We have a surgery date!

We have a surgery date!  It is August 22nd.  Although we would like that to be sooner, we also want to make sure that we have the best doctors.  So, because of difficulty lining up doctors' schedules, July being a popular vacation month, and the busyness of the doctors that we have chosen, that is the best we can do.  The breast surgeon (basically the architect of my treatment) does not seem too concerned about the date being a few weeks away.  She assured us that I have probably had this cancer for awhile and that it is a slow-growing cancer.  If she was very concerned about getting this out as soon as possible, she would urge us to go with a different plastic surgeon. Even if we did go with a different plastic surgeon, it would only be a difference of a week or two. So, we have decided to go with the August 22nd surgery and stick with the doctors that we feel most comfortable with.


Some of you may be wondering about my doctors appointments in Pittsburgh last Tuesday, the 15th. Here is a picture of us having so much fun at Allegheny General Hospital:

Overall, it was a successful day because we were able to fit in the genetics counseling/testing, an MRI, and an initial consult with my plastic surgeon.  It was great to have it all on one day, because then I didn't have to worry about taking too much time off of work. Our genetic counselor, Kyla, was awesome and very patient with all of our questions.  Both my mom and sister Natalie were able to come to that appointment with us, which is great, because the results of the genetic testing may ultimately affect them.  At the appointment Kyla basically explained genetics, genes, and DNA.  She explained the breast cancer genes (BRCA-1 and BRCA-2) and how they are passed down.  I gave a saliva sample and they will be testing for mutations in my genes that may make me susceptible to cancers (like breast cancer). If I have one of these genes, it would explain why I got breast cancer at age 27.  However,  it would also mean that I am very susceptible to other cancers in my lifetime, as well, like ovarian cancer.  It would also mean that I got the gene from my mom or dad's side of the family and that my siblings have a 50% chance of having the gene as well.  Any future children would also have a 50% chance of have the gene. Needless to say, we are hoping that when we get the results in 2 1/2 weeks that I do not have the gene!  However, if it turns out that I do, I will have regular screenings, my siblings would get regular screenings, and family members would have the opportunity to get genetic testing as well. Overall, it was a lot of helpful information and Kyla could not have been better at helping us to understand it. They promise to get my results to me within 3 weeks.


Next was my consultation with Dr. White, my plastic surgeon.  After meeting him, Craig and I feel like I am in really good hands for my reconstructive surgery.  He is a highly recommended doctor with excellent bedside manner.  He basically went over all of the options for reconstructive surgery and which ones he thought I would be a good candidate for.  Essentially, implants are the best option for me because I don't have enough fat on my body to make a boob or two. It was a weird, backwards compliment!  He explained the whole process to us, the risks and results, and has high hopes that I will come out of this surgery and heal very well.  It is a multiple step process to fill the implants, so I will have several follow up appointments with him in the weeks following the surgery.  Some friends still maintain that this is all my elaborate scheme to get a boob job. Perhaps. Anyway, I have one more appointment with him before my surgery, and it will be on August 5th.


Lastly, I had my MRI.  I was so tired by this point, that I pretty much fell asleep during the MRI.  It was great.  Fairly quick and mostly painless.  The point of the MRI was to get a better picture of what might be going on in my left breast (and lymph nodes), and to see if anything suspicious is going on in my right breast. There is a really high false alarm rate with MRIs, so they warned me that I would most likely have to come back for an additional biopsy if anything lit up in the MRI. Dr. Erb (my breast surgeon) called the next day with the results. She said that the lymph nodes under the left armpit look normal, which is great.  They will still do the sentinel node procedure during my mastectomy to test the lymph nodes and make sure. She said that there might be something going on with the right breast because it looked similar in one of the quadrants to what the left breast looks like.  This could very well be just my hormones or something different going on that day.  Or it could be cancer.  It is recommended that I have an MR-guided biopsy of the area to find out what is going on.  Honestly, I am not too worried about it.  It is probably nothing.  It could be cancer, but I am already having surgery.  The worst case scenario is if it is invasive cancer, but that doesn't seem likely to me because my right breast checked out normally on the mammogram.  We are hoping to schedule my biopsy on August 5th, the same day as the plastic surgeon appointment, so that I only have to take a day off of work.  We should get the results of the biopsy by the end of that week.  the results of the biopsy and the genetic testing results will guide us on single mastectomy vs. bilateral mastectomy. 


Other than my appointments, we are just weighing the pros and cons of treatment possibilities like single vs. bilateral mastectomy, and hormone therapy (tamoxifen). We have some time to make those decisions, though.




The other big news from this last week is that I started my new job!! More on that in a later post...


Katie