This week has been surreal. I feel totally fine and have all my hair. I\u2019m ever conscious of the ticking clock. One more sleep until it all changes\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This afternoon we met with my surgeon, Dr. Priscilla McAuliffe. We really like her. After a quick exam, she explained how I got here, what\u2019s happening, and our next steps. She was prepared with drawings to explain the kind of cancer I have and how it formed. She emphasized that it was not my fault for thinking it wasn’t cancer when I first discovered it. Women\u2019s bodies are weird, and for something to not be there one day and appear the next, of course I wouldn\u2019t automatically think breast cancer. That I noticed it in July and am starting chemo in mid-September is faster than the majority of women, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr. McAuliffe disagrees with the radiologist\u2019s assessment of two adjacent masses. She thinks it\u2019s one, in the shape of an 8. That\u2019s what it feels like to me too. The staging is determined by the tumor size, node status, and whether it has spread. My tumor is 4 cm on the mammogram and 3.5 cm on the ultrasound. Because it is between 2-5 cm, that makes it a T2 in size. It doesn\u2019t look like I have anything in my nodes, and the cancer has not spread. So the equation she wrote out is: T2 N0 M0, which corresponds to Stage IIA. Of note: she called this a clinical stage based on the evidence we have. The true stage will be revealed after surgery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She agrees with Dr. Brufsky\u2019s course of treatment. The biopsy report says the tumor cell proliferation index is 95%. This means that it\u2019s fast growing but also, ALSO! that it happens to be the kind that responds very well to chemo. Because I have a very low ER (Estrogen receptor), this means I\u2019m \u201cTriple Negative Like.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unfortunately, there\u2019s still some information we need from genetic testing. I called the genetics program earlier this week, but was told appointments are booked faster when requested by the doctors. Dr. McAuliffe\u2019s office will call and arrange that. I asked the nurse how long it takes for genetic testing results to come in after that appointment, and she said 2-3 weeks!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Genetic testing will be useful for several reasons. It will tell us if I have potentially passed anything on to the kids. If I have a gene mutation like BRCA, then it might inform the kind of surgery I get. There are other gene mutations for breast cancer besides BRCA as well. If there is a mutation, there is a higher chance of recurrence as well as other cancers. But if the gene tests come back negative, then there\u2019s less risk of recurrence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, MORE WAITING! You might as well tie me up, gag me, and make me watch people eat desserts I can\u2019t eat! Torture, I tell you!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Midway through my chemo treatment, and after another round of imaging, I\u2019ll meet with Dr. McAuliffe again. At that point we\u2019ll get into the weeds about my options. Surgery will be needed for a lymph node biopsy and removing cells impacted by the cancer. Interestingly, she said most recent studies show that doing more aggressive surgery for TN doesn\u2019t impact outcome – if there\u2019s no genetics issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Continuing the trend of getting ALL THE THINGS, it looks like I might have radiation either way. If the breast isn\u2019t removed, then I definitely need radiation. If I have a mastectomy, I may need daily radiation treatments if there\u2019s still cancer left after the chemo. Either way, it would be a month after the surgery, to give me time to heal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And then I\u2019m still not done! I\u2019ll need to be on a pill after that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So basically I\u2019ll be on chemo until spring. I can\u2019t fathom that right now! I only have tomorrow and the next treatment scheduled; I\u2019ll ask tomorrow when we line up the rest. My port installation did get moved to the day before my second treatment instead of the same day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The office will take care of the next appointments. All I have to do is let them know if there\u2019s a delay. They gave me a 3-ring binder with my test results, Dr. McAuliffe\u2019s drawings and schematics, and information about surgery and other things that I\u2019ll probably ignore until I know what I\u2019m getting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the way out of the hospital, I saw a woman in a wheelchair with what looks like a new port installation. That\u2019ll be me in three weeks\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the way out of the parking garage, we saw a pregnant woman smoking. Here I am, trying to save my life so I\u2019m here for my kids, and this woman is killing herself AND her kid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The next stop was a wig consultation at a salon in Shadyside. Of course they didn\u2019t have any curly wigs in stock but I tried a wavy blonde wig on to get a sense of how it feels. Gabe, the stylist, put Bobby pins in my hair so it would be easier to get the wig on. He said the wigs have some give which meant it felt ok with my CI. It\u2019s not worth getting real hair (very pricy and high maintenance). Synthetic wigs are low maintenance and have a wide price range.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And no, I did not look better as a blonde!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We narrowed in on one possibility though it\u2019s actually too short and curly. But he said it stretches so he can brush it out a little. If I don\u2019t like it, I can try a different one. We determined that my hair color match is medium brown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He gave me a web site to check out, which has some newer styles. If I go forward with them and place the order (with a deposit) it\u2019ll only take 2-3 days or a week, depending on the company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have a virtual consultation on Wednesday with AHN, which offers free wigs to cancer patients even outside their network (which I am). I might see what those options are before I order from the salon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I don\u2019t know how often I\u2019ll wear a wig but can see it being useful, especially if I don\u2019t like how I look in other head coverings! During this period when not much is under my control, hanging on to any shred of vanity gives me some agency.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This week has been surreal. I feel totally fine and have all my hair. I\u2019m ever conscious of the ticking clock. One more sleep until it all changes\u2026 This afternoon we met with my surgeon, Dr. Priscilla McAuliffe. We really like her. After a quick exam, she explained how I got here, what\u2019s happening, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-86","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inmyhead.com\/wordpress\/fcancer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inmyhead.com\/wordpress\/fcancer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inmyhead.com\/wordpress\/fcancer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inmyhead.com\/wordpress\/fcancer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inmyhead.com\/wordpress\/fcancer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/inmyhead.com\/wordpress\/fcancer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89,"href":"https:\/\/inmyhead.com\/wordpress\/fcancer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86\/revisions\/89"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inmyhead.com\/wordpress\/fcancer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inmyhead.com\/wordpress\/fcancer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inmyhead.com\/wordpress\/fcancer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}