Change of plan

Hi Tracy. 3rd time lucky!! Twice I've had a response close to completion & "a problem occurred with this web page, so it was reloaded" & I've lost the lot! Aargh!!! So , I'll try again. 

Great news about your staging test results. Such a relief, but what a roller coaster of emotions. Dr'soften don't explain things well, but I gather when there are positive nodes, it is routine, to exclude distant spread. I certainly didn't know the reason behind all the tests when I had them done.

Another hump on the roller coaster ride is the news of requiring a re-excision. I had chemo first, & had asked my surgeon how often re-excision was needed in that situation. About 1 in 10, she said. Great, I thought, that's 90% chance of not needing re-excision. Well, you guessed it. I was in the 10%!!! 

Be aware that sometimes the cosmetic appearance isn't as good after re-excision, as it was after the initial lumpectomy. That was my experience, anyway. I was really happy with how my breast looked after my 1st surgery. Five days later, after my second op, I looked at my breast & cried, it seemed so misshapen. She had used oncoplastic techniques to reshape the tissue, but I guess because of partial healing, and the closeness of the 2 operations, it didn't work so well second time around. 

Almost three months later, it is starting to look a little more normal, but I feel better wearing a padded bra these days, so they look a little more even. Never ever wore a padded bra before. 

Just remember, there is an end to treatment. Take it all one day at a time. 

Take care, Lyn