it is some kind of cancer. I need to do a needle biopsy. Is there someone we can call to be here with you?" She meant emotionally of course, because the needle biospy was easy. I immediatly called Jamey, who was at home and off work strangely enough. He immediately came up to the hospital and was there during the biopsy. Dr. Evans told me she would call the lab and try to get my lab results the next day (Friday) so I wouldn't have to wait all weekend for the results. If she said anything else after that, I didn't hear her. She started sounding like Charlie Brown's teacher.
Friday July 2, 2010: Dr. Evans called me at 9:45am and said the lab results came back and they were positive for "Lobular Cancer". Since I had almost 24 hours to come to grips that I "might" have cancer, even though I was still shocked, I heard everything she said. Lobular cancer isn't the most common form of breast cancer, but there is a 10% chance of it spreading (bilateral disease). Since this was caught early, my chances are good. She wasn't sure of the agressiveness of the "invasive tumor". I will need surgery and chemo, maybe chemo first, then surgery. I will definitely need chemo (since I'm only 34). When I have surgery they will take some lymph nodes out as well and test those to make sure my cancer hasn't spread. Do I have any questions? Ummmmmm, yeah! The first question I always ask my doctor is "If this were you or your wife, what would you do? Where would you go?" Dr. Evans told me that if I wanted to go to Fort Worth, she recommends Dr. Jane Bussey. If I want to stay in Stephenville, she recommended Dr. Frazier, of course :).
Off Jamey and I go to make the phone calls to tell everyone we know. We were sitting at the kitchen table with both house phones and both cells phones. Good thing our cell phones are unlimited! We also sat Morgan down and told her :( She handled it well. We did tell her she is going to hear a lot of things from people, like "My so and so had cancer and she died..." and if she has ANY questions, to ask us).
I receive a phone call from my new guardian angel, Carolyn K. Without saying too much about her, she is a 14 year breast cancer survivor, that was diagnosed when she was 42, that will now be at my side during this entire process should I need her. It was already nice to have someone to ask questions to since she has been through all this. I didn't even know I had questions yet!
Friday afternoon we had an appointment with Dr. Frazier. He explained how cancer stages are determined. Tumor size (<2cm 2-5 >5), nodes (T1, T2, T3), Mets (Metasticised). Confused? yep! We talked about surgery options. Breast conservation or Mastectomy. Breast conservation would be a lumpectomy, where they just remove the lump and some lymph nodes, have radiation and/or chemo and then have breast reconstruction done. Everyone knows what a mastectomy is. Dr. Frazier said since my tumor is so close to the nipple, it would be hard to save it because that requires leaving a lot of breast tissue and that might not remove all the cancer. So he suggests a mastectomy. I then asked "well since I have a 10% chance of the cancer spreading to the other side, do I think about a double mastectomy". He said "If you're a worrier like me, you don't want to sit there 10 years down the road and wonder if the cancer is back in the other breast, so yes".
The next topic of conversation was, do we think about immediate breast reconstruction surgery at the time of the double mastectomy (we still haven't decided on surgery yet) or do we have the double mastectomy, then have chemo, then come back later and do the breast reconstruction surgery? He recommends have the double and then coming back last for the breast reconstruction surgery, just so we can concentrate on the chemo and make sure it works, and then worry about getting boobs. :)
We all decided the next step would be to meet with an Oncologist to determine if I need chemo before surgery, or after, or both. I also decided to meet with Dr. Bussey and see what she says. Besides, if I want immediate breast reconstruction at the time of surgery, I have to choose someone in Fort Worth because Stephenville doesn't do plastics.
Off we went out of town for the holiday. Nothing like spending time with family!!!
Saturday July 3, 2010: Jamey and I are still making phone calls and still spending the holiday weekend with friends and family.
I received a phone call from Carolyn checking up on me and sure enough, I had more questions! We agreed to meet Monday afternoon.
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