Crap!

   Well, I have received some more test results and am progressing along in my treatment.  My breast MRI results came back and showed "two areas of enhancement" on my left breast (other side).  My surgeon wanted to do an ultrasound to try and verify what those areas were, hoping they were fibrous tissue or cysts.  Fortunately, but unfortunately the ultrasound was clear and showed nothing...nothing to explain those enhancements.  Therefore, I had to go back in for another MRI to see if those areas showed up again, and if they did I was told they would biopsy those areas.  So, I went in last Thursday scared to death that I would have to get TWO MORE BIOPSIES!  If you remember, I had an initial biopsy through ultrasound on my right breast that diagnosed my original breast cancer, and it hurt like HELL!!  So they did the "second look" MRI and sure enough those same areas showed up.  I immediately panicked (still face down on the MRI table).  So, the radiologist prepped me for the biopsies and proceeded to do two MRI guided biopsies.  Thank the Lord, although it did hurt, these biopsies were not as painful as the first one.  They use a different method for the MRI biopsies, so it wasn't as painful.  I didn't even bruise.
   So, the next day on Friday I received a call from my surgeon letting me know the results of the MRI biopsy.  Praise God both sites were benign!!!!  So he told me that was the last piece of the puzzle and he is now releasing me into my oncologist's care.  I am suppose to start chemo in about a week.  I should find out the beginning of next week what kind of chemo and for how long/often I'll be given it. 
  I did also find out that I am HER2 positive.  Therefore, I am hormone receptor positive, which means my treatment will be extended.  I will be given an IV of Herceptin every 3 weeks for a year, in addition to the chemo.

There's a link

  I was diagnosed with stage 1A melanoma on my left arm in mid-January and had surgery to remove it on February 5th.  Skin cancer runs highly in my family, although I am the only immediate family member to get melanoma.  About 3-4 weeks after I was cleared from the melanoma diagnosis, I discovered a lump in my breast and started the journey of breast cancer.  Of course, the first question my family and I kept asking the doctors was "are the two cancers related?".  First, my breast surgeon said it was "unlikely".  Then my oncologist said "no".  After posting on facebook about my diagnosis, a friend informed me that her mother had melanoma and breast cancer within the same year.  I found this to be very interesting and immediately started research online.  Apparently, there is a correlation!  A study was done in the UK and published in the Irish Journal of Medical Science a few years ago, which proves that there is a link.  This other article is interesting too: "they concluded that survivors had a 28 percent increased risk of a second cancer, mostly due to their 9-times greater likelihood of developing another melanoma than the general population. The most common second cancers after melanoma were breast, prostate, and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma."
 
  After I learned about this information, I started finding more people/professionals who were aware of this study and believed there to be a link.  I also found out a family member of mine has also had both cancers.  So upon learning this new information, my family and I demanded a PET Scan, which scans your entire body looking for cancers.  Praise the Lord, my PET Scan was clear.
  So if you or anyone you know has ever had breast cancer or melanoma, please be aware of this study and regularly check your body for abnormalities, and immediately seek a doctor if you see or feel anything unusual.

Waiting Game

   Well the streak of luck has ended.  I received some not so good news from my breast surgeon this morning.  Some more test results have come in and they are not negative.  The breast MRI I had the day after my surgery showed that the mass is not 1.7cm like they had originally thought (from the ultrasound), it is actually 2.9cm.  The MRI also showed two areas of enhancement on my other (left) breast.  The surgeon said this could be just a cyst, but I will need another ultrasound (and possibly biopsy) on this side now to be sure.  He also informed me of the pathology results from my lymph nodes that were taken out during surgery.  They removed 3 lymph nodes and 1 of the lymph nodes showed cancer.  Apparently though the cancer is super small (0.02mm).  In fact, it is soo small, the surgeon is not sure how to proceed with it.  He said normally they would go in and take out more lymph nodes, but he may just treat it with radiation since it's so small.  My nurse said they would had to have really been looking for it to have even seen it.
  So, right now they have postponed my chemo until they figure out what is going on, if anything, with my left breast.  I have the ultrasound scheduled for tomorrow (Tuesday).  Also, every Tues morning at CHN the cancer doctors get together and discuss between 3-6 patients in a "conference".  There are about 10-15 doctors including breast surgeons, radiologists, and oncologists. My surgeon said he is going to present my case in the morning to the doctors.  This is good news, because many specialists will all be discussing my case and figuring out the best treatment and plan for me.  I am excited to hear what they decide!

