The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

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 these are all aggressive and fast growing cancers. I also have extensive lympho-vascular invasions throughout my breast, and my sentinel lymph node also shows one miniscule instance of micrometastases.  

The Ugly: The pathology shows that some of the IDC is triple negative, meaning that it is not responsive to hormones.  This is NOT a good thing, and frankly one of the worst case scenarios when it comes to breast cancer.  It means that chemo is very likely going to be part of my treatment plan, and if the triple negative cancer shows a certain genetic marker, a double-mastectomy will be coming my way.  However, there is an inconsistency in the pathology report that my doctor is clarifying, so I am holding out a glimmer of hope that chemo will not happen, the genetic marker isn't there, and that I am looking at radiation only, and maybe hormone therapy. 

Overall, I am considered a complex and unusual case.  

The next steps are an MRI in about 4 weeks, and a meeting with either an oncologist or radiation oncologist, depending on what the fall out is regarding the inconsistency in the pathology report.  In any event, hopefully treatments will start the third or fourth week of October.  

October is also Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  To show my support and appreciation for the Juravinski Cancer Center, I have put together a small fund raiser.  I am hand-crafting knit pink ribbon cup sleeves, and am selling them for $7, with all proceeds being donated at the end of October.  If interested, send me a message here, via Facebook or email.  



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