We met with the oncologist this week. All the final pathologies are back from the two surgeries. They feel we have all the cancer removed. The cancer appears to involve both the vascular and lymphatic system. We know the sentinel lymph nodes are clean and from the many tests there are not any known areas of metastasis. This is great news!

The treatment for breast cancer has come a long ways. They can test it for hormones and various other things. Based on these findings they fine tune the treatment plan and can greatly improve both the survival rate and reoccurrence rate. Unfortunately the type of cancer I have is moderately aggressive and does not have any of these special markers. This just means we loose a bit with percentages. We know my treatment regime will be very effective. Once completed, we will be like many of the other men and women with breast cancer and never have any more issues for the rest of my life.

We are hoping the surgical incisions continue to heal and the surgeon clears me to start chemo the 2nd week of August. I am hopeful my 1st treatment is either the 11th or 12th of August. They are planning to administer combination chemotherapy with Cytoxan and Adriamycin also called “AC”. This combination is very effective therapy for killing rogue cells that could be waiting to cause any more problems. It will be given every 21 days for 4 cycles. The most common side effect is temporary hair loss. The support medications to combat the nausea and vomiting are wonderful and really minimize these effects. They track you incredibly close and I will have lab work drawn every two weeks to closely monitor for any issues.

I am back at work this week. It is a little tiring but nice. My hospital is a wonderful place. I’ve been there for over 17 years it’s like my family away from home. We are planning to schedule my treatments for the end of the week so I can continue to work at least part time. I am so blessed with our friends and family. John is my constant rock of support. I do not know what I would do without him. The cards and email are wonderful. The words of encouragement give us great strength.

Love you all,
Stephanie

Greeting guys, John and I have spent a long day visiting doctors today, in fact we just got home. Generally I guess we have to say the news has been ok.

The surgeon called and wanted to meet with us today. The lymph node is clean, no cancer. They got all of the invasive cancer but one of cancer margins from the partial mastectomy showed something called cancer in situ. She said this is a