Consult continued

So now that I am back home and well rested I will fill you in on my day yesterday. When we got to the appointment an oncology nurse was the first person we spoke with.  She was very nice and she was the one who initially filled us in about the micro invasion and the fact that I was HER2 (+).  She also proceeded to tell us that this would involve 5-6 months of chemo along with another IV drug.  To this my mother became emotional.  Now for those of you that know me probably already guessed that all I said was, "Ok, if that is what we need to do, then lets do it." The nurse left soon after that and telling us about the genetic testing that they recommend I have.

Dr. Carlson soon entered.  I knew instantly that I liked him and felt that he was a bright and capable doctor.  It was funny that he felt the need to comfort me the entire time and would pat my leg in support (very sweet).  He asked me to go through everything I already knew, to which he was amazed by my knowledge and the fact that I smiled through my explanation of the last month. He went on to tell us that he did not feel at this time that I would need the chemo, IV drugs or long term hormone therapy.  He also was very apologetic that the nurse had mentioned chemo at all and said he wished that he could take those words back.  I felt really bad for the nurse and hope that she did not get in trouble later on, because it really did not effect me that much for the 10 mins I thought I was having chemo.

Anyway, Dr. Carlson finished his exam and went over a few details about the spacers and the reconstruction process.  I will wait to bore you with all of that for when I am going through it and can explain it all better and in more detail.  As he was leaving he told us about a service provided, for a nominal fee, at the hospital.  It is a suite called the Rollins Pavilion suite.  We went and checked it out and WOW, I call it the presidential suite.  If you have time you should google it and take the virtual tour. 

I also went ahead and did all of my pre-op lab work while we were there.  Everyone at Emory is wonderful and they kept reminding me that it was a learning hospital and I should expect to have 7-9 physicians in my surgery (as if I will be aware of their presences).  My dad was aware of this and of course asked Dr. Carlson if he would be performing the surgery, or would a fellow be performing it.  He reassured my dad that he would perform the surgery in its entirety and the other physicians would simply be there for observation. 

During the pre-op process several people asked me what type of surgery Dr. Carlson would be performing.  When I told them it would be a bilateral mastectomy two of them asked me why...FOR FUN! Really?  I HAVE BREAST CANCER.  Is there really another reason why someone would do this?  No really I am asking if anyone knows of another reason.  I guess I just found it to be a strange question.

All in all I am ready for December 7th to be here.  I am grateful to be home for the next few weeks to spend time with family that had already planned on being here and some that are coming to visit me before the big day.  I love all of you for praying for me and my family!  God Bless!