Thanks, guys. I waited to post. It's been a bit busy here. difficult child 1 & daughter in law just dropped in. I've been trying to talk to him but I haven't been able to reach him by phone. He was at his sister's when the text message from me came through and she said he was panicking. But I've talked to him now and I think he's feeling more comfortable about it.
husband just came in, he overheard difficult child 3 saying to his older brother, "You don't need to worry. After all, I'm the big worrier in the family, and if I can keep my cool..."
We went to church this morning and stayed afterwards to chat to people. husband was concerned at my apparent calmness, I've seemed too cheerful. At church today one bloke quietly asked me, "I suppose you're over your immediate reaction? You've had your cry and you're now getting on with it?"
I was able to say to him, "I haven't felt the need to cry."
I think it's because I've had possibilities laid out for me at all times, so it's not been 100% shock, although I WAS surprised.
I did an online "what is you cancer risk?" test and according to it, I'm right down near the bottom with risk factors. I'm the youngest in a large family of mostly girls and none of my many sisters have cancer. The daughter of one does, though. One elderly brother has prostate cancer. My mother's aunt found a cancerous lump in her breast when she was 80 (and didn't tell her doctor for 20 years - had her mastectomy at 99, sailed through it).
Other than that - no cancer anywhere in our family, for several generations in every direction.
I don't drink. I don't smoke. I eat a healthy low-fat low-sugar diet. have done for decades. I breastfed all four kids for well over a year for each one. I was on low-dose HRT for only 2 years. I've lost weight.
So I have to say - despite all this, cancer can still happen.
It's small, the size of my thumbnail. The ultrasound report says it's self-contained, although the pathology describes it as "invasive". A friend (the one who had a really bad case of cancer and who is now cancer-free) said she can't understand how they can label it "invasive" if they haven't yet analysed the whole thing, but I suspect that when they did the core biopsy, they took a sample from one side that included tissue outside the capsule of the tumour, and found that there were signs of it in the very nearby tissue (we're talking millimetres here).
Or maybe someone was a bit careless and pessimistic in his labelling.
I won't know for sure until they cut it out.
But friends - believe me when I say, I'm OK.
If for any reason I'm unable to update frequently (say, if my arm is too sore to type much) I'll get husband to keep you all informed.
But I don't even see the surgeon until Tuesday. It's the same surgeon as my friend, by the way, the friend who we quietly didn't expect to live, since her tumour was the size of a large sausage and just about all her lymph nodes were cancerous. That was 10 years ago and she's great now. Offered to lend me her wigs, but I may not need them.
Thanks, guys.
Marg