MRI results (originally emailed 2/19)

Overall, I'm still reeling from the cancer news. It's awful, but I'm trying to keep up a good attitude, and still be there for the people who need me, my family. The kids don't know, of course, so they still expect as much from their mommy as ever. Meanwhile I'm finding myself especially tired and needing lots of extra sleep, though I don't know if I can attribute that to the disease, the mental exhaustion of dealing with the news, the fact that I have 3 little needy and energetic kids, or what. Having now had umpteen "I've got cancer" conversations with people, I've already become numb to describing the situation, and can do it without tears. Everyone I've spoken to both at work and in my home life has been amazingly supportive, so that is very nice. I've even had two wonderful neighbors show up on my doorstep with dinner (two different days, luckily!), great to have one less thing to worry about when I get home in the evening.

A few updates:
- I had an MRI of both breasts on Sunday morning. Colin went with me. I got a sedative for claustrophobia and got to go feet first (and face down) into the machine. Being face down, similar to being on a massage table with a hole for the face, I could see a mirror placed below the face pad which allowed me to see the technicians in their room, and a digital clock which timed down how long each image took, usually 3 to 8 minutes. Then I returned home and slept for 6 more hours.
- This evening I received a call from my surgeon with the MRI results. It wasn't terrific news. They found a few lesions / nodules / masses / spots / somethings on both sides that they want to look at further. They are small, 5mm or less each, so would not have been easy to see on a mammogram. The next step is to look at them in an ultrasound to determine if they appear to be more tumors, or something harmless like cysts. During the ultrasound, they may decide to take more biopsies for testing.
- The surgery (lumpectomy) is currently scheduled for Monday, March 10 at the Faulkner hospital. It will be outpatient surgery, and I expect it to last several hours. However if we do the additional biopsies and get bad news from that, it could change the surgery plan to push out the schedule and potentially change from lumpectomy to something bigger. I told my surgeon that I really wanted to get the big lump out quickly, but she cautioned me that it's better to get the right information up front so they can do an accurate job getting it all out the first time.
- One piece of good news today, is that test results from my first biopsy show it is (or possibly I am?) HER-2/neu negative. Those that are positive for that particular element tend to have more recurrence. The tumor also tested negative for being hormone reactive, so I believe this means I will not be taking pharmaceuticals as a long-term treatment following the surgery and other procedures.

I'm continuing to read up as I learn each new piece of information and plan how to attack this. I'll keep you updated as I know more.