What's going on...

I know I said I would post sooner than this, so please forgive me. We got my pathology reports back and there were still some decisions to be made. So, we waited on all that, made  more decisions, and have just been processing and healing.

So, here's what they found out...
-ALL of the invasive ductal carcinoma is out of my body. Praise the Lord! Those margins were all clear.
-I had 3 out of 12 lymph nodes test positive for cancer involvement.
-The margin is not completely clear though. I still have 3 tiny spots that have Ductal Carcinoma In Situ. Basically, that is the beginning of cancer and those spots are not spreading.

So, last week we were confused and disappointed. We were really hoping for a completely clear report and no more major decisions needing to be made. That wasn't quite what we got. We got mostly good news though. We met with my oncologist on Monday, and she seemed fairly happy with the results. She is going to have them test my lymph nodes again to make sure the cancer that was in them was still hormonally driven. If not, I will have to take an oral chemo pill. Yuck! My oncologist is fairly sure that they haven't changed, but she's going to check them anyway.

Bascially, the tiny cancer spots they found could have meant that I needed additional surgery to remove more tissue. After the entire breast cancer team at Presby met last week, they all decided NOT to do surgery. They think that radiation will take care of any remaining cancer cells. This is all so hard to understand, but I'm grasping it better with each day. Basically, the tissue they took out to test as a margin had "focally present" in situ (non growing) cancer cells on the top. They were not imbedded through the margin, and could still be within the margin of error. So, radiation should take care of anything else that was left in that spot. I was really upset about all this at first, but now I feel really positive about it. I don't think that I am considered "cancer free" until after radiation, but I feel like it already.

We met with the radiologist last week, and she was wonderful too. She's actually a young mom that lives here in Lake Highlands, and we have actually talked once on facebook already. I was asking questions a few months ago, and she was so sweet to help answer them. She was really encouraging and seemed to think the radiation would take care of any possible cancer cells that might be there. I see her again next Tuesday to get prepared for radiation. I think I will start the first week of August. I will have daily radiation treatments for 5 1/2-6 weeks. Fun. I will get a pretty awesome sunburn and be pretty tired by the end, but everyone says this part is easier than chemo and surgery.

Yesterday I saw the plastic surgeon again. He is so kind and was very encouraging. He doesn't want to talk about any of the reconstruction process yet because we have to see how I do during radiation. Everything sort of hinges on my reaction to that. He did give me a "fill" in my tissue expanders. (Sorry, probably TMI, but I want to remember this process.) He used a magnet to find where the port in my expanders were. Then, he deadened the skin there. (He didn't need to because I couldn't feel a thing. Ha!) Then, he used saline to fill both sides a little more. Seriously, this whole process is the weirdest thing ever! I have to go back next week to fill the left side slightly more. Apparently during radiation, my left side may shrink down and could be very different than the other. We have to over fill because of that complications. Again, sorry, TMI. Ha!

After getting my "fill," I was actually pretty sore. It didn't hurt nearly as much as I thought, but it just felt weird. The strangest part though is that I got a TON more motion in my left arm yesterday afterwards. I can put my left arm behind my head now, and that is awesome. Again, this whole process is so weird.

Thank you so much for your prayers, cards, flowers, and kind words. You have all been such an encouragement to me. I feel like the hardest parts are (hopefully) behind me, but it still continues to be tough. I know it will be a new normal, but I am so ready to get back to normal.

Ways to pray:
-Please pray that the lymph nodes that they will retest still contain hormonally driven cancer cells so that I do not have to do further chemo.
-Pray for my skin during radiation. Please pray that it reacts well to radiation and that there are no complications. My reaction to radiation greatly affects my reconstruction process coming up.
-Please pray that my kids and I are able to enjoy the rest of summer. We only have a few weeks until school starts, and I know none of us are quite ready.
-Please pray that the Lord would heal my body completely and that I will never have to deal with any of this ever again.
-Please pray for wisdom in more decisions we make dealing with other surgeries and reconstruction.

Thank you again for loving us through this. Your support has meant the world to us.

Just a fun picture from our wedding, 13 years ago.

Watching the fireworks at Firewheel on the 4th of July.

Blurry, but fun!

This is just a silly picture, but it's one I want to remember. This is what I find in my bed most mornings. Henry usually gets up a few minutes before the girls and comes and climbs in our bed. He always leaves his little friends for us to find later. I know I'll miss these little things one day when they are older.