Cut to the chase

I'm going to summarize what came next so I can move this blog into the present day. Lots of stories to tell from May and June, including the tale of blue urine (or, as we call it, the tale of the blue pee.. sounds funnier bc it rhymes with sea) and the anesthesiologist who thought I was my sister. Those will have to wait.

Next came surgery on May 1. I had a lumpectomy and sentinal node biopsy. The lump was, as we already believed, an inflitrating ductal adenocarcinoma of the breast. This is the most common form of breast cancer. Here's the good and the bad.

Bad- It's cancer
Good- It's small. 0.8x 0.8x 0.5 cm. That makes it "minimal breast cancer." LOL!
Good- It's both estrogen and progesterone positive and Her2 negative. (considered good prognostic signs)
Good- No evidence of lymphatic or vascular invasion (the little bugger didn't start attacking the vessels around it. Glad it didn't join the navy)
Good- The lymph nodes were clear. No visible cancer there.
Bad- It's a grade 3 tumor. This means it doesn't look much like a normal cell. Grade 3 tumors are the ones most likely to metastacize and show up elsewhere. (Boo! hiss!)

So, that brings me to the next part of my treatment. Chemotherapy.

I started chemotherapy on June 16. I will have 4 sessions of adriamycin and cytoxan. I will lose my hair. My first session was not as bad as I imagined. The actual day of chemo was almost fun. I went with my friend, Patria, and it was like a girls day out. Dropped the kids off at a sitter (a saint who didn't charge bc it was good karma) and off we went. Sat and chatted with each other and everyone else. My sister and her family brought Rachel home that night along with dinner. Had a nice evening hanging out with them and visiting with my niece and nephew.

The next few days were really OK. I kept up with my fluids and the myraid of medications. I felt OK, just got more and more tired. Looking back, I wonder if some of that was from the insomnia that started right away. Wednesday was the worst of it. Didn't get out of bed. Don't even want to remember the constipation issue (a side effect of EVERY chemotherapy agent and anti-emetic I take). On Thursday night, the fog lifted and I felt normal again! I went back to work on Friday night and again on Monday. And now I'm getting ready to do it all over again in 2 days.