Boobs On Ice™ : The Breast Surgeon

I'm tired. I started the day before dawn and if you know me you know that I only know dawn as the time when I think: "Oh it must be time to go to sleep; it's almost dawn."

It was meeting with the breast surgeon day and he fit me in as a favor to an old friend, my diagnostic radiologist Dr Rose. The catch is I had to leave home at 6:30 to be in DC on M street before 7:30 . . . .

AM that is.

It went well. I'm just too tired to write much about it. Somehow I kind of gave out about an hour ago but wanted to update this before I veg out completely.

How I was lucky enough to get this referral I don't know because this doctor is absolutely super to talk to. I'd say almost fatherly if he wasn't about my age, so I'll say brotherly. Uncle-y?

One daughter drove, another went along and of course my husband was with us. Doctor Flax talked to us together, answering questions about their concerns and mine, validating opinions, and winning at least three of us over by drawing on a folded up piece of paper on his desk. We all liked him a lot.

He reminded me of me. It's exactly my approach to explaining stuff. Only he didn't use a napkin. Somehow I wind up explaining stuff in some food place - don't ask.

He showed us the nasty cancer tentacles on multiple sets of images in the light box. He drew diagrams and talked about cancer cells and the gnarly invasive ones that I decided to get. He talked statistics and choices.

In the end I walked out with a plan - up to a point.

We do a mastectomy with reconstruction before the first of the year, when he and the plastic surgeon can get an OR and a free time to operate.
We use Sibley Hospital where there are more breast surgeries than any other hospital in the DC area (and where my youngest daughter Kate was born 22 years ago)
During surgery they'll biopsy the sentinal nodes as well as the axial nodes. (chart) If any test positive for cancer we do chemotherapy after surgery.
Beyond that, the plan is to go with the flow of what needs to be done

I'm at peace with the decisions we made and now it's up to the scheduling guru for Doctor Flax, the amazing Rose, to get us all to the right place at the right time to get it all done. Peas2

You'll know more next week when I know more.

Peas3 But that wasn't all there was of today, because I came home to find out that this was the day that the twitter army unleashed their Show us Your Peas to Support Susan campaign.

Peas5 More on that later too - but let's just say it made me laugh out loud, cry, take screen shots, cry some more and topped off my day like nothing else could.

About My Cancer

Invasive Lobular Carcinoma
My form of breast cancer is less common than others. In fact only about 6 to 8% of cases of breast cancer are the invasive form that is based in the lobules, not in the milk ducts.
Invasive, sometimes called Infiltrating, is a scary word. In most cases this form of breast cancer has been present for 8–10 years when detected by a mammogram or physical exam.
In my case there was clearly an area that felt thickened or dense on December 6, 2007. A mammogram the next afternoon was not able to detect it but it clearly appeared on ultrasound and was confirmed by multiple biopsies the same day.
During those 8 to 10 years the cancer took to become apparent to me, there has been plenty of opportunity for those invasive cells to get out of the breast and spread to the rest of the body.
It is after all, by definition, an invasive form of cancer.
Each year about 190 thousand women are diagnosed with invasive breast cancer in the US and about 40 thousand women will die of the disease. The larger the mass is when discovered the more risk. Mine had tentacled almost 5cm into the surrounding tissue and two other areas in the breast were discovered as well.
My chances of living another 10 years without cancer in another area are about 40%. The likelihood of one of my other underlying health conditions doing the job before that is 20%. it took a few months to get used to that idea.
Now though my attitude is that at least I know what I'm facing. It's just not what I expected. Life changes in an instant.

Comments

i'm so happy that you have a doctor that you like and a plan. i pray they don't find any more bad stuff. It must be comforting in a way to be able to take care of things so quickly. thank you for sharing your experience with us.

loads of love and healing thoughts,
angela

Posted by: angela penny | Dec 15, 2007 at 12:41 AM

Do you know how wonderful you are to share this with all of us? Do you know how lucky we are to know you? And do you know that three pea-ple told me they did their breast self-exams yesterday?

Let there be peas on earth, and let it begin with thee. :-)

Take good care of yourself. We all love you.

-Laura K

Posted by: laurak | Dec 15, 2007 at 11:42 AM

I am delighted to hear that you have found a good doctor and have a clear plan of attack. I know you will come out of this stronger than ever! Peas be with you!

Posted by: Marti | Dec 15, 2007 at 06:09 PM

I'm keeping you in my thoughts and prayers. I'm glad you found a doctor who you connect and can talk with. You are amazing and brave and I can't wait to get to know you better (Thank you Connie Reece!).

My Mom and her sisters were each touched by breast cancer - if you ever need another set of ears (although I'm sure you're stocked up!) mine are available.

Peas be with you.

Jane

Posted by: jquig99 | Dec 15, 2007 at 07:37 PM

Susan, no fear! It sounds like you will be fine. I know it sounds harsh to say that when right now it seems like such a big thing, but so many of my friends are survivors. It is all about getting the right treatment quickly. There are nutritional support rules, too. I don't know them by heart, but I know my daughter looked them up once for a friend of hers. My late husband told me that breast cancer was an epidemic in the US, and that risk factors mean nothing when 1 in 7 women get it. Stick with me, I'm an optimist. That's always a help once all the info is in.

Posted by: Francine Hardaway | Dec 15, 2007 at 09:04 PM

Bottom line - we love you.

Posted by: Dayngr | Dec 16, 2007 at 04:40 PM