All Good News!

My surgery yesterday went wonderfully well. It couldn’t have had a better outcome short of finding out that the lump wasn’t malignant after all.

Dr. Kollmorgan did a lumpectomy and dissected the sentinel lymph node. She found no cancer cells. More testing will follow to confirm her finding but it certainly sounds like good news to me. Chuck and I are both giddy with relief and happiness. Of course the Percocet may get a little credit…

Even with the optimistic findings so far, there will be radiation treatment for sure and probably chemo therapy as well. They want to clean out every stray cancer cell that might be lurking in my body. We will know the schedule after we meet with Dr. Cho May 20th. I will see Dr. Kollmorgan again on May 8th and she will have the results of the tissue and lymph node tests by then. Even if the decision is to do both radiation and chemo, the treatment will be much easier on me knowing that we are just cleaning up rather than trying to control a cancer that has spread to other areas.

This surgery has been one of the “easiest” I have ever had. The pain is quite manageable and my mobility is very good. Of course the Percocet is helping on both counts. I haven’t peeked under the dressing yet but I can tell there is plenty of breast tissue left. One of my expectations was that I might wake with a cavern where my breast used to be. I was prepared and willing to deal with that but am glad I don’t have to. Once the treatments are over, I can think about “rightsizing” leftie, but that is not something I have to deal with now.

For now, I just want to enjoy the giddy good feeling of having so much anxiety lifted from me. I am full of gratitude for the prayers and love of friends. I won’t give the Percocet credit for that!
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