Farewell 2014

Happy New Year!  I can't decide how I feel about this new year.  Am I happy to see 2014 come to an end?  Possibly.  Am I looking forward to 2015?  Some of it.  I suppose in the end it will be a year like any other, with ups and downs and everything in between.  Even though some of it will be crappy, I don't expect that will diminish the good parts like my kiddos and the joy they bring to each day (except the moments when they make me feel a little crazy... may those moments be few and far between!).  I'm sure I will continue to be overwhelmed with gratitude for my family and friends.

The dates in my appointment book are starting to rapidly fill in again so here is an update for anyone interested...

Surgery is scheduled for January 8th.  At my consultation last week with Dr. Livingston she confirmed that I am still a good candidate for a breast conserving surgery, more commonly known as a lumpectomy at which time she will also do the sentinel node biopsy.  I didn't really have a lot of questions because it seemed pretty straight forward.  It will be an outpatient procedure so I shouldn't have to spend the night in the hospital or deal with drains or anything like that.  Dr. Livingston said to allow 1-2 weeks before returning to work.

So the hospitals (at least most the big ones I think) have this pretty cool new system called "My Charts" where you can access your medical records with that facility.  It keeps track of appointments, test results, medications, and you can use a message feature to communicate with your doctors.  It's really pretty cool.  My "My Chart" actually has information about blood tests I've had in the past when I had my emergency surgery in 2010.  Lucky for me that's the only other time I've done anything besides have a baby in a hospital!

Yesterday I got an email that I had new messages in my My Charts so I logged in.  Come to find out I actually have to go have something done on January 7th.  No one had really mentioned that... not that it really matters.

Apparently that is when they will inject my tumor (seriously, I have a tumor, I cannot get used to saying that!!) with a dye which is part of the sentinel node biopsy.  The dye will travel to the lymph system and that is how they identify the sentinel (first) node(s) which will be removed for biopsy.  I've since talked to my nurse who gave me that information, although I was in the process of getting in for an eye exam so I couldn't ask a lot of questions... she is sending me paperwork about all this and I'm sure I'll call her with some more questions when that gets here.

Then on the 8th prior to the surgery they will perform a "wire placement" (yet another thing no one had mentioned to me).  I googled what that might mean because it's not anything I've come across in reading or talking to people about this procedure.  Apparently they put a wire into your boob/tumor which then helps guide the surgeon to the right spot.

Today a friendly lady from MSTI called me to set up appointments with more doctors.  My surgeon had referrals sent over after the appoitment last week.  On January 16th I will meet my new medical oncologist Dr. Bridges and then on January 26th I will meet my radiation oncologist Dr. Kuhn.

Thanks to "My Chart" I also think I might have an appointment with someone on January 19th too, but it's not a doctor I have talked to or even heard of... if I don't get a call from a human about that one on Friday I guess I will ask my nurse navigator who/what that appointment is about.

It is good to feel like things are moving along and have a plan in place.  Even though I can't really forget for very long that this is all happening, all the waiting has made it seem less real the past few weeks.  Now it's starting to feel real again, or surreal might be a better word.
 

This blog needed some pictures

And I actually have a few.  They are from back in November when everything started.  There really aren't a lot of photo opportunities related to this subject but of course we found a few things to help document everything.

Driving through the snowstorm for an MRI.  Thanks again to Beth for doing the driving!

 

The slogan for that day was that "cancer doesn't get a snow day" because all the schools were closed.

These scrubs made me feel skinny!

Beth and Stephanie made a surprise (well it wouldn't have been a surprise if I had checked my phone) visit that night after I found out there was another suspicious spot on the MRI (which as you know turned out to be ok).  My friends really are the best!

It became clear very quickly that I needed a place to keep track of all my appointments and phone numbers and everything else... it seemed like more dates had appointments than not there for a while.

 

"Us exam breast."  Juan thought this was funny because it kind of sounded like a caveman was performing the exams or at least in charge of the billing.

More Negative = Good

My BRCAplus panel came back with good news... no mutations in the five genes that were tested.  When we met with the genetic counselor to go over the results on Friday she was sure to remind me that they only tested five (5) genes out of the 20,000 or so we humans have.  

So who knows if one of the 19,995 others has contributed to my situation, but it's nice to know these five are ok.  They actually can test up to 16 genes, but because I really don't have much family history of cancer on either side we decided that wasn't necessary.  The counselor said I should follow-up with her in five years because they will have new technology by then, and there may be some new test that could benefit me.

So who knows, maybe it was the...

• Sugar
• Diet soda
• Birth control pills
• Antiperspirant
• GMO chicken, corn, etc...
• Not eating organic
• Eating processed food
• Not exercising enough/running
• Acidic body
• Alcohol
• BPA
• BBQ
• Microwave

In the end what I really believe, is that crappy things happen to all of us throughout our lives.  Everyone gets their own personal slices of hell and it doesn't matter what it is, when you are going through it, it really sucks!  We have little to no control over most of these things.  We can only control how we deal with them and how we learn from them.  Hopefully they make us a better, kinder, more grateful person when we look back on it.

What's coming next for me... we have a final consultation with the surgeon on December 23rd and surgery penciled in for January 8th.  Things didn't end up happening as fast as I thought they might when this all started!  Now that we have all the various tests results back, I am comfortable with a breast conserving/lumpectomy surgery followed by radiation.  I will make that final decision after talking with the doctor but unless something new comes to light this is the most likely path I will take.

Now that I know my surgery won't be until after Christmas I guess I have to finish my shopping and get ready to travel up to Tekoa to celebrate the holiday with the family!

BRCA2 Negative

One more small piece of the puzzle... yesterday my genetic counselor called to tell me that the results from my BRCA2 test came back negative.  This was great news! (For me, but also my kids and my mom and various other family members.)  

Because of my age (I am so young!  Remember?) it is still recommended to test for a few other most common genetic mutations that can increase cancer risk.  This means more waiting for results.

So they are now testing my blood sample for the BRCAPlus panel.  This panel tests 5 genes.  The BRCA2 is included in this panel so it will be retested because it's just part of the panel.  The lab estimates results will be available between December 8th and 15th.