Anna vs. Breast Cancer, Round 1: Fight!

[annathepiper]

Went in today for the biopsy followup with Dr. Towbin, so that he could check and see how I'm healing and fill me in on what exactly the biopsy results mean.

He gave me a copy of the pathology report, which uses the already-mentioned term DCIS as well as "negative for invasive carcinoma". The parts that make one go "um" are the parts that indicate that this thing is starting to solidify, that it's growing quickly, and that at this time it is on the large side. Which pretty much means "okay, let's get this dealt with NOW". Kill it before it breeds, nuke the site from orbit (it's the only way to be sure), etc.

Dr. Towbin expressed a concern that due to the size of this thing, there's a possibility of other lumps in there--hence, we need an MRI to figure out exactly what we're dealing with and how the surgery will go. I now have an MRI scheduled for Wednesday the 3rd at fuckoff-early in the morning, and appointments with a medical and a radiation oncologist on Thursday and Friday, the 4th and the 5th. Then there will be another followup appointment with the surgeon, on the 8th, to deal with the results of the MRI and presumably schedule some surgery.

The scheduling nurse gave me a pink bag full of stuff that they apparently give to new breast cancer patients, which was kind of nice. There's a pink bracelet/anklet somebody made, a packet of orange spice tea (which I think I shall drink after I make this post), a packet of peppermints, a book called Breast Cancer Made Simple, a small pillow, a notepad, and a boatload of other informational booklets and flyers about support groups and the like.

I have updated my boss and her boss about the situation and they're being very supportive; hopefully this will only be a short-term massive disturbance to my work schedule. But we'll have to see how it goes.

Also updated my GP doctor so she's in the loop, and have had to reschedule my followup with my endoc as well; I was previously scheduled to see him on the 4th, the same day I'm now going to be seeing the medical oncologist, and I'd rather not drive all over the area to deal with a bunch of medical things on one day if I can avoid it. So. Hopefully I won't have to reschedule the reschedule, but much will depend on when Dr. Towbin goes in for the search-and-destroy mission.

Comments

[cruisedirector]

*hugs* Meant to respond to your last post but kids and stuff got in the way. My mother had in situ carcinoma, lumpectomy and radiation 15 years ago. She has been *knocks wood* cancer free since, had no side effects from the treatment and very little discomfort. Am praying for the same for you.

[annathepiper]

*hugs back* Thanks, and thanks for sharing your mother's experiences. Every little positive story like that helps.

[queenoftheskies.livejournal.com]

::HUGS::

Wishing you all the best and sending TONS of good energy.

[annathepiper]

*hugs back* Thank you very much.

[prettyshrub.livejournal.com]

Cancer sucks, as several of my friends can attest. I'm glad you are moving on this and hopefully it will be a quick and decisive battle.

On the up side, you can trump most people when the conversation turns to medical complaints.

My advice, massive amounts of Great Big Sea with some filk thrown in for good measure.

*HUGS* *MOJO*

Linda

[annathepiper]

Most, indeed, though not all! Like, for example, this. I can't beat that!

But yeah. There will be quite a bit of Great Big Sea in my immediate future. There are reasons that "Ordinary Day" is the theme song of this journal. I will be invoking them.

Also, solarbird and I are going to go jam at technoshaman's place on Sunday. Which will be Good.

[eveshka.livejournal.com]

*snugs*

I'll light a -pink- candle for you, too. Just to be doubly safe.

Tell Dara to give you a hug from me, k?

[annathepiper]

A pink candle sounds wonderful. Thanks.

And I will. *snugs*

[annathepiper]

Good book recommendations would be most welcome. I am in fact currently finally working on a book by an author you recommended to me ages ago: Haruki Murakami. I've started reading The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. I'm only in a little ways so far but it's quite good.

Oof, and sympathies on your own experiences with this stuff. I think I intellectually knew that cancer is so much more common these days, but it really drives it home to hear from all the folks on my Friends list who have had family members who've had to deal with it.

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Oh, HELLYEAH, you got Mike Towbin? Best cutter EVAR. Nice guy, too. (That's who did mine.) There are a whole bunch of medical personnel walking around this town who, when they had to have something done, went to him... and word gets around. Sweetness. I was hoping you'd get him.

