Moving Forward

It's been a whirlwind these past few weeks.  July 17th came, and with it, a stressful few days that mirrored the original diagnosis back in March.  The tumor measured significantly larger and the docs, not knowing what the growth was, ordered an immediate MRI and PET scan to try to figure it out.  The best outcome would be that the growth was necrosis of the tumor, meaning that the chemo worked and the death of the tumor was leading to a larger 'growing' mass of dead cells.  After extremely tense waiting, the MRI actually revealed that the large mass was in fact necrotic - a huge reason to celebrate.  However, it also revealed that there were several new smaller masses around the main mass that were consistent with malignancy.  Another tense 24 hours of waiting for the PET scan results also revealed some great news - that there was no peripheral disease, and that the lymph nodes in the chest wall and left axilla that had lit up at the pre-treatment scan were no longer showing signs of the presence of disease.  A big reason to celebrate.  Those new masses in the left breast though were lighting up as cancerous.  The docs quickly decided to stop the remainder of the Taxol chemotherapy, and made plans for surgery, which is happening tomorrow, July 29th.  After a few weeks of healing and pathology tests on the new masses, a new round of chemotherapy will begin as soon as Sarah has recovered from her masectomy.  Radiation will follow.  So a belt and suspenders approach...get it out of here, zap the body with more chemicals to reduce the chance that any lingering cancer cells are left around, then zap it with radiation, too.  A few weeks have gone by, the masses have grown at an alarming rate, causing Sarah a lot of pain, and we're ready to get this cancer out of here.  The other night we raised a glass to Sarah's left boobie, and the toast went a little something like this:
Sarah: Well, boob, you've been really good to me.
Me: You've been good to me, too, and you've been good to Lena, but it's time for you to go.  It's not you, it's what's inside you.

The surgery is tomorrow.  Nerves are tense, but the overwhelming feeling is one of being ready to knock this cancer out of the universe.

Thanks for all the love, support and prayers.  Please keep them coming.  More to follow...