Here’s what we learned Friday at the multi-disciplinary clinic with the care team (I am calling them the Care Bear team).
I have stage 1A breast cancer that’s hormone positive. This is the most common kind of breast cancer, about 80% of all breast cancer patients have this kind. Mine is both in situ (non-invasive—it’s in the duct) and invasive (outside the duct). It’s also small.
Because I have very dense breast tissue (this is not news, I've been told that for years), I need a special kind of MRI to check for any other cancer spots. They’ll check both sides to be sure. That MRI is next Wednesday afternoon.
I’ve also opted for genetic testing both for the breast cancer gene and for additional markers. Those results will take a couple of weeks.
I will have surgery (a lumpectomy) and sentinel lymph mode removal on Monday, May 6. The sentinel lymph node or nodes are the ones that drain that breast. So I’ll have two incision points: one on the breast and one in the arm pit. This is outpatient surgery under general anesthesia, and I’ll be home that night.
I’ll get the pathology report from that surgery in three to five days. If everything comes back all clear, no stray cancer cells, then I move to radiation. Radiation won’t start until 21 days after surgery and will be five days a week for about a month. After that I’ll be on estrogen destroying drugs (don’t know which one yet, that’s TBD) for five years.
What might change this plan:
I have stage 1A breast cancer that’s hormone positive. This is the most common kind of breast cancer, about 80% of all breast cancer patients have this kind. Mine is both in situ (non-invasive—it’s in the duct) and invasive (outside the duct). It’s also small.
Because I have very dense breast tissue (this is not news, I've been told that for years), I need a special kind of MRI to check for any other cancer spots. They’ll check both sides to be sure. That MRI is next Wednesday afternoon.
I’ve also opted for genetic testing both for the breast cancer gene and for additional markers. Those results will take a couple of weeks.
I will have surgery (a lumpectomy) and sentinel lymph mode removal on Monday, May 6. The sentinel lymph node or nodes are the ones that drain that breast. So I’ll have two incision points: one on the breast and one in the arm pit. This is outpatient surgery under general anesthesia, and I’ll be home that night.
I’ll get the pathology report from that surgery in three to five days. If everything comes back all clear, no stray cancer cells, then I move to radiation. Radiation won’t start until 21 days after surgery and will be five days a week for about a month. After that I’ll be on estrogen destroying drugs (don’t know which one yet, that’s TBD) for five years.
What might change this plan:
- If the MRI shows more cancer elsewhere, this plan will obviously change depending on where and how much is found.
- If the genetic testing shows I have the breast cancer gene, then I’ll have a double mastectomy.
- If the path report post-op comes back with cancer showing then I’ll be looking at chemo.