UPDATE:  My surgeon met with the other doctors on the panel and they decided that since the "cancer" was soooo minute in my one lymph  node, that they are not even going to really consider it.  Apparently, it is only considered "cancer" if it is over 0.02mm, and mine was exactly 0.015mm in size.  So it's really too small to even deal with.  My surgeon said that because it's so small, he's considering me lymph node negative.  He will not remove anymore lymph nodes (YEAH!!), and the chemo and radiation should take care of small amount that is in there.  Plus he said that the "cancer" was encased within the lymph node.

Initial surgery

  On April 17th I went into surgery for a port placement and sentinel node biopsy.  I had to arrive at 10:30a.  I was scheduled to be at Nuclear Medicine at 11:30a and my surgery was scheduled for 12:30p.  As I mentioned before, my veins are very hard to thread.  After my nurse tried to insert my IV and couldn't, she requested an anesthesiologist to come in and try.  He was successful and said that he got THE ONLY vein that was left!  By the time they prepped me and inserted my IV, it was about 11:35a.  So they walked me down to Radiology where the Nuc Med Tech inserted radioactive dye into my breast.  It took all of 2 minutes, but it stung pretty bad as it went in.  The dye they injected is suppose to tell the surgeon if any of my lymph nodes are feeding off of the cancer.  Apparently, the surgery took about 2 hours and 15 minutes.  I was told that it took me about an hour to wake up from the anesthesia and I was SUPER groggy.  I did NOT want to wake up. Once they moved me from the bed to the chair, I got nauseous and started vomiting.  I also vomited on the way home in the car ;) We didn't end up leaving the surgery center until 6pm!  So of course I slept the rest of the night, and most of the next day.
  Apparently, three of my lymph nodes lit up with the dye, so they removed those and sent them off for pathology to make sure the cancer isn't in those nodes.  I am pretty sore in both arms....the port was put in my left chest, and the nodes were taken from my right armpit.  The first two days my wonderful mom had to literally feed me like a baby because I couldn't lift my arms.  I have a huge bruise under my right arm, but luckily both surgery sites have very small incisions.  So, I am just waiting now for the soreness and pain to go away so I can return to work.
  I have received some more test results in the past few days.  My BRCA was negative, my Echo cardiogram was good (60-65%), and my PET scan was clear!  So far all my tests are coming out great...I hope that continues. 

Wig fun!

 

I have been blessed by a wonderful donation to help pay for a wig.  So my parents took me to a wig shop today and I tried on several wigs.  It was a lot of fun!  Here are a few pictures of some of the wigs I tried on....the one I chose is in one of the pictures (I ordered it with red hair of course).  The shop owner was so nice and wonderful to work with.  She was a hairdresser who felt a need to transition into wigs when her close friend went through chemo.  I can't wait for my wig to arrive!  LOL  I think I look like Velma from Scooby Doo in the top picture :)

Let's break it down

I realized that I forgot to mention the details about the specific kind of cancer that I have.  So here it is:

-I have invasive ductal carcinoma
-It's grade 1
-It's a hormone positive cancer
-85% of all breast cancer patients get this kind of breast cancer
-It is highly treatable
-My oncologist called it an "old woman's cancer"
-My PR and ER were both positive, the HER2 is still out
-BRCA results are still out
-They are doing chemo first, then surgery

I do not know yet what kind of chemo or what kind of surgery I will get.  My doctors right now are leaning towards lumpectomy, but I am leaning towards mastectomy.  My nurse said it is my choice, whatever I want to do....and insurance will cover any decision I make.

My first chemo is scheduled for April 23rd at my Oncologist's Office at Community South.  Right now my day planner is filled up everyday for the next week with appointments.  I am getting a port placed and sentinel node biopsy on April 17th.  I have very "scared' veins that are impossible to "thread" and they said it is imperative that I get this port.  I was suppose to get a breast MRI last week and after 3 different people tried to insert my IV, they gave up and said I had to reschedule it until after the port is placed, so they can just use the port to insert the contrast.  I remember when I was in the ER this past summer, they had to call in the IV team who had to use an ultrasound machine to find a good vein for my IV!!!  I also remember a horror story from January when I had to get a CT with contrast.  The tech stuck me 5 times and blew 2 veins before finally calling a nurse over from the doctor's office next door...who stuck me once and got a good vein!  I was sooo bruised after that experience!  So this port is going to be my best friend!!

The support

When I first told my parents the news of being diagnosed, only 2 months after recovering from melanoma, they were devastated!  My Dad cried...and he never cries.  I actually took the news better than they did!  I have been completely overwhelmed by the outpouring of support I have gained already, only a week into this.  All the emails, texts, and phone calls.  Several people have told me that they have started a prayer chain for me, which means the world to me!  I have people as far west as California, as far south as Florida, and far east as Maryland praying for me.....for ME!  I can't believe the love and support I'm getting.  Thank you all sooo much!  It means the world to me!

