The first appointment was with a genetic counselor. Initially I was told not to bother but once my mom was diagnosed I was told I might want to think about it. We went through my family history with the counselor and although there isn't anything really striking there is still a possibility of a mutation. So we are having them run the test.
There are two reasons to find out if I have a genetic mutation. The most obvious being the possibility of passing the mutation on to my children. But there is actually a second and, in the short term, more important reason - to decide whether or not to have my ovaries removed. If I do carry the mutation on the, now famous, BRCA1 and/or BRCA2 genes, then I have an increased risk of ovarian cancer. Now we just don't have the time or patience for that business!
So now we wait. We should have those results in about a month or so. We had the option to have them test a bunch of other somewhat random genes but according to the counselor they wouldn't know what to tell us about mutations on most of those genes and Mark and I agreed we would spend way more time wondering and worrying and researching them then was good for us. So it's just the BC screening for now.
The second appointment was our introductory appointment with the radiation oncologist. As most of you know, I work for the Cancer Institute at the local children's hospital. As part of a project I was working on - I was given a 'behind the scenes' tour of a new unique radiation therapy facility. So I have a decent understanding of how this works. The main thing I wanted to get out of this appointment was the timing of everything. I got a lot more then that!
My radiation oncology (radonc) doc is fantastic - he is well respected in his field and his expertise is in treating breast cancer. I also really liked him. He explained things really well and even showed us pictures. I got to see the CT of my abdomen which was pretty cool. Then there is all the not fun stuff...
The radiation is going to cause scarring on my heart and lungs. Luckily the cancer was in my right breast so that reduces the amount of damage to my heart because of the heart's position in the chest. I'm not going to be buying lottery tickets on that luck though. I've never been a smoker so the impact to my lungs shouldn't really be noticeable to me.
In addition to my chest wall and the lymph nodes under my arm (all on the right side), they will irradiate the lymph nodes under my clavicle and behind my breast bone. Most people don't get the added joy of having the breast bone, or internal mammary, lymph nodes (treated. I get the added joy because I'm youngish and my cancer was throughout my entire chest. In most cases they can detect cancer in the lymph nodes under your arm based on how they look; of course in my case, they looked perfectly healthy until the pathology was done. For those reasons they worry that I could have some cancer hiding out in those internal mammary lymph nodes. Apparently they are quite nasty to get to so they don't remove any during a mastectomy. So a little extra radiation it is.
I also learned that women who are diagnosed at a young age (which I am actually considered for these purposes) generally have a much more aggressive form of breast cancer. However, I am lucky because my cancer is not one of the most aggressive kinds (Yeah for me?!).
He also told me I need to leave my port in through radiation "Just in case" - ugh! Ok so I don't want to have surgery again to put it back in but I also don't want to think about the 'just in case' scenarios.
On that note - radiation should start mid-January depending on how I'm feeling. I will get 30 doses which should take 6-7 weeks.
I think the Taxol is making me extra sarcastic and just a little grumpy. Stupid chemo! But only one more left - yippee!!
Love you all - thanks for all the love and support! Hbomb
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