I just got off the phone with my breast surgeon, Dr. Snyder. He called with news from my breast MRI and I got him to tell me about my back MRI at the same time. The good news is that the MRI report showed an excellent response to the chemotherapy. I still have two small nodules remaining but Dr. Snyder felt that they could possibly not even be tumors anymore but perhaps fatty tissue. The lymph node also decreased in size. This is great news. While a mastectomy is still planned, it's great to know that the MRI showed that the chemo worked. Dr. Snyder told me that when I have the surgery, my breast tissue will be cut into 5 mm sections (like melba toast he said!) and biopsied for cancer. The same will happen for lymph nodes. They will not decide on the number of lymph nodes to remove until the actual surgery and they are able to test and see which ones seem cancerous. I don't remember the term he used, I'll have to read up on this.
I am hoping that very few lymph nodes will need to be removed, because the more removed, the greater chance of lymphedema. If you are one of these people saying that you are praying for me, can you please pray for few lymph nodes to be removed? Thanks :-)
Also, there is no evidence of metatstic disease in the lumbar spine. Yahoo! I do have a herniated disc though. Isn't that nice? The L5 S1 has a left disc extrusion blah blah blah. I'll have to get a full report from someone and figure out how to fix it. He said bedrest. Bedrest? Cripes! I have so much to do before my surgery. No time for bedrest! I'll do that after the surgery...
Lastly, I want to sign off with a comment on my conversation with Dr. Snyder. I told him that I felt guilty about having a double mastectomy and that I knew it was extreme. He told me that he completely understood, that he did not want me to feel pressure around just doing a single, that many young women (2/3 to 3/4) have bilateral mastectomies at my age for the same reason... peace of mind. I do not want to be going through this at any age, much less 70 or 80! I really appreciated what he said to me. Meant a lot. He is a very nice doctor and I am so happy that I got him. Course, hope he does good work too!
That's all for today. Now to read up on herniated discs...
Mo
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Girl!!! So that herniated disc...another thing to chalk up to that Canadian bike?
ReplyDeleteMo:
ReplyDeleteMy colleague from work had a bilateral mastectomy as she too said she does not want to go through this again. She was your age when she was diagnosed and had her surgery. That was 6 years ago and she is doing great. She never looked back at the decision she made and always felt she made the right decision. Do what is in your heart. You are always in my thoughts. What courage it takes for you to blog your life like this.
All my love and Maury's too,
cousin Maxine
One of the few times you like to have fatty tissue ;-) So glad to hear. My mom had a mastectomy when she was 60 and said because of the reconstructive surgery that boob looked a lot nicer than the original boob :-) Hoping for few lymph nodes!
ReplyDeleteValerie
Mo:
ReplyDeleteSee if you can get a copy of the MRI report. Discs protrude and extrude all the time. The question is the extent of injury to the disc. The disc is shaped like a donut and is like a very, very thick jello inside with a fibrous exterior.
Our discs become problematic for all of us as we age. The typical thing that happens is that they "desicate", i.e., dry out. This causes them to shrink (hence why old people are shorter).
By the time you're 40, your discs are protruding all over the place. That's normal. It becomes a problem when the protrusion is touching something that is sensitive - anything nerve related.
Often the protrusion works its way back in or moves some place that isn't causing a problem. That's how people get better by themselves.
Sometimes the problem is that you have a vicious cycle of pain, causing inflammation, which causes more pain. If you can break the inflammation/pain cycle, you can get better on your own.
There are a variety of surgeries ranging from fusion (the most extreme) to some newer surgeries where they just remove some of the offending disc material. Talk to a couple of orthopedic surgeons. You should also talk to a neurosurgeon. They are different specialties that look at the problem differently.
What I'd like to know is how much is your disc bulging and what is it touching. That should be in your MRI report. Ask your doctor to e-mail it to you.
Peter W.