Good news

The information from Dr. Lechner couldn't have been better. He says my little spot of cancer is so "straightforward" that, if more cancer is not found during surgery, then he recommends only yearly mammograms after that. No radiation....did you hear that? "No radiation." That's just the best thing I've heard in a long time.

Oddly enough, I've been having a feeling lately that they would do the pathology after surgery and find NO cancer. I wondered if the biopsy could have removed it all already, and Dr. L. mentioned that as a possibility. Wouldn't that be interesting? A friend in the building, Karen, has a group of people who do healing prayers and she was quite sure they would pray all the cancer away. I thanked her heartily.

So on the 8th I go first to the radiology people to get a guide wire inserted. When they did the biopsy they put a metal clip in there to identify the area. So they will use the clip to aim the wire. Then I go across the street to the surgery center. The surgeon will somehow use that wire to guide him to the spot. Amazing.

They will remove the relevant spot plus a margin of tissue all around it. They dye each of the 4 sides of the 'block' of tissue removed. Each side is a different color. Then it's sent to pathology where they look for cancer cells, expected as well as unexpected ones. If they do find a surprise, they can tell by the color of the dye where to find the new guys.

The results will be available by the 10th. I don't know which doctor tells me the outcome, but if it's the oncologist, my appointment with him is the 16th. At that time I not only find out the results of the pathology, but we also will decide on a follow-up plan. Besides the yearly mammograms, I can elect to take Tamoxifen for 5 years as a breast cancer preventive Rx. Trouble is, one of the other medications I take may interfere with the goal of the Tamoxifen so I have to decide what to do about that other Rx. (FYI: fluoxitene, aka prozac)