![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gementHi everyone! I have breast cancer.
My prognosis is great. I'm feeling quite chipper about it and dealing with it right away, as in, this week. If that's as much as you want to know, congratulations! You're done.
Edited to add: If this is a nasty surprise and we are friends, it is probably because I do not have your current email address! I tried to make private announcements last week. Please write to gement@hotmail.com or otherwise communicate current contact information to me. Connection is good.
Metaphorically:
Breast cancer, Stage 2A. If cancer stages were dog breeds, Stage 2A would be a well-mannered Basset hound. (2B would be a whippet. I do not have a whippet. I am glad. I will make another post with the full breed list later.) My Basset hound is named Didi.
Didi doesn't particularly shed or chew (clear margins on images) and isn't much of a runner (no obvious lymph involvement). She stays in her own yard by choice (cells still strongly resemble normal breast cells and wouldn't thrive elsewhere) and is very treat-focused so can be trained easily by waving food at her (we can probably shut this puppy down by blocking its access to estrogen and progesterone).
Didi gets to go walkies this Wednesday!
Treatment plan:
Wednesday: Lumpectomy, should be able to get it out in one try. They also remove a couple of "sentinel" lymph nodes that would be the first ports of call if Didi made a break for the street.
After that, everything gets tested and typed and we find out if I need any chemo. Odds are against it.
I will probably just go straight to radiation, which I will start eight weeks later, RIGHT AFTER I GET BACK FROM THE TRIP TO AMSTERDAM AND REYKJAVIK THAT I DON'T HAVE TO CANCEL AFTER ALL!!!!!
Ahem. After that we use one of a few chemical means to stop sending estrogen and progesterone to my breast tissue. Woo, hot flashes at 36! (Bleh.) But that's a ways out and I still have several options to consider there, dependent on what lump and sentinel node testing shows.
Technical version:
Lump, 2.5cm x 1.8cm x 1.8cm (ultrasound measurement)
Irregular shape, angular (but not irregular) edges (ultrasound measurement)
Lump, 2.4cm x 2.4cm x.1.9cm (MRI measurement, difference could just be angle)
No obvious lymph node involvement, calcification, or secondary masses, BIRADS Category 6 (MRI reading)
Biopsy details:
Invasive ductal carcinoma
Estrogen [SP1] 95% positive
Progesterone [PR88] 95% positive
HER2 negative
Ki-67 negative
Mammogram pending, but we don't expectthe Spanish Inquisition any huge surprises.
My prognosis is great. I'm feeling quite chipper about it and dealing with it right away, as in, this week. If that's as much as you want to know, congratulations! You're done.
Edited to add: If this is a nasty surprise and we are friends, it is probably because I do not have your current email address! I tried to make private announcements last week. Please write to gement@hotmail.com or otherwise communicate current contact information to me. Connection is good.
Metaphorically:
Breast cancer, Stage 2A. If cancer stages were dog breeds, Stage 2A would be a well-mannered Basset hound. (2B would be a whippet. I do not have a whippet. I am glad. I will make another post with the full breed list later.) My Basset hound is named Didi.
Didi doesn't particularly shed or chew (clear margins on images) and isn't much of a runner (no obvious lymph involvement). She stays in her own yard by choice (cells still strongly resemble normal breast cells and wouldn't thrive elsewhere) and is very treat-focused so can be trained easily by waving food at her (we can probably shut this puppy down by blocking its access to estrogen and progesterone).
Didi gets to go walkies this Wednesday!
Treatment plan:
Wednesday: Lumpectomy, should be able to get it out in one try. They also remove a couple of "sentinel" lymph nodes that would be the first ports of call if Didi made a break for the street.
After that, everything gets tested and typed and we find out if I need any chemo. Odds are against it.
I will probably just go straight to radiation, which I will start eight weeks later, RIGHT AFTER I GET BACK FROM THE TRIP TO AMSTERDAM AND REYKJAVIK THAT I DON'T HAVE TO CANCEL AFTER ALL!!!!!
Ahem. After that we use one of a few chemical means to stop sending estrogen and progesterone to my breast tissue. Woo, hot flashes at 36! (Bleh.) But that's a ways out and I still have several options to consider there, dependent on what lump and sentinel node testing shows.
Technical version:
Lump, 2.5cm x 1.8cm x 1.8cm (ultrasound measurement)
Irregular shape, angular (but not irregular) edges (ultrasound measurement)
Lump, 2.4cm x 2.4cm x.1.9cm (MRI measurement, difference could just be angle)
No obvious lymph node involvement, calcification, or secondary masses, BIRADS Category 6 (MRI reading)
Biopsy details:
Invasive ductal carcinoma
Estrogen [SP1] 95% positive
Progesterone [PR88] 95% positive
HER2 negative
Ki-67 negative
Mammogram pending, but we don't expect
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2015-07-21 07:12 am (UTC)Please let me know if you need something or just want a shoulder. I know that we are out in Issaquah these days, but it's an easy drive into the city.