Surgery update

 Jonathon and I met with my surgeon Weds.

First off, he was THRILLED at how much smaller my tumor is today. The last time he saw me in the hospital, he basically told me that after he performed the ultrasound on the mass before I thought he was taking me back in for the planned mastectomy, he went into the room next to me and said, 'oh shit.' He had to come back into my room and tell me that my cancer was worse than he thought and I had an inoperable tumor. He and my oncologist did every dang thing they could to get me into immediate cancer treatment and shrink the mass down. It worked. My tumor is much much smaller than the last time he saw me! From his last ultrasound in November, the mass is almost 75% smaller. Wow. He actually started jumping up and down and did some kind of version of a 'happy dance.' An older white guy nerdy surgeon version. haha. It made us feel much better about the last 5 months of the crazy chemo ups and downs.

So from his perspective (what he could see before chemo compared to the exam this week), what he knows is that my tumor has responded to chemo and I should keep on keepin on with what's working until my treatment is complete and then come back in a month for surgery. BUT taking into consideration that both I and my oncologist report that this mass has changed in the past month and we can't really identify what about it has changed (either non-responsive to treatment or just some palpable necrosis and scar tissue) and also taking into consideration that the last time I told him that my tumor was growing, it really was growing and before we got me into the operating room a week after I told him it was growing, it was too big AND I had a palpable lymph node, he consulted one more time after my appointment with my oncologist and everyone agreed that the best decision is to go ahead with surgery right now that we know for sure the mass is operable (in fact, it's small enough that I am a candidate for a simple lumpectomy!). P.S. I'm definitely NOT having a lumpectomy. More on my surgery decision and plan later...

Are these the best circumstances no, but we are definitely in a better position than I was in November, so WIN. This was for sure the best appointment I've had with my surgeon to date...better than the biopsy appointment, also better than the time he told me I had cancer, and the last time I saw him, he told me that my cancer was actually even less awesome than he told me 10 days prior...so leaving there with a smaller operable tumor and a plan to get this baby out of here and get my butt back to the oncology center for more cancer treatment was not the worst thing that's ever happened to us in that office :)

So...my surgery is scheduled for bright and early Monday morning. I am feeling very behind in planning for this, but very grateful that it's in the books so quickly. I will update you with more details on the procedure and how you can help if you're looking for how to help us this weekend...it's Aunt Stinky's big 3-1 birthday, so we are having a sister celebration extravaganza. No time to talk about cancer right now, Justice and I have slumber party games to plan :)

WIN THE DAY!
Jenn