The plan

So what are your plans for the future? Well I'll be fighting cancer. I've had my appointment with the surgeon and it was another long and confronting talk.

Let's start with the good news: after more research the sentinel lymph node was again negative for cancer. The tumor was 1.8 cm and was removed completely. So goodbye to you little fucker. The wounds/scars are healing and I do feel somewhat better. 

The bad news is that it was a grade 3 cancer. Obviously a high grade aggressive cancer that grows faster and is more likely to spread. This means lots and lots of treatment. Not only was my tumor hormone-receptor positive but it was also found her2-positive (a protein thing).

So in short this is the plan:

1) Within 4-6 weeks I will start radiation therapy. About 25-30 times. Probably 5 times a week.
2) My chemo will start about two weeks after finishing radiation therapy (hopefully about 6-8 times).
3) During the chemo my herceptin will start and will continue after finishing chemo (not sure yet how many times but probably a lot). Herceptin has far fewer immediate side effects than chemotherapy. For example, there is usually no nausea or hair loss. However, there is a small but real risk of heart damage and possible lung damage.
4) Last but not least: hormone blocking therapy for five years.

So yeah.. that's a lot. To handle. For one person. I'm pretty scared of how my body is going to cope with all of this. Not to mention the mind. But it's not like I have a choice. So crazy medical roller coaster... here I come.

The sentinel lymph node

Today I had to go to the hospital for the sentinel lymph node thing. A low-activity radioactive substance wass injected near the tumor. After a gentle massage (had to rub my breast in public) I had to wait for two hours. Then they took photos and marked my sentinel lymph node. A lovely blue cross is now covering my armpit. 

Tomorrow about 15 minutes before my operation the physician injects a blue dye in the same manner. One or several nodes may take up the dye and these nodes are designated the sentinel lymph nodes. The surgeon then removes these first lymph nodes and sends them to a pathologist for rapid examination under a microscope to look for the presence of cancer.

This is probably what I'm most nervous about. The concept of sentinel lymph node surgery is to determine if the cancer has spread to the very first draining lymph node or not. If the sentinel lymph node does not contain cancer, then there is a high likelihood that the cancer has not spread any further. But I try not think about it too much, it would not really change my path after all. Because I will still have to do the radiation, chemo and hormone blocking therapy.

I have to be at the hospital very early in the morning (as in you have to get up in the middle of the night). I'm not much of a morning person but this is quite a relieve actually. Better get it over with.

As Arnie always put it, "I'll be back!"