I'm in the hospital still....
Saturday, May 30, 2009
this is going to be short cause Im on a ton of pain pills and very tried, I just wanted to fill you all in on what happned.So i came in Thursday Morning at 5:30 am for a bi lateral mastecomy with full reconstructive surgery (no expanders yeah) they also installed a port (ouch it hurts like hell) but it will make me getting stuck over and over for chemo easier. They also did a Sentinel node biopsy to determine if cancer has spread to the lymphatic system. The sentinel lymph node is the first lymph node to which a tumor drains. By finding the sentinel node before surgery, doctors can remove the node for study during surgery. Removing the sentinel lymph node, or nodes, also carries with it the possibility of lymphedema, although neither the extent nor the risk is as great as with axillary dissection. ti see If the sentinel node is free of cancer, medical technique that the dotcor used on me was called a frozen section to evaluate the lymph node tissue and gain preliminary information about its status during the operation. And was told during the biopsy that the first two lynodes did test positive so they went back in and removed about 10 -15 more nodes to have them checked.I will have to PET scan to see if the cancer has spread anywhere else in my body!
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Monday, May 25, 2009
5/25/09 Update on what proceedure Im having done
Update....
Monday, May 25, 2009
Okay so I'm going to make this one short, I will type more laterI'm scheduled to go for my bi lateral mastectomy Thursday morning at AAMC. Following the mastectomy I will have reconstructive surgery and depending on how it goes the surgeon maybe able to give me my full implants without me going through with the expanders faze since I'm going down in size (Yes!!! I'm shrinking the girls) If I were going up in size my skin would stretch and I would not be able to heal. Thankfully God has blessed me with extra stuff I MAY not have to go through all that extra surgery.During the operation they check on my lymph nodes to see if they are infected as well....Whether the lymph nodes contain cancer cells is an important factor when staging breast cancer, determining treatment, and predicting survival. Though breast cancer has the potential to spread to other regions of the body first, it most commonly spreads first to the (underarm) lymph nodes. This is known as regional spread. From there, the breast cancer can metastasize (spread) systematically to other areas of the body (such as the bone, liver, lung, or brain). Right now the Docs are saying that I have a 50/50 chance of having infected lymph nodes due to the tumor size and its aggressiveness...but the MRI looked clear! So there is a chance I may not need either! (Glass is always half full)
Monday, May 25, 2009
Okay so I'm going to make this one short, I will type more laterI'm scheduled to go for my bi lateral mastectomy Thursday morning at AAMC. Following the mastectomy I will have reconstructive surgery and depending on how it goes the surgeon maybe able to give me my full implants without me going through with the expanders faze since I'm going down in size (Yes!!! I'm shrinking the girls) If I were going up in size my skin would stretch and I would not be able to heal. Thankfully God has blessed me with extra stuff I MAY not have to go through all that extra surgery.During the operation they check on my lymph nodes to see if they are infected as well....Whether the lymph nodes contain cancer cells is an important factor when staging breast cancer, determining treatment, and predicting survival. Though breast cancer has the potential to spread to other regions of the body first, it most commonly spreads first to the (underarm) lymph nodes. This is known as regional spread. From there, the breast cancer can metastasize (spread) systematically to other areas of the body (such as the bone, liver, lung, or brain). Right now the Docs are saying that I have a 50/50 chance of having infected lymph nodes due to the tumor size and its aggressiveness...but the MRI looked clear! So there is a chance I may not need either! (Glass is always half full)
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
May 5th 09 (Surgery Date)
My life has changed forever....
So this is all still a new language to me so bare with me in my stumbles and misspelling of words.. This is why I'm not an English major.In my many journeys to the doctors and learning this day by day, I have learned that I do have one of the most treatable forms of breast cancer. But due to my age and the agressivness we are taking the most serious measures to make sure I'm in the best hands. Along this journey I learned not all breast cancers are the same, they are all unique and treated differnt..though we all have the same agendas and that is to kick this thing in the rear, I can not compair myself to other breast cancer patients. Mine is hormonal meaning that it is in the same family as ovarian cancer...so yep you guessed it my ovaries and my fallopian tubes and I have to part ways. But we will get back to that.So with all my test results and my pathology report the signs and the doctors at Anne Arundel Medical Breast Center thought that a bi lateral mastectomy would be a good option for me. Though as said in my last note that I will be 100% in the clear...yeah not so much, that was wishful thinking on my part. It just lowers my chances of a reocurrence or a new growing cancer in the other breast a lot lower. So like I said I want the best!!! During the surgery they will check my lymph nodes to see if they are infected if so they will remove about 15-20 of them. The doc said my chances right now are 50/50 of being infected. I'm also going to have reconstructive surgery at the same time....and you all are thinking wow she gets new perky boobs...well there is always a catch not everything looks as good as the food pictures in the menu. I will completely loose both my nipples in the process (no ways around that one I asked) So Yes I will have Franken boobs for a few months till I get Tattoo nipples WOW!!!! NOT!!!! Okay so after I heal a bit after surgery and start feeling a little better... I start Chemo and if my lymph nodes are infected than I will start radiation after chemo and have to have a pet scan to see if its anywhere else in my body ((keep your fingers crossed on that one))They big sugery date is the 28th of May... I will keep you all posted on my crazy road life calls a journey
So this is all still a new language to me so bare with me in my stumbles and misspelling of words.. This is why I'm not an English major.In my many journeys to the doctors and learning this day by day, I have learned that I do have one of the most treatable forms of breast cancer. But due to my age and the agressivness we are taking the most serious measures to make sure I'm in the best hands. Along this journey I learned not all breast cancers are the same, they are all unique and treated differnt..though we all have the same agendas and that is to kick this thing in the rear, I can not compair myself to other breast cancer patients. Mine is hormonal meaning that it is in the same family as ovarian cancer...so yep you guessed it my ovaries and my fallopian tubes and I have to part ways. But we will get back to that.So with all my test results and my pathology report the signs and the doctors at Anne Arundel Medical Breast Center thought that a bi lateral mastectomy would be a good option for me. Though as said in my last note that I will be 100% in the clear...yeah not so much, that was wishful thinking on my part. It just lowers my chances of a reocurrence or a new growing cancer in the other breast a lot lower. So like I said I want the best!!! During the surgery they will check my lymph nodes to see if they are infected if so they will remove about 15-20 of them. The doc said my chances right now are 50/50 of being infected. I'm also going to have reconstructive surgery at the same time....and you all are thinking wow she gets new perky boobs...well there is always a catch not everything looks as good as the food pictures in the menu. I will completely loose both my nipples in the process (no ways around that one I asked) So Yes I will have Franken boobs for a few months till I get Tattoo nipples WOW!!!! NOT!!!! Okay so after I heal a bit after surgery and start feeling a little better... I start Chemo and if my lymph nodes are infected than I will start radiation after chemo and have to have a pet scan to see if its anywhere else in my body ((keep your fingers crossed on that one))They big sugery date is the 28th of May... I will keep you all posted on my crazy road life calls a journey
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