July 27, 2010

I just woke up from an afternoon nap. I'm home, feel OK (after a Vicodin an hour ago), and looking forward to dinner.

Just for an update:

I went in at 7:45 AM today. They admitted me, then sent me to radiology where they inserted a wire (not unlike a #22 floral wire) to locate the mass for the surgeon, and they injected a radioactive dye into the breast. Then I sat with Al in the waiting room for a little over an hour (re-reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) to allow the dye to travel. This was to set up the "sentinel lymph node biopsy." Once I went into surgery, the first thing the surgeon did was trace the route of the dye to the lymph nodes with a scope. She removed the first three lymph nodes that "lit up" and brought them to pathology for examination. The first two nodes they examined (which were actually the two furthest from the lump) were clear of cancer cells. The hoped for outcome was that all of the nodes would be clear. Then it would be labeled Stage 1, which requires radiation treatmet follow-up. Stage 2 means the cancer has traveled, and they add chemo to the follow-up treatment.

When they examined the node that had been closest to the lump, they did find some microscopic cells - no clusters, just some isolated cells. Technically, that sent it to the Stage 2 definition, but only just. (They're calling it Stage 2 N0.) But because of the minute amounts of cells found, the surgeon feels (and the oncologists will weigh in later) that radiation only is still called for. She took only the tumor with an extra 1 cm of breast tissue all the way around it (the size of a baseball?), and did not remove any more lymph nodes. If, by chance, the pathologist (who continued to examine that nearest node), finds any more cancer, or the oncologist feels they did not take enough, they can always go back in (in a week) and take more, but the surgeon does not think that is going to be the case.

They should have a final pathology report by the end of the day tomorrow, or early Thursday. I will talk to the surgeon again then. And she told me if either of my children want to talk to her and ask her questions, they'd be free to call her.

So, I woke up in recovery and have the anesthesiologist to thank that I did not get nauseated -- not when I moved from the table to a recliner, and not when I took my first walk to the rest room. (I've had three previous out-patient surgeries of various types involving general anesthesia, and this is the first time I have not had to deal with the urps.) I was even fine on my not-so-easy ride home from the hospital. As a matter of fact, on the way home Al asked me if I thought I could eat a DQ cone. I answered to the affirmative and was treated to a large chocolate cone which never felt better -- partly because I hadn't eaten since last night, my throat was parched from the insertion tube, and it was 93 degrees out!!

They told me to eat light and bland tonight. But hell with that. We have BBQ ribs, grilled turkey and pasta salad (thank you, Linda), and all of that sounds extremely good to me right now. Al is heating it up and I intend to enjoy my dinner and the anticipated thumping of the Royals by the Twins.

Al took tomorrow off, and will go with me to the shop tomorrow. I don't anticipate having to do much, but I just love to be there. I'm sure I'll be fine.

Thank you,everyone, for all of your prayers and good wishes. Pray for no more cells in that lymph node. I'll be in touch.