Plans are Made

Our visit to the surgeon today was great. We had the chance to ask lots of questions and get lots of answers. Here's what we know:

I have stage 2 invasive ductal carcinoma with positive hormone receptors.
It appears to all be contained within the tumor, other than some lymph nodes that are suspicious looking (We won't know for sure about these until they are removed and sent off to a lab.)
Even if the lymph nodes are involved, I still remain at Stage 2 and will not go up to Stage 3.

The plan is to do a bilateral mastectomy with reconstruction on Wednesday, February 29. Once I begin to heal from the surgery (3-4 weeks), I will begin chemotherapy treatments. I do not know how many treatments or how long I will take the chemo- that is still to be determined. I will not do radiation treatments since I'm having the mastectomy.

The surgeon was very optimistic today and encouraging. I walked out of there with a big smile on my face. I CAN do this. It feels great to have questions answered and have a plan in place. For my personality type, I get a sense of excitement from making plans, making lists, and checking things off my lists! (Yes it's weird, I know) :)

The big question that most people want to know is "So how are you really doing?" So I thought I'd take just a minute to answer that question. Honestly, I'm good. I do feel very optimistic about the situation. I feel a sense of peace, knowing that God is in control, and I feel so much comfort knowing that so many people care about our family so much. When you see me out with a smile on my face, I'm not faking it. I'm just not that type of person. I don't fake that I'm happy and then get home and sit in a corner and cry.

Having said that, I also have to admit that deep down I am also scared and nervous-not necessarily about the cancer, but because I HATE surgery, of any kind. I've had shoulder surgery and 2 c-sections, and even though the c-sections brought me wonderful babies, I still HATE surgery. So...I am dreading the surgery very much. The pain from surgery, the recovery, not being able to move either arm without pain, drainage tubes, etc...ugh... It just makes my stomach turn thinking about it.

Other than seriously dreading the surgery, and wondering what I'll look like bald-headed, I feel great about everything. In fact, I honestly think I am handling this better than some of mine and Jamie's families. I find myself reassuring others that everything is going to be okay. I have some absolutely wonderful doctors who are taking awesome care of me. I am completely confident in their ability to get me through this journey successfully. Do I like what's happened? No. Did it rock me to the core when I first found out? Yes. But is everything going to be okay? Absolutely.

Please continue praying, for me and my family, for the doctors, for others who are in the same boat as me- or maybe even worse, as this club that I have joined keeps adding members daily and they are getting younger and younger...Thanks a bunch!

***Also, I want you to know that I read every facebook message, post, comment, blog comment, card, etc...I may not have a chance to respond right away, but I promise you I read each one and they give me a great deal of encouragment.