Update - but still waiting....
We had an appointment last week with my surgeon. Just when I thought I was starting to wrap my head around this whole cancer thing, I have more options now to consider!
I was hoping to find out whether or not I need chemo, but unfortunately that decision is up to the doctor that I meet with on Wednesday. However, my surgeon did say that results indicate chemo is rather ineffective on my kind of breast cancer (stage 1), so I took from that statement that hopefully the answer will be no to chemo. But we'll find out next week....patience, more patience.
She explained to me that because I am so young, she would like to have me gene tested to rule out a faulty gene (BRCA 1 or 2) which would make the cancer much more likely to return. So, she has scheduled an appointment for me to travel to Brisbane next Friday to meet with a geneticist that will do some genetic testing to find out if I have some faulty genes. Because my family has been blessed to not have been affected much by this awful disease, I'm fairly confident I won't have the gene, but who knows.
My surgeon is also recommending a masectomy - yep, that's complete masectomy. Trevor and I were quite shocked by this but she explained that they try not to throw too much information at you all at once which is why they haven't discussed this prior. She explained that because I'm so young if I can further minimize the risk of it returning by having a masectomy that I should. My immediate thought was fear at looking down at a chest that is complete barren of any breast. But, she quickly put my mind at ease and explained that they can perform both the masectomy and reconstruction all in one surgery and can most likely conserve my nipple and aerola. If I choose to have this done, I will most likely have a double masectomy because it just seems to make sense to me to have them both removed and reconstructed rather than just the one. I love that I could avoid radiation by having this done as well.
Hormone blocking therapy will no doubt be part of my treatment and this will be determined by the same doctor that determines whether or not I need chemotherapy.
So much to consider....I'm not at all uncomfortable with the thought of double masectomy thought so I really think this will prove to be an easy decision. My thought process is that if, God forbid, it comes back in future, I will know that I did everthing in my power to have prevented it from happening. Masectomy, to me, feels just as important as healthy eating and exercise for prevention of recurrance. Masectomy is much easier for me to consider than chemotherapy. I'm sure it might seem silly but I'd rather lose my boobs than lose my hair.
All this waiting to find out what my treatment plan is gets very frustrating. I just want to know whether or not they're recommending chemo so I can wrap my head around it.
Wondering if there are any other women out there that had my kind of cancer and what they're treatment was - IDC, grade 1, microscopic cancer found in sentinal node. 1.4 cm tumour.
