Prepping for Surgery

My surgery date is fast approaching - I report for duty at 6 a.m. on Wednesday, June 11th. Colin is taking 3 days off work to be there for the surgery and recovery time. I'll only be under the knife for about 45 minutes, but I'll be at the hospital for 6-8 hours. I don't know what I'll be doing for all that time, but will let you know afterwards! A few days ago I met with Dr. Ryan, my oncologist, for a final exam to give me the green light for surgery. She reviewed the results of a bunch of recent tests (MRI, EKG, mammogram, blood work, radioactive heart scan - alas no superhero powers arose) and said they all looked fine, no problems. Good to know my heart at least is working right! She also warned me that the surgery to remove the lump can be tricky because the tumor is not a solid ball, but kind of a blobby shape. She said there's maybe a 50-50 chance that the first surgery might not remove the whole thing. The way they know if we got it all is that after the surgery, the tissue is sent to pathology, and they check if it has "clean margins." Think of an egg - the tumor is the yolk, and the white is the margin of healthy tissue. They want a 2 mm margin of healthy tissue all around the tumor. So they have to test all the edges as much as they can by taking slices and looking at them under the microscope. If there is any area where the tumor touches the edge of what was removed, this means that there could still be some cancerous cells left inside me, which is bad. So that would require a 2nd lumpectomy. And if they still don't get it all by then, it may still warrant a mastectomy. It will take 7-10 days to get the pathology results after the surgery before we know if we have the clean margins we need. Oh, and we can't start scheduling any of the next rounds of chemo until we have the pathology results to know if the surgery was successful.

Dr. Ryan also reiterated that they'll need to take more tissue than I might expect, and I should expect to be permanently lopsided once everything heals. Cheerful lady! But I understand she wants to give me all the worst case scenario stuff up front so I'm not disappointed. I'm actually happy to be at the surgery phase of my treatment because it seems like a little vacation from chemo. Sure, I'll be in pain for a while, but at least I'll be kind of a normal person for a few weeks. And I should be feeling better just as Ethan finishes kindergarten and has a week of no school before day camp starts. Together with Rachel, our babysitter, I'm planning some fun outings with him.

Speaking of camp, I'm gearing up to go myself this weekend. Officially the program is called "Knowledge Strength & Grace: Living Through Breast Cancer 2008 retreat" but I just call it Cancer Camp. I'll spend 2 nights at a YMCA camp in New Hampshire doing traditional camp stuff (beach, canoeing, sleeping in cabins) plus they have lectures on cancer topics, yoga, nutrition workshops, breakout group discussions, etc. And it's all completely free as they have a bunch of sponsors - well, the price is having a life-threatening illness, I guess. I'm very excited! I get back the day before the surgery, so the timing is absolutely perfect as I should be feeling fine while I'm there. Tonight Colin and I are going to a Red Sox game, and my college friend Kathleen is visiting this weekend, and I'm still not bald, so all in all things are great just now. Ciao!