I’m not feeling at all clever today, so this post will be a bit more stark than previous. The surgery happened. Unfortunately, in the process of removing the tumor, a secondary cancer was found. This one is a lobular carcinoma…less than a centimeter, which didn’t show up on any of the extensive testing we did in the two weeks before. In addition, the lymph nodes came back positive for microscopic cancer invasion. All in all, this new sucks!
Lobular carcinoma are much more serious, especially in younger women. They don’t show up on mammograms, because the tissue density of premenopausal women hides the developing cancer. Due to this we have decided (my team of doctors and I) to do a bi-lateral mastectomy with immediate reconstructions. That means both sides. The chances of a lobular carcinoma developing in the other breast is very high, especially as I’m so young.
I’m due to talk to the plastic surgeon on Monday and will probably (hopefully) be back in for surgery sometime next week. In the process they will also implant a portable catheter (portacath) to facilitate my chemotherapy. Radiation will obviously not be needed at this point. The right mastectomy will involve removing more of my lymph nodes in the hopes of finding some that are not infected. The left will be a simple mastectomy.
I’m very down right now…mostly because I really just wanted the surgical part of this to be over. I hate hospitals, no matter how wonderful the staff, and I always feel like a victim rather than an active participant in my treatment. I want to move on to the treatment stage, where I can at least feel like I’m a part of getting free of this insidious disease.
GrnGrl 