The surgeon's follow-up appointment

From our back yard, we could see the fireworks that were shot off from the Tucson Country Club on the night of the 4th of July. The boys were already in their pajamas and the air was warm. We were sitting around in the backyard waiting for the first booms indicating the start of the show. Then we ran to the back of the yard for a better look. The sky blossomed with the colors and lights of the fireworks. This was the first year that Mateo got to see the show. It took him a few minutes to get used to the resounding, earth-shaking explosions. But once he knew that he was safe and saw Oscar, Mario and I enjoying the wonder of the celebration, he relaxed and settled into his seat on the wall.

The next day the boys and I went to Quaker meeting. After leaving the boys in first day school, I found a comfortable chair in the meeting. I don't know if I fell asleep or if I was so caught up in appreciating the silence and being in the moment, but it seemed like only minutes had passed before the children came in to join the adults in worship. After the meeting, it was so uplifting to see so many supportive smiles and to get hugs and back-pats. The boys and I are truly surrounded by a blanket of love and caring. I have received numerous notes of concern, even from people I don't know well. I can't tell you how inspiring it is when people just reach out to you, regardless of whether they know you well or not. I have also realized that one of the positive outcomes of this experience is that it is bringing the boys and I closer to the meeting and it is opening up a path for me to get to know more of the meeting members. It's true that even during the darkest of times, beautiful things can come to be.

Today, Monday, was my follow-up appointment with Dr. Roeder. While I sat in an armchair and exposed my naked chest, she took a look at my incision site and said that although it wasn't beautiful, it was healing well and the operation had been successful. They had removed a 3 cm tumor and had good clear margins, which means that there was sufficient healthy tissue surrounding the tumor when it was removed and that we can be relatively assured that they got all the cancer.

Then the doctor had some surprising news for me. As I sat there crinkling in my paper "gown", she told me that she thought that my radiation oncologist, Dr. Croghan, may not feel a need for me to have radiation. I couldn't believe that that was even a possibility. I thought it was going to be mandatory. So I was really pleased to hear this news, even though I know that I still need to talk to Dr. Croghan on Wednesday. I am most concerned about the consequences if I don't get radiation.

When Dr. Roeder and I discussed my additional surgeries, she told me that it might be possible to combine the double mastectomy and the hysterectomy into one surgery. Although the recovery time will be longer, I will only have to recover once. It's like being hit by a train once rather than being hit by a minivan twice.

I was thrilled at the possibility because I have wondered if I should have pushed to have the mastectomy and the lump removed at the same time. Of course, the longer and more complex the surgery, the more problems that can arise but I think it would be a lot easier on me in the long run so would be worth it.

Then Dr Roeder mentioned something else surprising. She said that she was going to present my case at a conference next week. She is curious as to why the breast MRI didn't pick up the cancer. That is a question that has been itching at my brain since I got the diagnosis. I will be interested to hear what she finds out from the conference and I hope they can figure out a way to prevent this from happening to another person.

So, I still don't have a time line to plan the future from but I am getting closer and the news has been pretty good. I would like to get this all over with during the summer in the hopes that I can take a little trip before the winter sets in. Nothing heals better than a visit with good friends, yummy food, and a little cultural exchange. More to come on Wednesday, after the appointment with my radiation oncologist.

Love and Peace to all.