Day 17: Round 4 Chemo...Oncology Surgeon Consult

Wow! Do I have a fabulous surgical team. Dr. ALice Chung is amazing and wonderful. Her bed side manner is the best. The whole time she spoke to me she patted my shoulder, laid her hand on my leg, and smiled constantly. My initial consult started at 10:15am and lasted until 1:30pm. During that time I was examined by her fellow (another doctor learning from Dr. Chung) and her, given another breast & lymph node ultrasound, and another mammogram. Dr. Chung thought she mmight have felt something in my lymph nodes, hence the extra scans. Thank God the ultrasound confirmed what all other scans and doctors have shown all along...No swollen lymph nodes! She does want a breast MRI to get a better idea of the exact location, size, and make-up of the tumor before surgery. So, I will make an appointment for an MRI after my last chemo and another visit with her to consult on the MRI findings.

I learned that once she cuts into the breast, she puts a blue dye in it which will run into the main node and into any subsequent nodes if they have cancer clusters in them and glow bright blue. She will biopsy the first node (and any others that might show up blue) and send the specimin to pathology. If all of the nodes turned blue and she had to remove them (not at all likely in my case) we could still proceed with both surgeries in one day. If the specimens came back with a high content of cancer cells several days later, another surgery to remove them would be necessary (again, highly unlikely in my case). Dr. Chung thinks radiation therapy will be necessary after surgery if the tumor is still 5cm or larger in size. I will speak with Dr. Rosenbloom about that at my next appointment.

Meanwhile, I continue to wake all night long. My neck and shoulders hurt, so I roll over every hour or so. My snoring is not only keeping my husband awake, but is waking me up all night too. AND if that wasn't enough...I'm drooling with my nightguard and wake to turn my pillow around because it is so wet! This whole experience has been one lesson after another in humility. I must make an appointment with an ENT now for my snoring. And, while we are on the subject of secondary ailments, wire my jaw shut so I stop gaining weight. I'm the Michelin Man! Steroids suck big time.