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Hello Family and Friends!

Greetings from Sunny California! Again, I want to preface my update with appreciation and gratitude for all the prayers, cards, calls, texts, and emails! I really appreciate this more than any of you will ever know.

Well let's see where did we leave off! OK...this is gonna be a long one!!!!

So Monday I had an appointment with who I thought was the Genetic Counselor but turned out to be the Oncologist (a doctor who uses chemotherapy or homone therapy to treat cancer). So the nurse practictioner came in and did a short exam and started talking to me about information from the previous tests and recent MRI. Then the doctor came in and explained what chemo was and what radiation was and all about hormone therapy. He told me all the scary facts about the side effects but reassured me that they monitor these things very closely and give meds to counteract or offset the side effects and also boosts I will recieve for my white blood cells. Then he scared the piss outta me!!!!

He said he wanted me to do chemo 1st!!!!!! I was like wait, WHAT?!?!? WHY?!?!?!
He said to shrink the tumor and make the surgery easier, etc. But I'm like okay but the tumor is like 2.5 3.0 cm.....not the size of a softball!!! WTF ??
He also wanted to see if I was interested in taking part in this study he was doing since I would start chemo in like 2 weeks.

So then I talked to the RN who was with the study and she explained that I would have to have a battery of test, more biopsies, and more tests! This would last like 6 months!

Of course I was shook!!!! I had wrapped my mind around the fact that I have cancer, understood that I would have to have surgery, radiation and chemo........BUT IN THAT ORDER!!!!!!! Not chemo 1st.

So the next day I got on the phone. I called the nurse to ask her a few questions about this study and all these tests. I never said yes to the study but I agreed to the tests so I didn't have to keep going back for tests. Then I called my surgeon's Physician's Asst. The nurse answered several questions but I was still a little upset about this. I was having a lot of trouble getting my mind around this.

I played phone tag with my PA but early Wed. morning she called me to answer the questions about my biopsy that I had. She explained what the biopsy was for and I asked her about the additional biopsies for the study and asked her why I would have to do chemo 1st and if that was best. She was a little baffled it seemed. She was like that's not what Dr. Paz (my surgeon) was looking at. So she said to wait and see what the results of the biopsy showed and then we would make an informed decision on Thursday (May 8th). That made me feel sooooo much better!!!!

Mama came into town on Tuesday!!!!

So I had a second-look ultrasound and biopsy on Wed. and aside from a little soreness, I am fine! I will get the results probably on Monday but only the pathology reports from biopsies from additional lesions that were seen on the MRI. One lesion was in the left breast the other two on the right. The radiologist said that after the ultrasound that she was 98% sure that this was just fiborous anomolies (not cancer!!!!) but the biopsies were taken and I will get the results this week and then when I meet with Dr. Paz(surgeon) we will discuss all results and options of what is going on.

So next week is filled with several appts. :
(5/5) Monday - Dept. of Clinical Cancer Genetics (certain this time!!!!)
(5/6) Tuesday - MUGA Scan
(5/7) Thursday - CT Scan, Dr. Paz (surgeon), Bone Scan

The next week on the schedule so far is only on Wednesday.....Blood work & another meeting with the oncologist (Dr. Somlo)

I know that was a lot of info!!! But that's it for now. I will keep you all informed and if you missed any of the initial emails I have posted them on my new blog:

bellasamazingroadtrip.blogspot.com