My honey is so supportive and sweet

Last night I got really sad thinking about all the information from the doctor. Keith saw that I was really sad and so he offered to write an email to the doctor so that I didn't have to do it myself. I felt really supported when he did that for me. Here's what he wrote. 

Hi Dr. Malik, 

I was writing for Kelly because she had some questions after the MRI and talking with the doctors today.  It sounds like they might have found something in the other breast that they thought could be cancer, this has her more worried than when we first saw you.  Her biggest concern is about chemotherapy.  In our first meeting the timeline went from surgery, to radiation, and then only if deemed necessary to chemotherapy.  Now she understands chemotherapy might begin before radiation.  She is worried that something has changed and there is a high chance that she will have chemotherapy.  Here are the questions relating to chemotherapy:
1.       Are you thinking of starting chemo for Kelly and skipping the radiation (or having radiation at a later date)?
2.       Is there new info that will change the timeline for making the decision to start chemo?
3.       Do you have info that will let you estimate of the chances of Kelly needing chemo?
Thanks for taking the time to explain all of the details of the process during our first visit.  It was nice not to feel rushed and all the other staff was very organized and made Kelly feel like she was in good hands. 

Thanks,
Keith and Kelly

Potentially not so good news after Breast MRI #1

My tumor is in my right breast. When you get breast cancer your nipple is the center of the clock. My tumor is at 12 o'clock in my right breast.

I had a Breast MRI done as preparation for my surgery. My surgeon called to let me know that they saw something in the images from the MRI in my left breast. They're going to wait until I'm on Day 4 of my next period and redo the MRI with Contrast and then if what they saw is still there (and not just related to where I am in my current cycle) then they'll do a needle biopsy at that appointment.

Full update

Written March 13, 2013.

My surgeon is pretty great. Her name is Dr. Amara Malik. After we introduced ourselves the first thing she said to me was "You're going to be fine, this is just a nuisance and we'll get through it and at the end you'll be great", then she said "I'm going to tell you a million other things today, if you don't remember anything else, that's alright, the only thing you need to remember is that you're going to be just fine". 

She spent several hours patiently explaining everything to us and allowing us to ask questions.  We scheduled the lumpectomy for Wednesday, March 27th. About 4 - 6 weeks after my surgery I'll probably be going through radiation for 5 weeks. After that hormone treatment. Maybe or maybe not chemotherapy. Hoping not to need chemotherapy. 

I'm still processing all this information. I took PTO today. I kind of just wanted to crawl into a hole and hide for a bit. But I actually got through a lot of old paperwork which felt good. 

My Dad is going to come out for the week of the surgery. I'm really impressed. He's going to fly out here by himself. Knowing that he doesn't like flying and he rarely travels without his wife it means a lot that he's doing that for me. We booked his flight today. 

My good friend Karin from Minneapolis was already planning to come out for a visit from Friday, March 29th - April 1st. She has generously offered to forego spa and wine tasting to hang out with me while I recover. So there will be a little bit of overlap between her visit and my Dad's. Keith will be here for the day of the surgery but after that I think he's going to join some friends who already had a rafting trip planned. He's delaying joining them for a day. 

My good friend Rena is coming over tomorrow night to help me do some meal planning for the next few weeks. I'm trying to improve my diet. Today I had a several smoothies (Bok Choy with frozen Pineapple and ginger) and then Kale with Pineapple. So yummy! I'm going to try to avoid sugar, wheat, meat, processed foods, and alcohol for the next few weeks. Hopefully it'll have a positive impact on my body's ability to fight whatever it needs to fight and help me get in good shape to recover from the surgery.

It's Cancer

I just went this morning to my regular doctor. It is cancer. It's between Stage 1 and Stage 2. It's 2 centimeters in size. I have another appointment at 1pm today at California Pacific Medical Center to see a Cancer Specialist (I think that is the title of the doctor I'm supposed to see, I can't really remember). They are sending me to CPMC instead of UCSF because I guess UCSF can't get anyone to see me for a month and my doctor thinks that is an unacceptable amount of time to wait. I'm glad I get to see someone today. Keith came with me this morning and he's going to be there also this afternoon. That's the update. I'll keep you posted. Love you all!

Not very good news

Written Friday, March 8th, 2013

My Primary Care doctor just called me. They are very concerned. They think it's probably cancer. I'll have to go in on Monday or Tuesday for a full sample biopsy. Then probably in the next week or two I'll probably have to get whatever it is removed. Then chemotherapy after that.  

I still need to call my Dad and my brother. I just talked to my Mom. Keith is coming to get me at work. I think we're going to have dinner with some friends tonight. It's a lot to deal with right now. I'm just taking things little by little right now. 

Helluva 24 Hours

Well, it's been a helluva 24 hours for me. 

As a family (my Mom, my brother, my sister-in-law, and my niece) we are going to go to Disney World for a week in mid-June. We just told my niece last night over Skype at 5:30. She's ecstatic. 

After that I went to the spa for a relaxing float.  

On the way home, at 8pm, a taxi driver ran a red light and t-boned my car. I think I'm ok. It was a big shock. So many nice people stayed with me, called 911, made sure that taxi driver stayed and gave his insurance information and the police came and they got all the taxi driver's information and 3 of the witnesses gave their names and phone numbers and told the police that the taxi was at fault. Keith came and got me. We took everything out of my car and then they towed my car. I have a feeling it'll be the last time I ever drive that car. It was a great car for me for the last 15 years. There was broken glass everywhere. Amazingly I wasn't cut at all. I have some soreness on my left side where the car bent in towards me. Mostly I think I'm still just in shock.

Then in other news, on the morning of February 16th I found a lump in my breast. I went to the doctor on the 20th. She examined me and she said she thought it was probably just a cyst but that the protocol is for me to go get a mammogram and an ultrasound. The first appt that radiology had available was March 7th, today. So I went today. Jen was an amazing friend and she went with me for moral support. I had the mammogram and then I had the ultrasound. After the ultrasound the doctor told me that it is not a cyst. They don't know what it is but they are concerned. They sent me for an expedited Fine Needle biopsy. So I went over to do that. The doctor there took a fine needle and then inserted it into my lump and moved it around a little bit and got a specimen. It didn't hurt much. About the same as giving blood. She said they'll get the lab results on Monday and then my primary care doctor will call me. She also said that just because it's not a cyst doesn't mean that it's cancer. It could be a fibroadenoma or something else. Guess I'll find out on Monday. 

So I just filed my car accident claim. I'm at home now and feeling a little overwhelmed and mostly I just want to rest. I haven't really been up for much talking. I called my Mom and asked her to call my Aunt. I called and told my Dad and asked him to tell my other Aunt. I talked to my brother for a little bit. It's been a crazy ordeal and now I just want to watch some tv.