Good News Day

Today is doctor visit day!

Dr. H and staff were bright and cheerful. a nice welcome after slogging through a lot of snow coming down. I am healing well, She made my day by taking the drains out. Hooray, I can sleep in my side again.

The best news is that pathology came back as expected. DCIS only on the left side. No invasive cancer identified. After analyzing the report more fully, we are very grateful to Dr. H for not messing around and trying a "breast conserving" approach to treatment, given the initial radiology of probably 1 quadrant being involved. She believed there was more involvement and she was right. DCIS was in 3 of 4 quadrants of the left breast. It was multi focal (more than one cluster) and the nipple was involved. The surgical margins were excellent and the final sentinel node report is clean. We are very thankful.

Because of the treatment options the Lord guided us to select, my follow up care includes regular appointments with my surgeon for five years. BUT no radiation, chemotherapy or hormone therapy followup. To avoid all of those is worth the surgical price for me.

My second visit was with Dr. N , my plastic surgeon. And yes, she had on another fantastic pair of shoes today! DH and daughter both really liked her and I'm so thankful for the Lord's guidance and the council of some experienced friends when it came to selecting a plastic surgeon. Her primary concern is good incision healing. She's after minimal scaring and no infections. She also emphasized the importance of my doing nothing but scrapbooking and taxes for the next two weeks at least. I'll add homeschooling to the list. She also explained some of the unique techniques she used in my case. (For more info, see my new procedures page) It is her office staff that also pointed out the link between breast cancer, and two other cancer types that I need to watch out for given my medical history. This info will all be digested as part of my follow up cancer risk reduction strategy.