I am sure that all of you have enjoyed Josh's post and his ability to bring humor in any situation. Laughter is the best medicine!
The results were not great but at the same time not a huge surprise. My diagnosis after the post surgery pathology is Stage III Invasive Ductal Carcinoma. I had 23 positive lymph nodes and 15 negative lymph nodes. I am grateful for those negative ones and will take the 23 for what the are, which is now bio hazard trash! The reason for the staging being a three is the tumor was 16cm. Yeah, that is big and gross!!!!
Treatment for me will consist of about six months of chemo with five weeks of radiation and a complete year of Herceptin. Being that my cancer is HER2+ and an aggressive cancer is a good thing when it comes to chemo. Since the cells divide and replicate rapidly they are killed off faster. There are only certain times in a cell cycle when a cancer cell can be damaged and killed, with slow growing cancers, they has time to spread before the reach the cell cycles that respond to the chemo. So, fast replication and aggressive chemo regimen means we can get those cells and kill them quickly.
There were questions wether I should go on for a PET scan or Bone scan. At this point the results for that would not change the treatment I am going to receive. So, I am not going to do any further test at this point. Once I do my treatments the doctors are going to want to do follow up studies anyway.
Since so many lymph nodes have been removed I am at a greater risk of Lymphedema. I really do not want Lymphedema and I plan on doing everything I can to keep myself from getting to this point. Please pray for me and ask God to spare me this! I know that it may seem silly but I am just being honest.
I have been amazed at the number of calls, texted, letters and prayers that are being sent our way. Thank you for everything. I thank God for you all and pray that He blesses you and your families!
I will probably not be blogging a lot over the next few weeks, but I will pick back up in January and we can go through the fun times that come with chemo, together!
Thankful for the "good" news and praying about the "bad" news. We will definitely be praying about the lymphedema. Love you sooooooo much! Tia
ReplyDeleteCassy...
ReplyDeleteYour direct approach is refreshing...I can focus my prayers where they are most needed and have factual information...so many times people will "fill the blanks" themselves when the facts are vague...there is little to NO chance of that happening in this case!!
Our family continues to pray for you and your loved ones.
In your physical weakness, you exhibit such spiritual strength and we all know who the source of this power is...the Lord God Almighty...Jehovah-Jireh!
May you feel His presence as you prepare to begin your treatment regiment...He has already prepared the way for you...turn to Him in your hours of uncertainty and He will direct your path...we pray for God to be glorified as His will for your life unfolds before us.
Love to you and yours.....
Debbie