The Final Plan so far……
I met with my new surgeon on Monday, the 5th and we discussed the findings of the MRI. Basically he is unable to say with any degree of certainty what makes up the 7.5 cm mass in my left breast (invasive carcinoma = bad; in situ carcinoma = good for cancer; or something else = good, probably fibrosis tissue). This is somewhat reassuring because he did say that with some scans he can tell right away that it is cancer, but to him, my scans do not seem conclusive one way or another.

As he pointed out, the money is on the sentinel node biopsy which we cannot determine until surgery.

I met with my Medical Oncologist (Dr. Dees) today and I love her. She concurred with the surgeon (i.e. no pre op chemo required). So on Thursday, January 8 the surgeon will remove my left breast completely. It is likely an overnight stay at UNC hospital.

I will return to the surgeons office the following Wednesday (January 14) to review the Pathology reports from the surgery. I will also meet with the Medical Oncologist on Wednesday to determine a plan for systemic treatment. All of this could require additional surgery, chemotherapy, and / or radiation therapy. I will also continue the fertility preservation on that day as well.

So, the good news is that I am merely 8 days away from getting a good bit of information about my treatment plan. But the bad news is that I also have 8 days to wait. So with that, any distractions, visitations, get to gathers to pass the time will be greatly appreciated.

Though I may not be posting updates regularly over the next week or so, Carrie will be helping me out and keeping all of you up to date on my progress.

Again, thanks to everyone for all of your love and support.

Gail