Clear margins... feeling thankful!

My mom chose to have a double mastectomy.

 

I am happy to share that my mom's surgery went extremely well. The surgeon was able to remove the cancer successfully, and the sentinel lymph node was cancer free [based on frozen sections (90% accurate) - final path results will come next week].

 

She's now working to heal from this major surgery, and will meet with her care team in a few weeks to determine next steps. Most likely, the next steps will include several months of chemotherapy and possibly radiation treatments.

 

Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers... and send as much positive energy as you can her way. 

 

She has been through so much. I am so proud of her... it takes a lot of courage, strength, research, and faith in her care team, to make the decisions she's had to make, and fight this battle head-on.

 

*****

UPDATE: Final path results did show that the sentinel lymph node was indeed cancer free.

B.reast C.ancer

There are few word combinations that I hate more than B.REAST C.ANCER.

My favorite aunt died from bre.ast ca.ncer approximately 6 months after Dan & I were married...almost 11.5 years ago. I have such wonderful memories of her. She was a strong, beautiful, confident woman. She left behind 3 daughters, her husband, a sister, a brother, her mother, and 10 grandchildren. She was my mom's sister, who my mom still misses so much each and every day.

We each have moments in life that you never forget where you were, or the feelings and adrenaline that rushed through your body at that instant. The shear thought brings you back instantly, to the extent that your body reacts as if that moment is happening again.

I was in my closet, purging clothing for goodwill when I got a phone call from my mom. I had been waiting for her call, because she was waiting for test results from a lab. She had a mamm.ogram two weeks prior, and a needle biopsy the week prior because they were worried about a small area found in the m.ammogram. Today she would be getting her results from the needle biopsy.

She told me she had br.east c.ancer. I couldn't help but immediately start crying. She started crying. I would have done anything to be by her side at that moment so I could just hug and hold her, and let her know how much I love her. I told her we'd get her through this on top. She was going to be ok. I was scared for her. Scared for me. And, I couldn't imagine the fear, disbelief and all of the other emotions I was sure were consuming her completely.

We talked about next steps. We pondered the reality of the situation... and how we could not believe this was happening.

When I hung up the phone, I cried more.

She just doesn't deserve this. No woman does.

B.reast canc.er just sucks. And, it seems to be everywhere.

I told my husband. He felt the blow.

I told my kids. They had a lot of questions... every answer I gave them ended in "....but she's going to be ok."

And, just like that... my family was hit with brea.st can.cer.