Post-op appointment with Surgeon

Today we went to the surgeon's office for the one week post-op appointment. When we got there I was not nervous. Actually a bit excited. I mean...they did remove the tumor. I hoped to hear that meant I was cancer free and could move on to the next step.

We sat in the waiting room for over an hour. John said, "I don't think we have ever waited this long before." I was thinking...God, that's all we have done is wait. An hour isn't going to make that much of a difference.

Finally the nurse called my name and we went into the room. John sat in the chair and I sat on the table. The nurse told me she had to get a gown for me...and then just stood there. I looked at her for a minute and then said, "Oh, do I need to move so you can get it?" LMAO. Ok, I never said I was the brightest bulb in the box. Ha. So, I moved out of her way as she laughed at me for being a dork... She got the gown and handed it to me and told me the Dr. would be in shortly to discuss my pathology.

I sat back down on the table and then it hit me. I told John I was pretty nervous. I mean...this was "the time". The time he was going to tell me the news. Good or bad we were going to hear it. John said, "The nurse said it wasn't bad. It will be good news. NO Cancer...I can feel it." I told him I wasn't sure, but I was ready to hear it either way.

The Dr. walked in with a smile on his face. Is he really smiling? Is he really getting ready to tell me "good news"? He said his hello's and then said he had the results from the pathology for the lymphnode. I said...well, is it good? Smiling he said, "There was NO CANCER in the Sentinel Node." I repeated what he said...No Cancer? He said, "That's right...No Cancer!"

If I could have done a back flip at that point I would have. I looked over at John and he was smiling from ear to ear...literally!

Then...(always a then) the Dr. said, "You are a difficult case." LOL, me? difficult? Flora and difficult in the same sentence? What more can I say? OK, back to the story... He said, "Well, the non-cancerous margins are very small. We took the tumor and surrounding tissue and thought it was going to be enough...but we may need to do another surgery and take more of the surrounding tissue. I need to talk to the oncologist and the radiation physician and get their opinions before we make that determination." I said, "Ok, and when will we know this?" (What do you think the answer is...?) Next week.

He asked me how I was feeling and how did I think the healing process was going. I told him that the incision on my breast was alright but the one near my armpit was so extremely sore. He checked the site and told me that the site looks good and there is no redness. I said I didn't think it was infected. Then he said oh...I know. I had to "dig and dig" to find the sentinel node, that's probably why it's so sore. Well thank you for that. :)

Alright, so in a nutshell... No cancer in the lymphnode, maybe another surgery in the near future and then I will find out next Tuesday about chemo and or radiation.

All in all today was a good good day. I am happy to have received such good news and am thankful to have such a wonderful friend and family support system.

We will now wait until the next step.