Some Good News

Hello Ladies.

I met with my surgeon today to go over the pathology from the mastectomy surgery that I had on June 1st.

The good news is that all margins are clear. So after a lumpectomy (Oct. 2010), chemo (Dec. 2010-Mar. 2011), re-excision surgery to clear margins (Apr. 2011) where residual cancer was found, then the mastectomy (June 2011) where an additional bit of cancer was found - ALL MARGINS ARE NOW CLEAR!

Thank God.

Now I get a month off to heal from surgery and then it will be on to radiation treatments, probably the beginning to middle of July.

I've asked both my oncologist and surgeon the following question -

Given that residual cancer was found post-chemo, how do we know whether or not there could be rogue cells floating around elsewhere in my body that also survived?

I asked this question because I had 2 out of 18 lymph nodes test positive for cancer when I had the lumpectomy back in October 2010 - on the pathology report it was worded as "lymphovascular infiltration identified positive".

Both my oncologist and surgeon have told me that there is no way to know for sure whether there is or not. Fair enough. However, there is a blood test being developed that should be available in about a year's time that will be able to test the blood for rogue cancer cells.

So, I will be followed very closely medically, especially given that I'm TNBC. I will also be extremely diligent in self checking and in changing lifestyle.

So I'm hoping my stomach will settle down now and I'll be able to get some good sleep over the weekend.