Good News...

Whew, all of the scans came back and the rest of my body is cancer free!!!  Praise God!!  The only little thing is a fatty tumor they believe is benign in one of my kidneys.  I want to jump on the internet and research it but I promised myself that there is no research allowed in the evenings before bed (learned that the hard way twice now!).  

The scans did show what they did suspect though.  It does look like my lymph node in my right breast does indeed have cancer and I will be having another biopsy on Thursday to see about that. Looks like Scripps either biopsied the wrong node or totally missed it.  I am told that the UCSD radiology team do a superb job at this so hopefully we will get to the bottom of this. Still praying it is not cancer in the node and that I will only have the mass in the breast to battle (a girl can hope can't she?).  

Here is how it is all laying out with timing...on July 9 I have the "portocath" put in. This is a device that is inserted under the skin near the surface in my upper chest area. Definition:  In medicine, a port (or portacath) is a small medical appliance that is installed beneath the skin. A catheter connects the port to a vein. They will numb that area with an injection each time and then insert the chemo needle through my skin and into the port.  It helps keep the veins from collapsing due to so many injections and treatments. Yuck, I know...tell me about it.  You get the easy part, you only have to read about it! lol

Okay, now that all of our stomachs hurt thinking about that (including mine) the next part will be chemo.  I will have chemo once a week for 12 weeks, each session lasting about 5 hours.  Then I move into stage 2 where I have 4 cycles of treatments 2 or 3 weeks apart.  It all takes about 6 months to complete.  I have an appointment on Friday with the beautiful and sweet nurse practitioner that assists my oncologist, her name is Kim and she is lovely.  She will be going over all of the details of chemo to better prepare us for what lays ahead.  

The big question now is do I or don't I participate in a clinical research trial?  80% of the patients accepted in the trial will get an additional medicine with their chemo but it means 3 extra MRIs, an extra biopsy and blood tests.  I still have to qualify and get accepted but I am not sure.  I have prayed all along that God makes clear my path with decisions and so far He has not let me down so now I need some direction on this one.  Let it come God! 

Blessings

As always I end my post with blessings.  Of course the whole fact that the rest of my body is cancer free is the biggest blessing today without a doubt.  So strange that the news I got on June 9th that was so devastating is now the good news.  You picking up what I am laying down here?  Here I thought it was the end of the world that I had breast cancer and possibly lymph node cancer and now that I got the bejeebees scared out of me that it may be other places I am relieved to be back where I started in the first place.  Maybe God gives us things to fear so we can better accept and appreciate what truly lays ahead for us?  Although this is still a huge hurdle and long road ahead, it seems like so much less in comparison now.  

I also cannot skip mentioning that the girls at the salon prayed over me today before I headed out for my appointment ... it was awesome and so are they!  To be surrounded at work and in my life by women like this is such a blessing to say the least.

Okay y'all. This girl is going to go enjoy some dessert with Joe, Kendall and Christian and then put my exhausted but thankful fanny to bed.  I love you all and thank you for all the prayers, good vibes, good thoughts, good karma and whatever else you are throwing out there for me.