I went Monday morning September 11^th, to see my Oncologist.  He had come very highly recommended.  I did my “deep breathing” that morning- all the way there.  I choked back nauseous feelings and light-headedness.  This was from not eating enough and from nervousness.

With my nasty greasy hair stuffed underneath a baseball cap, and my frumpy buttoned down shirt- with my little pink pillow I was given (LOVE THE PILLOW!!! IT HAS NOT LEFT MY SIDE!) under my arm to cushion my armpit/arm- we met with him.  We weren’t able to do a full examination b/c I told him I just had my surgery 3 days ago- and I wasn’t allowed to remove any of the packing or anything.

So we met and talked about what little they had to go over.  He had the pathology report from the core needle biopsy and we went over that.

We discovered that the tumor was low estrogen receptive and progesterone negative.  This would mean that it was probably not my birth control that we had thought spawned this to tumor to grow.

Todd and my hypothesis was that I have been on birth control since I was 16 to help regulate my periods.  I had surgery in December 2005 for the removal of endometriosis.  With that done- I had to double up on an already strong birth control pill to help slow the regrowth of the endometriosis.  We thought the tumor might have been fed a healthy dose of Estrogen- but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

We also found out that the pathology report now said that the tumor was HER2/neu negative.  This was good.  This meant that the tumor wasn’t super aggressive… but still aggressive none the less.

So hormonal therapy probably wouldn’t be beneficial to me.

Chemo is what is planned.  The dosage and time frame- that is yet to be planned.  That is for an appointment coming up on the 20^th.

We went to back to the Elliot Breast Health Center to have my first post-op. My packing was removed and were able to see the incisions that were all closed up and healing nicely.  I also had the drain removed.

With a quick pull- the part of the tube that was under my arm was taken out and I felt a strong pain shoot down my arm to my fingers- where it stayed until the Advil took care of it.

We were also able to see my breast.  It was swollen up a little bit and we were told it would shrink down and be smaller than originally.

She had told my mom and Todd after the surgery that she had to take out a lot of tissue- so some reconstruction was needed.  Todd didn’t tell me this because he knew I’d worry about what laid below the super sportbra.  He knows me very well! The breast looked great!  It got two thumbs up from Todd!  He is the authority after all!

The port in my right upper chest had some getting use to.  Its right under the skin- so I can see it and I can feel it but running my finger over it. It’s this box underneath my skin. 

The tape over everything caused discomfort when I moved.  I find myself putting pressure on my right chest over the port – my cold hands seem to work well- when the aching starts.

And my little pink pillow stays under my arm.