Friday's appointments

I met with the oncologist today and we spent most of the time discussing the benefit to doing chemo before the surgery. The big benefit would be that chemo would shrink the tumor (less than 1% chance the tumor would not shrink) giving the surgeons a bigger clearance to remove it as it’s pretty close to the chest wall. On a less surgical note, the timing for me to have the surgery afterward is a lot better as Teague could take some time off from work then. My chemo schedule will be 6 doses approximately 3 weeks apart. I don’t know exactly when I will begin, but I’m thinking/hoping the 1st full week in December so I can get going on this. The surgery will be about a month after my last treatment. The radiation (if needed) will not begin until after my bilateral mastectomy.

I also met with the plastic surgeon and it made me feel better about this whole process. The downside I came away with is that I’ll be having at least 4 surgeries (ugh!) and this process is going to take A LONG TIME, but this guy knows what he’s doing with reconstruction and I came out of the appointment more hopeful than any of the others so far. I won’t go into the details here (you’re welcome), but feel free to ask questions if your curiosity is piqued when you see me. The stats are that 1 in 8 women will get this (sorry, Ladies) so the chances are some of you will go through this and I am here to help however I can.

NEXT STEP: I have a small surgery on Tuesday to install a port & potentially adding the removal of the sentinel node as well. If this procedure is tacked onto to the port installation I get to be knocked out…..a huge plus for me. Also, I think this procedure is the one that will tell me if the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes and whether I will need radiation or not.

SPECIFIC PRAYERS I’M ASKING FOR:
*that the genetic test I’ve taken will reveal I am not carrying ‘the cancer gene’. If I am carrying it, yet another surgery to remove my ovaries will be added to the list
*that my lymph nodes are cancer-free & radiation is not needed. It will only drag out this whole thing

However the Lord is planning to use this situation for His glory, I'm ready. May my ears be open for guidance on how I can still serve others during this process. Thanks be to Him for holding me each moment this becomes overwhelming.