The week before surgery

Well, here it is.  Five days before I have surgery to remove the lump in my right breast.  I am a jumble of nerves.  I don't know whether I'm coming or going.  I was so distracted today, I drove almost an hour out of the way to get to St. Pete Beach for the Dance Weekend. 

My Mom and I struck out at 7:30 this morning for the first appointment of the day with the radiation oncologist.  I was there with her until almost 10:30.  My next appointment was to have an ultrasound of the right breast and axilla at 11:30.  Mom and I figured we'd go and wait if need be, I just didn't want to have to wait around somewhere else.  Fortunately for me, they were able to get me in early!  Thank goodness for that.  My next appointment wasn't til1:00 pm, so we went to lunch and just sat and chatted over a burger and fries and cherry cokes.  That is a treat for both of us.  When I finally got to see the medical oncologist, she talked so fast, I had a hard time understanding everything she said except for the fact that I will probably need to have some form of chemotherapy.  I don't know if that will be before or after 6 weeks of external beam radiation therapy.

I was hoping to be able to do what's called brachytherapy, a treatment where a catheter is inserted into the tumor bed and radioactive "seeds" are placed directly into the area where the mass was.  Unfortunately for me, the Rad/Onc told me I was too young for brachytherapy.  There are not enough studies done for her to be comfortable doing it, so I guess I will be going "old school" for treatment.

The medical oncologist is recommending some form of chemotherapy at some point in my treatment plan, but that is going to be dependant upon the final pathology report.

It seems I'm back to a hurry up and wait situation.  For now, I'm just gonna "SHUT UP AND DANCE"!!