Told by phone, Invasive Ductile Carcinoma-- little other info

SlowDeepBreaths -- Hooray!!! I am done with chemo!!! I just finished with my two weeks of IV drips yesterday. I'm hoping my D/dehydration will go away for good, now. It was no fun dragging big IV drip around for weeks at a time!

I just had an MRI this morning and will see my surgeon on Monday to get surgery scheduled. So far, it seems like it'll be a lumpectomy. I still need to see a Radiologist at some point... But things are definitely looking up!

Oh, I got a nerve conductivity test and saw my neurologist yesterday... He said my legs were definitely affected by neuropathy (making them weak). But my foot drop/numbness, while still there, seems to be improving slightly... so I'm just going to see him in a couple of months and go from there. I'm definitely walking a bit easier, so that's good, at least.

Thanks for checking in on my progress! You are so sweet! I hope all is going well for you.

Monday 27th April... Saw my surgeon. He sent me for a mammogram. Then said: Surgery can be scheduled NEXT WEEK.

Got the date: May 8th.

It's a segmented MX (LX, basically). Surgeon seemed to waver a bit on whether it should be a LX or MX... Maybe my tumor didn't shrink enough??? I don't know...!!! He asked me again what I wanted and I said I'd go with whatever he thought!!! He stuck with LX. Muttered about saving breast tissue... I guess I'll see how it goes!

I will be getting radiation no matter what, so there didn't seem to be a huge reason to go with an MX...

Went for Chest x-ray, blood work and EKG today...

Meanwhile... I'm still recovering from chemo. Still have the big D. Still a bit anemic due to not eating. But I can eat nearly normally now, so that should be fixed soon. I just hope it doesn't interfere with the surgery.

SlowDeepBreaths -- It seems as if my treatment will be somewhat similar to yours. I'm headed for radiation, too (but haven't seen a radiologist yet). Surgeon thought I'd get it whether I got a LX or MX. I guess it's the HER2+... need the whole works, chemo, surgery, radiation, targeted...

I just got my first Herceptin-only infusion today. I'm a bit sleepy now, but maybe that's just getting up early and having to go out... and still getting over the chemo! They did labs and said I was low in magnesium and still slightly anemic, which is probably causing the fatigue. They seemed to think there wasn't anything that looked like it might interfere with the scheduled surgery... So that's good.

That's good that a LX worked for you, even with two tumors. Of course my one tumor is still bigger! Well, hopefully, it shrunk a bit...! I'll be curious to know just how effective the chemo was in killing the cancer cells...

Thanks again for checking in with me! You are so sweet!

I left Kaiser when I changed insurance during January's Open Enrollment (where they couldn't take into consideration any pre-existing conditions, thankfully!!!). I got a PPO so I could choose my doctors and it cost less than what I was paying KP (they made me pay a lot when I went from Cobra to Individual, since I had Type 2 Diabetes and was older--in my 40s at that time... and I hadn't tried to change under Obamacare, which was probably stupid).

So yes, I changed my doctors! I'm going to docs up in Santa Monica and West L.A. -- associated with UCLA, St. John's and Cedars-Sinai. They are all very good and give me a ton of tests and scans and refer me to specialists when needed, with no problem. I had to fight too much to get scans and to get stuff like Perjeta at KP (They only approved more scans and Perjeta when I got the outside 2nd Opinion letter and gave it to my KP MO so he could use it to get approvals). It's just easier for me to not worry as much with my new doctors.

Radiation... Yeah, at KP they thought maybe I might not need it if I had an MX... but I think they were still thinking I'd get it anyway, since they had me see a Radiologist... My current doctors have said outright that I'd get rads no matter what. I guess it's the HER2+ ??? I'm still not totally clear on what determines which treatments!

I WISH I could skip the SNB, since all the scans and tests have shown no lymph involvement... but I guess the docs want to be totally sure and I guess it's probably better to be sure than sorry later... Ah, well.

I just got my post-chemo MRI report and it showed that my tumor shrunk, but response was still incomplete or partial... I guess that's still better than not responding at all! I wonder if it mattered that my taxotere was reduced?

I am already slated for Herceptin for a year. I wonder if I'll have to have anything else because of the incomplete response? I'm PR- so that rules out some targeted treatments...

Wow, I can totally understand wanting to skip a chance at more lymphedema if you've already got it in your leg. I'm glad that you could do that. Lymphedema sounds terrible. And it makes sense if it doesn't change your treatment.

I liked the clinic at my KP, and everything seemed to run like clockwork there, with the people being very friendly... But it was a little worrying that my MO didn't seem up on the latest chemo & targeted treatments. I sort of suspect they DO know about the latest stuff, but just stick with the standard because that's what KP approves of doing. I just figured I didn't want to deal with getting an outside 2nd Op. every time something came up, so I just went with my 2nd Op guy! But I have to say that KP was going to give me everything I wanted once I got that 2nd Op letter... So it wasn't that that I had to fight too hard. They seemed to give good care, really.

Did you get a "complete response" from your chemo? I'm still kind of bummed that I didn't...! But I need to stop worrying... I mean, it won't help anything, What happens, happens. I just would really like my margins to be clear, since I'd prefer not to have to get a mx or bmx if they need to go back in and take more... But I guess I'll just have to wait and see... And not to much longer since surgery is on Friday, and just have to get through that and wait for the path...

SlowDeepBreaths --- Thanks for the good wishes! I went through surgery just fine (as far as I can tell!).

I had that wire-location thing before-hand. That was strange, but if it helped pinpoint the areas of the tumor, I figured it was all good. They discovered some more extensive calcifications, though, so had to put a third wire in... but that wasn't too much of a deal since I was already getting 2. The process took as much time as the surgery-- and the surgery seemed to take no time since I was out for it. The wire thing was only slightly uncomfortable when they injected the numbing meds (lidocaine?). And of course, it was done by mammogram, so that's never the more comfortable thing-- but none of it was painful, and I really didn't feel anything after the injections!

Things went quickly (for me, anyway!) after that. Got wheeled into the OR, told to scoot over on the table and then I don't remember anything until they said to wake up, that it was over and I needed to scoot back off the table onto the gurney.

I was awake after that... slightly fuzzy at first, but the nurse said I seemed very awake, so I guess I was more awake than some. Felt like my breast had been pummeled, though, but they gave me meds through the IV and then everything was fine. My surgeon had to run to a meeting, so I talked to him by phone and he said it didn't look like there was lymph involvement as far as he could tell from the blue dye. But I'll have to wait until the path, of course, to be sure.

They filled my prescription of pain pills before I left, which was great. I took one when I got home and then another before bed. Slept just fine. Also did a bit of icing when I could. Felt a bit of an ache--mostly under my arm, this morning, but popped another pill and put another cold-pack on and am feeling pretty good.

I'm really hoping the path will be good new, but since I can't do anything about it, I'm going to try not to worry about it.

So far, so good!

I'm going to take it easy this weekend and not worry!

Thanks, again for all the support!

PATH report -- Clean Margins. No nodes involved (out of 2 taken in SNB). Yay! Bad: Grade 3 instead of 2... --but I don't think that changes my treatment...???

Healing well from the LX. One week out. No pain.

Radiology mapping appointment next week...! Will start 7 weeks of radiation daily in early June...