Best Birthday Ever

Today, I had the best 35th birthday I could imagine. For those of you tracking at home, my birthday is actually in June. But, this year I was in Africa for my birthday and Zack decided that we would celebrate when I was home and rested. Turns out, he has had a surprise party planned for weeks. Unfortunately, I ended up having my CT scan rescheduled to today - right in the middle of the party that I didn't know I was having. He made a lot of frantic phone calls last night, and changed both the time and venue with 18 hours notice.

To everyone who changed their plans to drive an extra hour each way to come to our house and celebrate my birthday: you gave me the greatest present I could wish for. I didn't think about having cancer for hours. I felt happy, and normal, and that life goes on.

To everyone who wanted to, and just couldn't make it: I know you would have if it were possible. Thanks for the food, presents, and good wishes. You can come to the party next year. Because there is going to be a blow out.

(Sidenote: 900 mL of 'vanilla smoothie' barium suspension is not the world's best pre-party fare. But barbecued chicken balances it out.)

Status Update

Got the pathology report tonight. Official diagnosis: invasive ductal carcinoma. Team MD calls this a locally advanced breast cancer (LABC) and preliminarily rates it a stage III cancer.

We are grateful that this isn't an inflammatory breast cancer (which we thought it might be at first), but it is still pretty hard core. The CT scan tomorrow will (cross fingers and toes, light candles, etc) rule out stage IV - distal metastatic cancer.

Leg bone connected to the....

Today we started the whirlwind of tests. Dad took me to LFH for a bone scan to see if the cancer had spread to my bones. (Three cheers for a dad who drives 2 hours each way to drive his daughter back and forth to the hospital twice, waits in the waiting room for a few hours, AND buys her lunch.) The bone scan entailed getting a large shot of radioactive dye. Several hours later, Dad and I went back to the hospital for the scan itself. The tech strapped me to a very narrow table, even rubber-banding my feet together so that they didn't move. She then programmed a huge camera to slowly move up my body and do the scan. Painless, but a little tiring. (of course, that could also be because I couldn't have any coffee today) And, I got a cool souvenir picture of my skeleton to take home!

For more information on bone scans, this was a good description (mostly because there is a picture of the scan): http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/Bone-Scan?page=1

The scan didn't show anything really worrying, though Team MD want to keep an eye on my shoulders. One test down, two more to go.

In the Beginning

Last Wednesday, I visited my OB-GYN (Dr. H) with a lump in my breast (medical records always say 'complaining of' - I wasn't complaining then, but I could be tempted to now). She took a look, stepped out, and called her colleague (Dr. F) at the Women's Breast Imaging Center. When she returned to the room, she told me to get in my car, drive over, and have an initial mammogram and ultrasound done. I called Zack, and he met me there. Based on the results, we knew it was breast cancer.

Thursday morning I went back to Dr. F for an MRI and biopsy. The good news: Nothing on the left side. The bad news: the tissue was too hard for a good biopsy.

Friday afternoon, Dr. F called with the biopsy results. Cancer, but the pathologist couldn't determine what sort from the sample.

Weekend: Frantic research. Thank you, Jemma's uncle, for the great articles!

Tuesday, we visited the oncologist (Dr. B) for the first time. She recommends chemotherapy, followed by surgery and radiation. She also sent me for a whole bunch of tests. Zack and I were bustled across the street to the hospital for a second biopsy (this time with Dr. R). Of course, we had to wait for half an hour to check in first. Hurry up and wait. Good news: Dr. R thinks the tissue will be enough for the pathologist. Bad news: the mass looks bigger than at last week's ultrasound.

Summary: Yes, cancer. We don't know what sort (ductal or lobular, spreading or in situ), or what stage (I=good, IV=bad). Pathologist will call Wednesday afternoon with the type, and Friday with the stage and characteristics. Wednesday, I have a bone scan to see if the cancer has spread to the bones. Thursday I have a CT scan to see if the cancer has spread to any other organs. And Friday I have a MUGA scan to see if my heart can handle particular kinds of chemo.

We're keeping our fingers crossed that our insurance will pre-certify everything in time. It's been a whirlwind!