Well, I figured I should probably give you an update on my week. Some of you already know some of these details, but I'm going to go ahead and write them as if this is the first time for everyone.
Tuesday morning I went in for my biopsy. Patrick and Matt went with and waited in the waiting room (I was gone for two hours, when I returned they were surprised to see me back so soon. Apparently they got wrapped up in a good conversation).
There were 5 other people in the room helping with the procedure. They took 5 samples, which looked like little worms swimming in solution. It was interesting watching on the ultrasound while they went in with the needle and took the samples. They also implanted a marker in there, when they were finished, which is kind of weird. The marker makes it easier for them to locate the spot during future procedures. It was even weirder to watch t hem shoot it into the "tumor." I was able to crack some jokes during the procedure, which was nice. All in all it wasn't a terrible experience. My boob appears to be healing well from the procedure. For a day and a half it hurt like someone punched it or something! Now it has a bruise like someone punched me (I know, right, who thought I would bruise from such a procedure? I never bruise! Ha ha ha...), but the pain is gone.
That being said, the doctor called yesterday with results. It appears they find results quickly when the news isn't as we had hoped. The results came back and... " I have cancer!" (when you read that you're supposed to read it with excitement, and imagine my throwing me hands up in the air like it's something fun. Similar to when Oprah used to give away cars and would say, "And you get a car, and you get a car..." Just insert cancer in place of car ;) I have very little information right now. What I can tell you is that it is "Grade 1" which means it is slower growing. Further tests need to be done to determine if it has spread beyond the known source. I get the impression these tests may be done when I meet with the surgeon. The next step in this process is waiting for a phone call from the surgeon's office to schedule an appointment (hopefully they'll call today. The referral went in after the doctor informed me of the exciting news). The doctor said generally these appointments are on Mondays. From the sounds of it that appointment is not a short one and is where I'll get thrown up on with a ton of information.
The first step, says the doctor, is surgery. I'm crossing my fingers for a lumpectomy with radiation therapy - that seems to be the best case scenario and least invasive. The possibilities after that are a mastectomy and/or chemotherapy.
The doctor said there is a lot of misinformation out there, so if you are interested in doing your own research on the matter she suggested you check out this site: http://www.cancer.org/cancer/breastcancer/
This is all still really new to me and I am trying to take it all in. I am not sure how to handle it and how to tell people, so I hope this e-mail is okay. I apologize for notifying you via e-mail, but I feel like it was the best way for me to do it at this time.
Lots of love,
Megan (your new poster child for cancer patients, yippee!!...;)
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