Good morning. Wow, mornings come fast! So, yesterday, I got to meet my surgeon, Dr. Woodburn. I felt very comfortable with him and he really seems to know his stuff (I did my research and I was listening to make sure he was hitting all the cues and he did...flying colors.....lol). After reviewing everything, we are definitely looking at a mastectomy, but he thinks it would be difficult to get "good margins" (an area of healthy tissue all the way around the removed tumor) because of the size and placement of the tumor. He decided to test me and throw out neoadjuvant therapy as my possible next step. I passed and he was pretty surprised I knew what that was. I always did like being the smarty pants in class - some things never change. Anyway, in short, that means chemotherapy before surgery, oooh yay! So, now I wait again for an appointment with yet another doctor, my oncologist. I am hoping to hear by the end of the day when they can get me in for my consultation.
On another front, there's a possibility I may hear today the outcome of the node biopsy that was done on Wednesday.......unfortunately, my smarty pants ways haven't been helping me score too good on tests (diagnostics) lately. Speaking of test results, I've been thinking alot about how quantitative they seem to be. My mind thinks of numbers as pretty finite, black and white creatures. But, humans are performing these tests and interpreting the results. Humans make mistakes and sometimes something we think of as fact, changes years down the road when something hidden comes to light. Cancer is very unpredictable. The brainiest scientists in the world have been trying to figure it out for many, many years.....and they can't seem to nail it down. There have been many break throughs that have improved the prognosis of many people facing this disease. But, the result of treatment still cannot be predicted on any consistent basis.
So we do the best we can and look for the glimmers of hope.
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