Things are never what they seem
It’s December 26. The MRI is done and the experience was as uncomfortable as I’d expected it to be. Shout out to Dr. T for her thorough mental preparation. The procedure was about 45 minutes long and I had to lie in the “bed” in a Superman position with a hard plastic plate pushed up into the chest cavity between your breasts. Did I mention that I had to lie like that 45 minutes?!?! The purpose of this torture is to get a better look at the tumor, to confirm that lymph nodes are not compromised, and to confirm that the cancer is localized only in the right breast. So I guess the reward makes the experience worthwhile. I would have to wait less than a day to get results, as I was meeting the Oncologist the following day.
Ok, fast forward to the following day. We are sitting in the doctor’s office awaiting results of the MRI. What I had expected to hear was that the size of the tumor has been confirmed, no nodal activity as previously advised, and that we would be proceeding with surgery soon. Instead I heard the following:
the size of the tumor is actually more than twice what the mammogram had shown and that it is very near to the chest wall
The contrast in the MRI highlighted activity in some of the nodes and they were not able to confirm whether the nodal activity was cancerous or if the nodes (being a part of the immune system) were merely activated to fight. I would need a biopsy to confirm.
A CT scan would be required to confirm that the cancer had not spread outside of my breast area since the nodes may have been compromised.
Chemotherapy would be required to shrink the tumor and to get it off of the chest wall before surgery could be performed to remove the tumor. I also learned about the chemo regimen that was suggested for my case, with associated risks.
Prior to chemo, an echo would be required to get a baseline for my heart’s activity and strength prior to starting chemotherapy.
I would need to have a port inserted under my skin in the chest area to receive Chemotherapy intravenously. The port installation would be scheduled for early January with the first chemo session shortly thereafter
Lastly, I was counseled against delaying any of these items as I sought a second opinion.
Whoa! This was a lot of information and it was coming at me really fast. The next thing I knew, I was rushed downstairs for a lymph node biopsy, where the “sample extractor” took 7 samples. By the time I’d finished with the procedure, all of the other appointments had been scheduled. And just like that, I was again waiting for results that could change the course of my treatment and the course of my life. In a week’s time, I’d gone from Stage 1B to possibly Stage 3 … and once again, there was nothing I could do about it but pray.
