Initial Visit With Breast Cancer Surgeon

This afternoon’s visit with the breast cancer surgeon went better than I could have ever hoped for. She is still waiting for results on one of the several tests they did on the 20th. But, after her own manual breast exam, and the results already in, she knows enough to get this going.

In a week or so, her scheduling nurse will call for a surgery date which will likely be mid-December. It will be outpatient with the possibility of overnight if they deem me too weak or in too much pain to be alone that night. Not gonna happen (lol).

She will make 2 incisions. One will remove the small tumor. The other will remove some lymph node tissue. That’s for examination and eventual knowledge of whether it has spread to the lymph nodes.

If it has not spread, it is likely that I will need nothing more than some hormonal therapy with pills. If it has spread, the oncologist could recommend either chemo or radiation and that’s too far down the line to guesstimate.

She told me to cancel the MRI. That made me a very happy camper!

Down the line, I should expect to do normal daily activities, with lots of soreness for a few months, but nothing to incapacitate me. I can feed the cat and do litter duty and print and deliver the newsletters and crochet. She did say I might feel too sore for the first day or two or whatever to do much, though.

She also asked to look at the basal cell cancer on my right shoulder blade. She checked the online results, too, and agreed it was a slow growing type and I’d be okay with the wound care until the 5th (or 6th?) when I see the surgeon for that one. She says that will be easy, with stitches, and probably require no further wound care. But that still has to be scheduled.

All in all, could have been so much worse. She agreed that the early movement on this made all the difference in this outcome. I agree.