Surgeon visit

We're finally moving forward to a surgery date. I saw my surgeon Dr. Tsuei today and learned a couple of things about my tumor I didn't know before. It is larger than I thought. Approximately 3/4 inch. Also, it is deep in the breast. That has it's pluses and minuses. I'm hoping for the Mammosite radiation and the surgery site needs to be not too close to the skin, but not too close to the ribs either. To avoid burning either one.

Sometime soon, I will be seeing another doctor. This one is a Radiation Oncologist, one of two in Greensboro that does Mammosite. He is going to review my films and see if he thinks I'll be a possible candidate. We won't know for absolute sure until surgery and the Sentinal lymph node has been tested. I have my films to take with me when I see him. Wish I had one of those bright screens so I could take a picture of one to post on the blog. I'll try to figure something out.

Something I was curious about was how the surgeon knew where the tumor was. I just figured the tissue looked different. Nope, it's by feel. He said if you actually see the tumor you've cut into it and that's bad news. Such delicate work, think I might start having more respect for these guys.

Here's something else that's pretty cool. They used to just go in and basically scoop out all the lymph nodes. Well, through research it was discovered that wasn't necessary and sometimes caused more problems. So now they go after the Sentinal node first, if it's cancer free they stop. The nodes have a heirarchy and once you find one that hasn't been affected you can stop. In order to locate this node they first shoot you up (in the breast) with some radioactive stuff followed by blue dye. Then he uses a tool like a Geiger counter to find the radiation. Where it's the strongest is the Sentinal node. That's how he knows where to cut, and then the node itself has turned blue so he can spot it. Yikes! The materials say you pee green for a couple of days afterwards.

Surgery is scheduled for Monday May 11. I'm so excited! (that was irony) Then they will cut out the cancer and the hard part begins. The therapy. I'll deal with that when the time comes.

I'm still smiling. Frowning or complaining is not going to make the situation any better. I want that when the doctor goes to work on me he's going to think, this woman has a positive attitude and expects (there's that whole expectation thing again) the best outcome here and I'm going to give it to her. What more could I ask for?

NO CANCER!!!

In the mean time I only have a week left to go around and try to elicit sympathy for having ... "the cancer"... deep breath, sigh. I think you have to watch Grey's Anatomy to get the last sentence.