Lumpectomy, check

Last Monday, September 11th, I had my lumpectomy.  Honestly, the most interesting thing about it was being completely put under anesthesia.  That was a first for me!  Before my cancer diagnosis, I had always been very healthy.  I've never broken a bone, had minimal stitches and the only surgery I have had was my C section which I was awake for.  This was an interesting experience for sure!
I should probably start at the beginning of the day.  One of the first things they did after diagnosis was put markers into the tumors so that when they were gone, the surgeon would know what tissue to remove.  So my day started in mammography.  They needed to find and mark the markers.  Yep, mark the markers :-) Finding super tiny pieces of metal in my breast involved lots and lots of mammograms and it was uncomfortable!  They were successful in finding one.  When they did, they needed to inject a needle in to my breast with a hook on it that basically circled the marker.  I then spent the next hour with a needle hanging out of my boob! Before I left mammography, they my breast with radioactive liquid to help the doctor figure out which lymph nodes had been impacted.

Once I was done in mammography, I was wheeled up to surgery where the outfitted me in the stylish outfit you see above, took vitals, injected me with blue dye to also help identify the lymph nodes (interesting side effect of the dye was that I peed green for a week!),  gave me meds and talked to me about the above mentioned anesthesia.  I said good bye to Hitch and my parents, was wheeled into the operating room, took a few deep breaths from a mask and next thing I remember I woke up in the recover room.  WEIRD!

The surgery went well and all traces of the cancer was gone!  I was home for lunch, slept a lot the rest of the day, the kids (thanks to my mom) brought me flowers, and the pain has been very manageable. All in all, I'm a pretty lucky girl!  The anesthesiologist noticed some weird rhythms with my heart so I'm on the road to figuring that out right now.  I can't continue my herceptin until we figure out what is going on but I should still be able to start radiation on October 9th.  I'll keep you posted!

A Clear MRI!

I went for an MRI on August 25th to see if the chemo had done it's job and great news...it had!!!  The chemo masses were gone and my lymph nodes were back to normal size!  It doesn't change next steps, but it as nice to know that all those days of feeling awful were not for nothing.  So what are the next steps??? Well, I was prepared to a bilateral mastectomy next, then radiation, then reconstruction. I met with my surgeon on the 28th and she had a different plan, one that I love!! I am going in on September 11th for a lumpectomy, if all goes well I'll start radiation on October 9th, then sometime this spring I'll do the mastectomy and reconstruction in one surgery.  I love this plan because it means I will only have one big surgery instead of two.  

Some questions people have been asking....

So, why the lumpectomy?  They placed markers where the masses were and those need to be removed before radiation.  Additionally they need to remove the impacted lymph nodes before radiation.

Why radiation if I've done chemo and am doing a mastectomy?  It's all proactive.  The doctors what to be sure the are able to kill any small, lone cancer cells that are in that area before they have time to grow.  

Why a mastectomy if I'm doing everything else?  I don't want to do this again!!!  My cancer is hormone negative HER2 positive.  The HER2 likes to find cell and encourage the cancer to grow.  If there are no more boobs, then the chance of that type of cancer coming back is very small.  

And I'll finish with a picture that means more to me than almost any other picture I've taken.  My kids have been with me on this journey and they have been rock stars.  Thanks to my dear friend Tanja for capturing this moment!!