Good news, other news

The tumor continues to shrink, meaning I stay on my current chemotherapy regimen. Hooray! Dr. B did her patented happy dance after the official measurement. Thanks to C's magic formula of antinausea drugs, I also gained 3 pounds. So, November 14 should be my last pre-op chemo cycle.

Which brings me to the other news. Although the tumor has responded well to chemo so far, it did start out as a big, honking, aggressively growing cancer. Now that we have the primary tumor under control, Dr. B has started thinking about the next steps: how to make sure I don't get any more cancer, particularly somewhere vital. Because my primary tumor, though smaller than it was, remains relatively large, and because of its initial aggressiveness, there is a (good) chance that I have secret cancer caches in other parts of my body, and only chemotherapy can really kill those off. The bilateral mastectomy will help make sure I don't get breast cancer on the left side, the radiation will help make certain I don't get cancer in any residual breast tissue on the right, AND will keep the lymph nodes from circulating any remaining hoard of cells. So Dr. B is considering a post-op second round of chemo to make sure that we have also rousted any particularly stubborn colonists from my vital bits.

So the most current plan is: Chemo through mid-November, Surgery early December, Radiation Jan-Feb, Chemo Feb-April?, and then Tamoxifen.

I admit, I was getting pretty attached to this being over in the early spring, but I am MORE attached to never having cancer again.