WIN, WIN, WIN

Day Thirty-eight – Sunday

You never really know how fast you can clean your house until someone calls and says “Are you home? We were thinking about dropping by.” We were sitting in the living room watching the football game in our jammies (JAMMIE DAY!) when we received the call. I heard Randy say, “Sure, we’re just sittin’ around watching the game.”

Panic! Folded clothes were on the dining room table, dirty clothes were on the floor, the beds were not made and we looked like we had just rolled out of bed at 2:00 in the afternoon. So, here’s how the mad dash went – Randy vacuumed the floors, I put the clean clothes in a basket and put it in the bedroom, I put the dirty clothes back in the clothes hamper, then I got dressed, then he got dressed, I dusted, we put the dog out, made one quick look around the house, closed the bedroom door, and sat back down on the couch. The work that normally takes me most of the morning to do was accomplished in about 20 minutes.

We had a lovely visit with Randy’s parents and thanked God for telephones.

Day Thirty-nine – Monday

We were both dreading this day. Randy was going back to workplace that he quit 6 weeks before and was not real happy about it. I was going to see the Oncologist for the first time and felt anxious.

But the day started on a good note – PEDI DAY! Joanie and I got pedicures and talked. She always makes me smile.

Randy went to work to fill our paperwork. He told his boss that my needs were his utmost priority right now and his boss said that they would work around my appointments. I must go kiss that man. At least give him a hug.

As Randy was doing this, I was at my doctor’s office having my stitches removed from the Pillsbury Dough Boy incident of January 1. Everything looks fine. You can’t even see a scar.

We then met at Arizona Oncology to meet with Dr. Swart who was going to give us the results of the HER2/NEU which would determine the future course of action. She is great. She explains things so that we can understand, she asks questions to get a better picture of where I am, and she gave me some pretty great news. The HER2 was negative, which means no chemotherapy! I wanted to do a happy dance right there, but I abstained.

She drew a little flowchart for us – so I’ll share it with you.

I have an early stage breast cancer because my tumor is less than 2 cm and I have no palpable lymph nodes. It is a ductal cancer, which means it starts in the ducts of my breast. My estrogen receptor is positive (good) and my progesterone receptor is positive (good). My HER2/NEU is negative (good).

After my surgery, they will biopsy the tumor to see if the Oncotype (genetic test) is low, intermediate, or high. If it is low to low intermediate, I am done – no chemo. If it is high intermediate to high – chemo.

She is going to put me on an Anomatase Inhibitor for 5 years so that the estrogen that is still being produced in my body will stop. Where does the estrogen come from since I have no ovaries – my liver and my fat cells. Who knew? This medication will cause me to go through yet another menopause with joint pain, vaginal dryness and bone loss. Randy’s eyes were rolling around in his head. Damn, I’ve already been through menopause twice with her. Again? Geez! He didn’t really say it, but I knew what he was thinking and we laughed about it later.

She wants me to get a baseline Dexa Scan, but no CT Scan or PET Scan. I hear the Dexa Scan is a piece of cake. She drew some blood to test for Vitamin D and I may have to go on a Vitamin D supplement to help with the bone loss.

She was amazed that I have had cancer 3 times with no family history and she says it’s just bad luck. But she is determined to make it the last time I have cancer and I believe she will. As I’ve learned through experience, we cannot predict the future; we can only adjust our lives to what it brings.

It was a very good day. I am so very happy that Randy found the lump when he did, that he changed jobs so he could be closer to home, that he loves me and wants to live through this again. I am happy I have friends who will take me to doctor’s appointments and family who cares enough to take me to the emergency room. My angels are all around me and we are ready for the next step.

Plus, I get a breast enhancement out of the whole thing and I am going one cup size bigger.