I assume that means you'll be going to Evergreen for the procedure....

[flashfire.livejournal.com]

That sounds promising.

[spunbutterfly.livejournal.com]

*hug* ._. I think I must've missed your other post, but good luck.

[annathepiper]

Yeah, this is something I just found out about yesterday. Brand new news. Thanks much. *hugs*

[janne.livejournal.com]

Sounds like things are moving as fast as they can. Many hugs and good wishes!

[annathepiper]

Yeah, there's a measure of "SCREW TESTING, GET THIS OUT NOW NOW NOW" going on in my brain, but. *hugs* Thank you very much.

[ssha.livejournal.com]

Just wanted to offer a big ol' *HUG* and some heartfelt prayers. We've had a couple of scares with my mom and dad in the past. My dad just had his prostate removed this past year due to cancer. Not to mention the thyroid cancer he had in his 20s which required the removal of most of said thyroid. My mom had a hysterectomy due to precancerous lesions just before Christmas one year when I was a kid, too. This is all above and beyond all of the extended relatives who have dealt with this nasty little shitfaced buggering soandso.

So, in short, love and hugs and prayers and God's healing coming your way posthaste, madame!

[annathepiper]

Thanks very much, hon. *snugs*

[darthhellokitty.livejournal.com]

It sounds like you have the right people doing the right things! It's great that you're moving ahead quickly. We'll be thinking about you all the time!!!

[annathepiper]

Thanks much, babe. I'm still damn well in on seeing Russell and Christian being all sexy and Old-West-y at each other tomorrow.

And yeah, I seem to be in good hands. That helps.

[elfs.livejournal.com]

Holy crap, Anna!

Why does stuff like this always seem to happen to the good people? Indeed, find that sucker, take it out, and put a stake through its heart.

And then you get well, ne?

[annathepiper]

"Holy crap", indeed.

And heh, now you've got me thinking of all the various ways that blob-like things got killed on Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, which, oddly, helps. Thank you. ;) And it's good to hear from you!

[raise-a-jar.livejournal.com]

So glad to hear that they're moving in on this so immediately! Best of luck with all the coming appointments and what-not. Will be thinking about you.

~snugs~

[annathepiper]

Thank you very much, hon! And yeah, I'm comforted by what I'm seeing out of this particular surgical clinic so far. *snugs!*

[blargh.livejournal.com]

Eeep!

Well, as you know, I'm a firm believer in the "nuke them from orbit" strategy, and sincerely hope that things go well for you in that department.

The release of tactical nuclear weapons is hereby authorized...

along with @nuke, @kill, @toad...

Wait...

@toad?

...

[flashfire.livejournal.com]

Toads croak, don't they?

No croaking, Anna!

[firni.livejournal.com]

You know me... my main issue would be the waiting. "What, more tests? JUST GET IT OUT OF ME NOW, THANKS! You can run your bloody tests AFTER YOU GET IT OUT OF ME, NOW NOW NOW RIGHT FUCKING NOW."

[annathepiper]

Seriously. They started asking me what days would be better than others for scheduling these followup appointments, and I told 'em under the circumstances, ASAP is what I wanted.

[boxer-ferret.livejournal.com]

I saw you other mention of a biopsy, but didn't know it was something so serious. *hugs* Sounds like you're already on the right path so hold on to that positive attitude!

[annathepiper]

Yeah, I only just found out yesterday that this is a much bigger pain in the ass than I'd hoped for. So.

*hugs* Thanks, and yeah, I damn well mean to kick this thing in the ass. But hugs are good for making sure that happens. :)

[annathepiper]

Oh, by all means, feel free to fling all kinds of swear words at this entire situation. I am!

Perhaps I should have a contest for the most creative string of swear words, to be used in conjunction with "BIG FAT FUCKING NUISANCE".

And thanks; my main worry here (well, aside from the whole CANCER concept) is juggling all this in conjunction with the fact that I also have, like, y'know, a JOB. But my boss and her boss are in the loop and they're sounding like they've got my back. Which helps. Hopefully this will only disrupt my work schedule for only a short while.

