Marguerite
Active Member
We saw the breast cancer surgeon today. We already had appointments today for difficult child 3, it would have been possible to do both but it would have been a tight schedule and we didn't know what was likely to be happening, so when one of the difficult child 3 appointments rang yesterday to postpone, I cancelled the other one too. So we left difficult child 3 at home and took ourselves out "to the mainland".
I also had the hassle of having to deliver some new welfare paperwork, and I tried to do it beforehand but didn't have enough time.
I didn't know what to expect, so I took a packed bag, hoping I wouldn't need it but also ensuring that we wouldn't be too inconvenienced if I suddenly found myself admitted to hospital.
The surgeon has a great reputation, plus she is the same doctor my friend has, my friend who had a really nasty case of breast cancer that none of us thought she could survive. She is still cancer-free after ten years. So I felt very confident even before I met her.
Then I realised - I HAVE met her, she was the doctor at the clinic last Thursday who did my breast examination (and couldn't feel anything). She didn't touch me today, because she already had. She answered the few questions I had and also told me exactly what she is doing.
I asked why this diagnosis is INVASIVE ductal carcinoma, and she explained exactly why - because the core biopsy sample happened to cross the margin of the tumour into what should have been healthy breast tissue - only it wasn't healthy, not completely. She said that for a few more millimetres, the cancer cells have moved beyond the duct. She said that it's very small so it's most unlikely it's gone any further - yet. But she wants to move fast to keep it that way. This tumour, she said, is about as small as you can get and still be detectable. Even when she knew where it was, she couldn't feel it when she examined me. And that is really, really good. We caught it early. Very early.
So what is in store for me?
Surgery is booked for Friday 26 February. That's exactly 10 days away. It's the earliest she could fit me in but she thinks it should be plenty early enough. I have to go private to get in that early, but if I went as a public patient (ie national health insurance) I think it would still only be a couple of months at the most.
It will be done as day surgery. She said she has a full surgery list but is tucking me in at the end of the day, so it will be about 4 pm before I get operated on, but she said the surgery in my case will be very minor, very quick. I'll have to be nil by mouth from 6 am and probably have to arrive at the hospital about the same time.
Next I have to have another ultrasound. This will show up any changes in the three weeks, and they will also use the ultrasound to insert a wire that goes right down to the tumour. Apparently tumour tissue looks too much like normal breast tissue, to make it easy to just operate without any other assistance. So the wire is inserted under ultrasound guidance, because the ultrasound really shows up the tumour site. Then at the same time the tumour gets injected with a radioactive tracer and also a dye. That way she will be able to easily find it with both a gamma probe and also the naked eye. The wire makes it more specific. The whole lot means that minimal cutting has to be done of healthy tissue, only the tumour gets targeted and they can spare as much of the healthy tissue as possible.
The doctor said they will do it under general anaesthetic, will go in and remove the lump as well as a wide margin around it, to make sure they get it all. They then use the gamma probe to find the most radioactive lymph node under my armpit (ie the one that got the most drainage from the tumour site) and will remove that node. While I'm still under anaesthetic, they send that nose to pathology for frozen section. If the node is free of cancer cells, they close up and when I've come round, they send me home. If the node is positive, they remove ALL the lymph nodes in that armpit and keep me in overnight because they put a drain in to ensure a better recovery. They then send me home to daily dressings etc change under supervision of the district nurse.
Next - when the wound is healed, I begin 5 weeks of radiotherapy. Monday to Friday for 5 weeks. We have to go to the same hospital for it, it's halfway to the centre of Sydney so it will mean almost an hour each way every day for five weeks. husband said he will take the time off work (he has long service leave owing) but when I talked to my friend's husband tonight, he said that our church friends would make sure I get help with transport to and from hospital.
The doctor said the radiotherapy is just to make extra sure.
And if pathology finds that I have positive nodes, and/or they don't get all the tumour, we will re-visit the situation but only then would they be suggesting chemotherapy. It will depend on the pathology results, basically. But because this tumour is so small (thumbnail sized) she is definite - "prognosis is excellent," she assured us.
Good enough for me.
As we were driving there this morning I noticed a little bit of apprehension in my, but not much. I realised - I feel more comfortable about this, even when I was seriously preparing myself to have it done under local anaesthetic, than I do about going to the dentist.
So I'm OK. Really. I slept moderately well last night even though I didn't take anything and even though I was half-expecting to be put into hospital today.
Sis-in-law will be arriving ten days after my surgery, which I estimate to be close to the beginning of my radiotherapy. husband will be available to help drive me there, plus having sis-in-law there means we won't be needed quite so much for mother in law at tat time.
Because I didn't have to go in to hospital, we were able to go do a bit of shopping, drop in to Centrelink and get the paperwork sorted out (hopefully that will now be the lot) and then collect difficult child 3 from the ferry to take him to drama class this evening. Because we had left dinner for mother in law, we took a night off ourselves and had a quiet and quick Chinese meal (some gow gee and soup) while difficult child 3 sat in the car outside enjoying his pizza. Nothing wrong with that boy's appetite - he bought a family-sized pizza and I think has already eaten most of it by himself.
One funny thing - I noticed this morning, to my relief, that at last my weight has begun to slowly drop again. I had been getting concerned that my weight was beginning to climb - well, for the last week it's stopped climbing and I've begun to drop at last. I told husband. By now he realises I'm not stressing about the cancer, especially after the doctor reassured us today.
So he said - "You're losing weight? Why are you so surprised? You do have cancer, after all!"
He wouldn't have said that if he was still worried, or if he thought there was the slightest chance that I was still worried.
