Revisionism

[scarfman]

Expectations from the surgeon when we were going into qtrhorserider's lumpectomy yesterday: We'd arrive about 0545. About 0730 they'd take her in to do a quickie biopsy of the lymph nodes under the arm on that side to see whether the malignancy in her breast lump was spreading to them, and if it was they'd be removed in the same operation as the lumpectomy. The lumpectomy would commence about 0930. She'd be in the hospital overnight for observation (possibly two nights depending on what pain she was in). Then she'd have six weeks of recovery (only one week of missed work) before doing six weeks of radiation therapy to make certain eveything's caught; usually they don't wait so long before starting the radiation but that way it'd wait to start till after the bar exam.

Developments yesterday: The procedure at 0730 wasn't a biopsy, it was a dye injection so the "sentinel" lymph node (the one that will pick up malignancy first if any are going to) can be identified, for it to be removed during the lumpectomy and have a quickie biopsy run during the lumpectomy. The quickie biopsy revealed no malignancy, but the normal two-day biopsy will be run on the sentinel node also to make sure. The lumpectomy went perfectly. After qtrhorserider was awake the oncologist came by and said the malignancy was the wrong type to be treated with estrogen, which means there will be chemo and radiation. Later on the oncology patient advocate and P.A. came by to confirm appointments next week for themselves and the oncologist, and recommended that the chemo not be postponed on account of the bar exam. Since chemo is a daily routine but the bar exam entails a two-day trip (or two day trips) to the state capital, that scheduling is something that'll be worked out next week.

Comments

[trinalin.livejournal.com]

Glad that the surgery went well (even if it was different than originally discussed). Good luck to your lady wife on the chemo & radiation!

[kaffy_r]

Thank you for keeping folks informed; my thoughts are still with you and your wife.

[athelind.livejournal.com]

My thoughts and hopes are with you both.

[acmespaceship.livejournal.com]

Bar exams are like buses, there's always another one to catch later. This all happens so fast, it's hard to re-adjust priorities. So let me just say: Chemo good. Chemo now. Kill, kill, kill the bastard.

[fourzoas.livejournal.com]

I've been traveling, so I've not been able to comment, but now that I'm home, I wanted to let you know that I've been thinking of you both and keeping you in my prayers. I'm sorry to hear that the treatment will be so much more invasive.