Surgery is over....

Dear Family and Friends,

Surgery is over and they did not find cancer in the sentinel node (axilla) on the quick read, so they did not do a full axillary lymph node dissection. I had the lumpectomy and sentinel node dissestion only. All the prayers must have helped.

I won't bore you with the details but it was a day-long process and I was so happy to get home by 5pm.

I couldn't sleep last night but I'm feeling fine this morning. I have pain pills but I don't think I need them.

I see the radiation oncologist in two weeks and a week later start the daily (Monday through Friday) radiation treatments for six weeks. In two weeks I also go see a medical oncologist (like David) to go over the options of chemotherapy or hormone treatments. It is still unlikely I will need chemotherapy. Most likely I'll be on a hormone-like drug for 5 to 10 years. If I didn't mention it in previous email the U of Michigan second opinion on my pathology slides indicated same diagnosis: Invasive Ductal carcinoma, Grade 1. The real story will unfold when the path report comes back on the actual lumpectomy.

I'll keep you posted. Thanks for the prayers and thoughts. Dima is staying with me over the next two days. Marc will be here over the weekend too. I have plenty of help.
Love,
Veronica