So hopefully that will reassure you all.
I'll be OK.
Thanks, guys.
Marg
I also had the hassle of having to deliver some new welfare paperwork, and I tried to do it beforehand but didn't have enough time.
I didn't know what to expect, so I took a packed bag, hoping I wouldn't need it but also ensuring that we wouldn't be too inconvenienced if I suddenly found myself admitted to hospital.
The surgeon has a great reputation, plus she is the same doctor my friend has, my friend who had a really nasty case of breast cancer that none of us thought she could survive. She is still cancer-free after ten years. So I felt very confident even before I met her.
Then I realised - I HAVE met her, she was the doctor at the clinic last Thursday who did my breast examination (and couldn't feel anything). She didn't touch me today, because she already had. She answered the few questions I had and also told me exactly what she is doing.
I asked why this diagnosis is INVASIVE ductal carcinoma, and she explained exactly why - because the core biopsy sample happened to cross the margin of the tumour into what should have been healthy breast tissue - only it wasn't healthy, not completely. She said that for a few more millimetres, the cancer cells have moved beyond the duct. She said that it's very small so it's most unlikely it's gone any further - yet. But she wants to move fast to keep it that way. This tumour, she said, is about as small as you can get and still be detectable. Even when she knew where it was, she couldn't feel it when she examined me. And that is really, really good. We caught it early. Very early.
So what is in store for me?
Surgery is booked for Friday 26 February. That's exactly 10 days away. It's the earliest she could fit me in but she thinks it should be plenty early enough. I have to go private to get in that early, but if I went as a public patient (ie national health insurance) I think it would still only be a couple of months at the most.
It will be done as day surgery. She said she has a full surgery list but is tucking me in at the end of the day, so it will be about 4 pm before I get operated on, but she said the surgery in my case will be very minor, very quick. I'll have to be nil by mouth from 6 am and probably have to arrive at the hospital about the same time.
Next I have to have another ultrasound. This will show up any changes in the three weeks, and they will also use the ultrasound to insert a wire that goes right down to the tumour. Apparently tumour tissue looks too much like normal breast tissue, to make it easy to just operate without any other assistance. So the wire is inserted under ultrasound guidance, because the ultrasound really shows up the tumour site. Then at the same time the tumour gets injected with a radioactive tracer and also a dye. That way she will be able to easily find it with both a gamma probe and also the naked eye. The wire makes it more specific. The whole lot means that minimal cutting has to be done of healthy tissue, only the tumour gets targeted and they can spare as much of the healthy tissue as possible.
The doctor said they will do it under general anaesthetic, will go in and remove the lump as well as a wide margin around it, to make sure they get it all. They then use the gamma probe to find the most radioactive lymph node under my armpit (ie the one that got the most drainage from the tumour site) and will remove that node. While I'm still under anaesthetic, they send that nose to pathology for frozen section. If the node is free of cancer cells, they close up and when I've come round, they send me home. If the node is positive, they remove ALL the lymph nodes in that armpit and keep me in overnight because they put a drain in to ensure a better recovery. They then send me home to daily dressings etc change under supervision of the district nurse.
Next - when the wound is healed, I begin 5 weeks of radiotherapy. Monday to Friday for 5 weeks. We have to go to the same hospital for it, it's halfway to the centre of Sydney so it will mean almost an hour each way every day for five weeks. husband said he will take the time off work (he has long service leave owing) but when I talked to my friend's husband tonight, he said that our church friends would make sure I get help with transport to and from hospital.
The doctor said the radiotherapy is just to make extra sure.
And if pathology finds that I have positive nodes, and/or they don't get all the tumour, we will re-visit the situation but only then would they be suggesting chemotherapy. It will depend on the pathology results, basically. But because this tumour is so small (thumbnail sized) she is definite - "prognosis is excellent," she assured us.
Good enough for me.
As we were driving there this morning I noticed a little bit of apprehension in my, but not much. I realised - I feel more comfortable about this, even when I was seriously preparing myself to have it done under local anaesthetic, than I do about going to the dentist.
So I'm OK. Really. I slept moderately well last night even though I didn't take anything and even though I was half-expecting to be put into hospital today.
Sis-in-law will be arriving ten days after my surgery, which I estimate to be close to the beginning of my radiotherapy. husband will be available to help drive me there, plus having sis-in-law there means we won't be needed quite so much for mother in law at tat time.
Because I didn't have to go in to hospital, we were able to go do a bit of shopping, drop in to Centrelink and get the paperwork sorted out (hopefully that will now be the lot) and then collect difficult child 3 from the ferry to take him to drama class this evening. Because we had left dinner for mother in law, we took a night off ourselves and had a quiet and quick Chinese meal (some gow gee and soup) while difficult child 3 sat in the car outside enjoying his pizza. Nothing wrong with that boy's appetite - he bought a family-sized pizza and I think has already eaten most of it by himself.
One funny thing - I noticed this morning, to my relief, that at last my weight has begun to slowly drop again. I had been getting concerned that my weight was beginning to climb - well, for the last week it's stopped climbing and I've begun to drop at last. I told husband. By now he realises I'm not stressing about the cancer, especially after the doctor reassured us today.
So he said - "You're losing weight? Why are you so surprised? You do have cancer, after all!"
He wouldn't have said that if he was still worried, or if he thought there was the slightest chance that I was still worried.
So hopefully that will reassure you all.
I'll be OK.
Thanks, guys.
Marg
I will continue to hope for the absolute best possible outcome, and that this ordeal will soon be far behind you!
