The Adventures of Toby the Ta-Ta Tumor

One of my favorite movie sound tracks is from the old spaghetti western The Good, The Bag and The Ugly.  Fitting, as that is what is now on my plate.  My post-surgical appointment was yesterday and the pathology reports show is a mixed bag of information.  Without any sugar-coating, here is what I am now dealing with: The Good :  The tumor margins are clear so no more surgery is required at the moment. Toby has been fully evicted! I am staged as 2B and T2(m)N1mi, which is still considered highly treatable with a good success rate of no cancer return within 5 years.  The Bad: Toby was certainly aggressive, and grew from 2.5 cm at my ultrasound on August 4 to 4.7 cm upon removal at surgery.  He was actually a tumor mass composed of 7 separate instances/tumors and three different cancers:  Infiltrating Ductal Carcinoma (IDC); Ductual Carcinoma in situ (DCIS); and Lobular Carcinoma in situ (LCIS). All instances have been graded as Grade 3, meaning that th...

So, here we are - 12 days post surgery.  I'm back at work full-time (remotely) and waiting for my follow-up appointment next week.   Other than having a chuck of my breast removed along with a few lymph nodes (and the related discomfort), the most difficult part of this journey thus far has been the waiting: waiting for my first biopsy results; waiting to see the surgeon; waiting for my surgery day; and now waiting for the follow-up appointment where my official diagnosis, stage, and treatment plan will hopefully be presented.   Truth be told, I have been extremely fortunate.  I found Toby on August 1, which was just seven short weeks ago.  However, time seems to have stood still and it feels like my life has been turned upside-down. To be honest, there have been a few really rough days, especially now that the reality I have breast cancer has finally sunk in.   But there have been some really good days, too! My medical team has been absolute...

 Toby has left the building (cue Elvis music here), and I am three days post-surgery. I will admit that I am a little bit more sore than I expected, and I get these really weird electrical shock-like pains done the inside of my left upper arm as a result of the sentinel lymph node biopsy.  Lots of pretty bruises, too.  However, this is all very normal, and Tylenol 3 is taking care of most of the discomfort. I meet again with my surgeon in three weeks for my post-op appointment, and the pathology reports will be in by then.  The mystery has deepened with respect to one of my anomalies:  the preliminary biopsy report showed my in situ cancer as estrogen-positive, but the area with the microinvasion is estrogen-negative.  Not really sure what these means yet, but the post-surgery reports will contain all of the information that is needed to provided a complete diagnosis, staging and treatment plan.  With any luck, I will be able to avoid hormone therapy ...

 Dear Toby: Happy Eviction Day Eve! You have over stayed your welcome, and I can't say that I am sorry to see you go. In about 13 hours, you will be on your way out the door! Good riddance. As a houseguest, you have been less than considerate.  The entire month of August has not been overly enjoyable having to lug you around everywhere, with the past three weeks being particularly unpleasant with you being a growing and greedy tenant.  I can feel that you have been stretching your legs with the hope of finding some new digs, and any of your minions will soon be on the eviction list, too.   So Toby, since I don't your preferred language, here is your grand send off:  Good-bye; au revoir; adios; hasta la vista (baby!); arrivederci; sayonara; zaijian; auf wiedersehen; do svidaniya; annyeong; adeus; nen ki' wahi; shalom; alavida; viszontlatasra; tot ziens; ma'a as-salaama; bidaya; zdravo; joigin; donadagohvi; sbohem; farvel; totsiens; dovidenja; nagemist; nakem...