Over load

On Wednesday I had nothing medical on the schedule so one girlfriend invited me out for breakfast and it was great to meet up with her. In the afternoon, another girlfriend picked me up and I went with her to a book sale and helped her organize her inventory, then we went to an art museum, and later we went to our local candy factory and bought freshly made Easter candy for our families. It was a wonderful, normal day!

Thursday, we were back on the roller coaster. My husband and I both woke up with stomach aches. I think everything just caught up with both of us and we had an appointment with the surgeon in the afternoon. We just didn't know what to expect.

The morning was bittersweet. We went to the cemetery to visit my dad's grave. It was the first time I have been there since the winter and my diagnosis, and his birthday is next week. I have never felt much comfort in going to the cemetery since he died, but I was happy to be there this time. I like to think that in his spirit form he is there for me and will be surrounding me with courage and strength on the days that I will need it most. In a way I am glad he isn't here to worry about me, but of course I wish he were still here and especially for my mom's sake.

After that visit we stopped by the house where I grew up so I could say my last private good-byes. It is on the market now and has had quite a few showings.

Surgeon Appointment

I love my surgeon. I love the way her eyes light up when she talks and how she smiles so much. I love how she stands right next to me when she is talking and how she speaks to me. I like how she makes serious things sound not so bad. I told her that she was so uplifting. She was touched and grabbed my hand and held it for awhile as she continued to talk to me. At the end of our meeting, she got all excited when she heard my husband was an artist and took down the information on his next art show. She blew me kisses when she said good-bye.

I have the date for surgery now Monday, May 2. They will do a lumpectomy, a biopsy on the lymph nodes, and put in the port for chemo. At first they were talking that maybe I would not need full chemo, but now they are saying full chemo, radiation, a relatively new drug called Herceptin, and hormone treatment. They said I had options for treatment and my hope was just a couple of the options would be used, but as it stands I am getting the full Monte!

So this is where I have to talk about my thought process. Before this diagnosis, my knowledge of breast cancer was zilch. I didn't know there were different kinds, and I thought in my mind that a very small tumor, one that can not be seen or felt would not require such aggressive treatment.

But I was so naive. I am one of the unfortunate 25% of women who has a very aggressive and fast growing cancer. Yep, 1 out 5 who have too much of a cell protein called HER2 which plays a role into turning normal cells into cancer cells. I have tested positive for the HER2 gene and that changes everything.

I was up late last night finally reading more about Herceptin and I found that it has only been used since 2006. Before Herceptin, HER2 positive breast cancer was the most fatal. Today with the Herceptin treatment added to the mix, it has become one of the most manageable breast cancers. That information was a great deal for me to take in.

From what I read, there is a Lifetime movie called Living Proof about the doctor who developed it and how he had to fight the FDA to get it approved . He also needed to get private funding to get the medicine developed. You can be sure it is on my Netflix list.

Needless to say, I learned quite a bit last night from my research. I am very, very, lucky to have such good timing if I was to have this type of cancer, and I have a greater understanding on why my oncologist is recommending such a rigorous treatment.