This past week has been a blur to me.  It feels like it's all happening to someone else, or maybe like I'm just getting all these tests to just figure out what is wrong with me, because they don't know yet.  It hasn't sank in yet, that I have breast cancer.  Although it is hard for me to say those words.  My nurse told me the other day, how are you doing, because you seem to be taking it awfully well!  It's just because 1) I'm trying to stay strong for my parents, 2) It still feels like a dream.  However, it did start to sink in on Tuesday when I was in the oncologist's office and they walked me by the Chemo room and I saw all the people hooked up to Chemo.  I started crying when I saw that...it became real to me then.  I also find myself crying every time I'm driving in the car alone.  My mind is free to wonder and I start thinking about the future and what I'm going to have to endure and I get scared.

Thank you for all the support and prayers and please keep them coming, not only for me, but also for my family! Love you all!

It's all in a name

Pink Days Ahead:

I chose this name for my blog, because the ribbon color for breast cancer is pink.  EVERYTHING related to breast cancer is PINK!!!!  I hate pink!!!!!  Unfortunately this is the color that is going to get me through my struggles, help me survive and support me for the next year and beyond, so I must now learn to love this color.  By April of 2014, I will be covered in head to toe in the color pink, walking through downtown Indy in the Race for the Cure....this time as a Survivor!   So I must learn to love the color pink!  Luckily, my 2 y.o. niece's favorite color is pink.  In fact, we are trying to teach her her colors now and everytime we ask her "what color is this?", she always responds "pink!"  So I now must take a page from her book and love the color pink!

The news

I am starting this blog to keep everyone informed on my prognosis and recovery.  Instead of answering the same question 10 times, everyone can come here to see how I'm doing and what surguries, exams, tests, are occuring.  Of course, you can still always call, email, or text me too. 

So to catch everyone up to speed, I was diagnosed with breast cancer on April 4, 2013.  I found a lump in my right breast myself.  I was undressing for the shower and noticed a dimple in my breast and knew that was not normal, so I immediately did a self breast exam.  During that exam I felt a large, hard lump.  Once in the shower, I did another exam and felt the same thing.  I immediately grew concerned and called my gynocologist.  Since I have fibrocystic breasts, she had ordered a mammo for me in May 2012 (in which she lied and said she had found a lump so that insurance who cover it). Sidenote: under the age of 35 insurance will not cover a screening mammo (looking for abnormalities), insurance will only cover a diagnostic mammo (abnormality detected/suspected).  I never got around to getting this done so, I called the office to make sure that order had not expired, which it hadn't, so I scheduled the mammo for March 28th.  I went in for the exam and they decided to also do a breast ultrasound.  I found out later, that the mammogram did not show anything, but they could see the mass on the ultrasound.  So they ordered an ultrasound guided breast core biopsy to take samples of the mass and do pathology on it.  I went in for that, scared to death because I'd been told how painful they were......and boy was that true!!! The worst pain of my life!  I'd rather break my arm again than go through that pain again.  Well, 7 days later at 8:30am my gynocologist woke me up with a phone call telling me the results...."It's breast cancer."  My world fell apart.  Only some of you may know that just in January I was diagnosed with melanoma.  So getting a second cancer diagnosis in 3 months was a hard pill to swallow.

Last week I met with my breast surgeon and spent 2.5 hours in a consultation with him, getting more information than my parents and I could handle.  Luckily, part of the Community Hospital breast center care is to provide you with a "navigator" who is a corridinator between you and all your doctors.  She is there is to schedule all your appts, answer any questions, go to major appts with you, and keep all the lines open between everyone involved in your care.  My navigator's name is Sharlee and she is wonderful.  She was acutally an oncology nurse for many years, so she understands what I'm going through and is very informed about cancer issues.

The main question I keep getting from people is "what is your plan?"  Right now I am in the process of getting tons of tests and exams.  The BRCA test has not come back yet (tests for the breast cancer gene).  My HER2 and HER2 by Fish were both equivoqal (sp), so they are sending for a more sensitive test called aqua to hopefully get a definite positive or negative answer.  I go on April 17th for outpatient surgery to get a port placed and a sentinal node biopsy.  Then April 18th is my breast MRI.  They want to do chemo before surgery, so I start chemo on April 23rd.  I am being told that I will lose my hair 2 weeks to the day after chemo starts, and my insurance does not cover getting a wig.....so get ready for this white bald head coming your way!