This in from North Carolina last night:
I feel like I am back on the roller coaster, or better, that I am on the mat again. The pathology report came back. I wasn't going to call and ask. Had decided to wait until Friday when I could take it in and ask any questions but Dr. Albers called me. I could tell that it wasn't all sweetness and light. Everything is fine on the right side. Sentinel nodes were clear and the margins were clear. The left side was a different story. The sentinel nodes were clear but the margins were not. There is still non-invasive cancer in the area where the tumor was taken out so I have to go back into surgery to have more taken so we can get clear margins. The conversation happened so quickly that I didn't get the details but I did get that we need to operate again on the left and take care of what stayed behind. The surgery will be day surgery, again, with nothing else but in and out-no tests, mammos, x-rays, etc. I will be at Day Surgery on Friday, Feb. 12 and the surgery will be at 7:30 AM. I'll be the first one in this time so no waiting-I hope.
I have to say that I know this is not uncommon and I know several people who have had to go back into surgery to get clear margins. And, again, I know it will be alright. But it was a blow nonetheless. When I hear the nodes were clear, I assumed (and that is the danger) that everything else was fine. It is such a roller coaster, again. So, as Yogi Barra would say, "it ain't over til it's over" and it ain't over.
I know I'll be okay. It just feels as if the CA isn't giving up without a fight, a word I didn't want to use. Maybe it isn't the right word but at the moment that is what it feels like. I am committed to doing what I need to do to take care of all that needs my attention. That needs to be my priority.
Thanks for your continued thoughts and prayers. CDC
Ugh!! I hate cancer! And today is her 61st birthday, so that's not much of a present to get for such an occassion. Prayers ascending for her and Betsy.
8 comments:
My step-daughter had that news too.. and second surgery 5 years ago. After radiation, she has been cancer free.
Prayers continue.
Will remember at the altar tomorrow.
I have already said a little prayer as I am writing this. I shall think of her and wish her well every day.
She will be fine.
Peggins
Thanks all! I will be putting together a gift of healing music for her. Consider your prayers included in the gift.
Prayers for Charlotte. I remember the day my surgeon called to tell me I had breast cancer. She was crying.
I, too went back in to get a clean margin for the non-invasive breast cancer, in 2007. But mine was a voluntary, conservative decision I made with my surgeon because non-invasive cancer doesn't march right along, it hops from one place to another. I had a clean margin, but it was narrow, and we both wanted to know that it hadn't "hopped" - it was a happy decision because it was not threatening. Far different from the dreaded "no clean margin". Blessed Jesus, help your servant Charlotte, her surgeon, and all who support her.
Thank you, Lois. I'm praying for all involved as well. She trusts her surgeon, and the more love and prayer that surrounds her, the better her odds, I think, of emerging cancer-free from all of this.
SCG, I had to go for a second surgery to remove more tissue, and here I am 24-plus years later.
Prayers continue for Charlotte.
Thanks, Mimi!!
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