Second Opinion & the Big Dilemma

Yesterday I went for a second opinion at the Arizona Institute for Breast Health which is a free service and quite unique to Arizona. Any woman diagnosed with breast cancer can have a panel of breast cancer experts which consists of surgeons, oncologists, radiation oncologists, psychologists and more. The panel reviews your case and the plan and makes recommendations and give opinion(s) on the course of treatment. I will post more information on this great service in a future blog.

I was glad to get this because although originally it was thought that I have DCIS (ductal cell cancer in situ - which means cancer in the breast duct that has not spread to surrounding tissues), I have had several indications that there is cancer somewhere else. Between the MRIs and the xrays that show a suspicious lymph node and several "hotspots" it appears that there could be cancer somewhere else. But, three biopsies, multiple MRIs, mammograms and multiple tests have not turned up any more cancer. The only thing that has turned up is that there are 10 spots of cancer near the original site not the five first seen. All of the spots are high grade so they are fast growing. The biggest worry is the suspicious axillary lymph node which is on the right side. No one can tell if that is the sentinel node (the one that leads away from the duct with the cancer) or another node.

Our current plan is to take the area with the known cancer, take 2 centimeters clearance around that whole area and shave the edges a bit more. At the same time, dye will be injected to lead back to the sentinel node which will then be tested for cancer cells. If the node is negative for cancer, Dr. O'Neill will close up without testing any more nodes. If the node is positive then she will take the next nearest node, test that for cancer and do that up to four nodes. If the fourth node is positive then Dr. O'Neill will remove the whole string of nodes. After the surgery we can check via MRI to see if the "bad" node is gone or not.

The second opinion team offered one alternative. They suggested checking the suspicious node using ultrasound and then aspirating it and doing a pathology on it to see if it has cancer. This seems like a good plan except it would entail waiting on the surgery. I have been spent the last month being diagnosed and want to get the known cancer out of me so I can finish the treatment and get back to work and my life.

So... tomorrow around 9:00 am... they will place a guide wire for the surgeon, I think via one of those not so great MRIs. At 11:00am I will have surgery and hopefully go home in the early evening!

Positive energy and prayers accepted! Peace.