[mamishka.livejournal.com]

RAWR! Glad to hear things are moving along swiftly! I made a new icon just for you! This is my cancer killing Panda microbe which is about the beat the crap out of your hapless lump! Kill! Smash! Destroy!

[annathepiper]

Oh gods, I love that icon. ^_^ *hugs!*

Yeah, swiftly is good and hopefully the disruption to my work schedule will only be limited to the next few weeks. And on the upside, I'll look at this as another forthcoming excuse for a Movie Suckoff!

[mojave-wolf.livejournal.com]

Daaaamn.

I'm so sorry this is going on w/you.

If it makes you feel any cheerier, I had lymphoma -- a really fast-growing kind that normally kills people in 3 months and that was how long I'd had the tumor before bright boy here decided to get it checked out -- when I was 19 and am still here at 42 w/no recurrences?

On the down side, chemo sucked humongously, but I've read it isn't nearly as nasty now as it used to be. Or are you just doing surgery/radiation?

ps

[mojave-wolf.livejournal.com]

I forgot! My doctor when this happened had moved to Seattle, last I heard!!!

I was in Birmingham, Alabama, then.

If you run in to a Dr. Thomas Rado, tell him Jason the track kid from Alabama who had Burkitt's Lymphoma says "hi" and is living in the middle of the desert in Cali now. =)

::am still horribly embarrassed that I gave him this ultra-religious Christian Christmas card when he's Jewish, but don't tell him *that* to remember me by::

[worldforawhile.livejournal.com]

I don't know you, but my mother had carcinoma in situ in her 30s and my dad recently passed away from cancer and. . .even at its most difficult, it helps GREATLY to have the attitude you're having. That may not have made any sense, but I'll have you in my thoughts.

(I think I friended you via semaisin? Because you like books, as do I.)

[worldforawhile.livejournal.com]

You know what? Something I should also have said is that the type of cancer that got my dad, it's incurable. And then my good friend found out she had last to say, the conclusion I meant to draw, is that the more upbeat and ra-ra-fight you are about the diagnosis, the more on top of your treatment you are, the higher your chances of coming out of this and back into full health are.

[miladygrey.livejournal.com]

*hugs and will be praying*

My mom and both of my grandmothers fought varying degrees of breast cancer, and won because of soul-deep stubbornness and sheer determined good cheer. I know you're in the same category.

Keep that smile on your face and four walls (and Dara) around you!

[annathepiper]

*hugs* Thank you very much. And yeah, now I have a whole new boatload of reasons to keep "Ordinary Day" as my theme song.

[kissare.livejournal.com]

Damn. That's something. I'm sorry you have to deal with it - here's hoping that it IS a quick and minimally disruptive period. Unleash the nukes... and take care!

[annathepiper]

Thanks, hon. And yeah, starting to move now into the stage of "OKAY THEN let's find out about this beast and what needs to happen for me to kill it." I figure this is what, 15 minutes into the Buffy episode? ;)

[pauldf.livejournal.com]

*hugs* I hope your fight end quickly and swiftly!

[annathepiper]

*hugs back!* Thank you very much.

[marzipan-pig.livejournal.com]

Oh Anna. Good luck, you are doing great with the 'assertive' and 'informed' and 'doing what needs to be done'. When I worked for a cancer project, 'in situ' was yeah, stage 0, the one people were happy to get if they HAD to get cancer, so, go you! Fight fight fight!

[annathepiper]

Thank you very much for chiming in, the more I can hear out of people with experience with all this, the better. I really appreciate it. :)

I've started reading the booklets and things that the Evergreen Surgical Clinic gave me. I figure if I can identify the monster, that's the first step towards me kicking its ass. I did it with my thyroid adventures. I can do it with this.

[shaylith.livejournal.com]

Massive hugs and good wishes that this is over quickly and easily as possible. *well wishes abound!*

[annathepiper]

*hugs!* Thank you very much. :)

[branwyn32.livejournal.com]

*HUGS* Sending buckets of positive healing energy your way

[annathepiper]

*hugs!* Thank you very much. :)