[healing]

I was just faced with making decisions to my good side last week. At the end of June, my mammo showed something that wasn't there before and it warranted a biopsy. Results showed dcis with a micro-invasion of idc. Because this was the second time around, a mastectomy was in order. I met with a different surgeon than previous and a plastic surgeon who both were in agreement that my case didn't warrant a double, but to be sure we would do a MRI. So now we check the supposed good side and find there is no huge difference since my last MRI but after Four radiologist and the head of the department review it, they agree there is a slight change in the enhancement. They felt as though they were seeing too much enhancement in a breast of woman who hasnt had her period in two years. So, they want to investigate further with an ultrasound. They knew there was one spot that they planned to biopsy, but surprise, surprise, there was another one! Since we have had cancer, we know we are red flagged for every little thing, but we also know that every little thing could be something. Because of the stress of those few days and even though the biopsies were benign, I chose to do the good side also.

The day before my surgery, I had the lymphoscintigraphy procedure which reinforced my decision of the right side. After the tracer is injected, they scan the flow of your lymph and instead of the tracer going towards my left side which had the cancer, my tracer flowed to the right. My surgeon said she usually only sees that if multiple nodes had been removed previously. So, at 9:00pm surgery eve, my surgeon called to discuss these results and let me know that she had to do a snb on the right side also....ugh. As she put it, 'It's always something!'
So, here I sit, 5 days post-op, feel great, have minimal soreness, and great range of motion. I arrived home on Friday night and again at 9:00pm receive a call from my surgeon, letting me know the good news. My pathology was in and the nodes were clear (which she had already let us know) and the micro-invasion was even smaller that she anticipated- 2 spots at .2mm each, T1mic. The pathologist had a really hard time finding them. I will meet with my onc soon but as he said at the beginning of this, 'this is a bump in the road'. We can handle the bumps, it's the potholes we worry about!

So, after experiencing the stress of biopsies, ultrasounds, etc. I'm glad that we reviewed everything and came to a thoughtful decision. I hope you find peace at whatever decision you make.