On the morning of May 6, I went first to the Breast Center. My pastor and his wife met me and my husband for prayer in the parking lot. She brought me this verse card that she chose “by lot” from her supply of verse cards. The choice of Psalm 112:7 turned out to be providential. I carried this card in my wallet for the rest of the year.
At the Breast Center, a wire was inserted that would guide the surgeon on what tissue needed to be removed. That procedure involved a lot of being still. (This turned out to be a common requirement for many of the tests and much of the treatment!)We left there and went to the surgical center. The surgery went smoothly, and I was able to come home in the early afternoon.
Recovery was not too bad. In hindsight, I’m thankful that the plastic surgeon refused to operate that day, because having surgery on both breasts would have made for more pain and a more difficult recovery. The next day, I was able to take several short walks. Friends brought meals all week long.
On May 8, my pathology results came back. Surprisingly, in addition to the ductal carcinoma in situ, there was invasive micropapillary carcinoma in the sample. This type of cancer is not common. Googling it was frightening. However, the margins were still clear, so that was encouraging.
Further pathology results showed that the invasive cancer was triple positive. This means that it had estrogen receptors, progesterone receptors, and high levels HER2 proteins. I knew what estrogen and progesterone were, but not HER2. HER2 positive breast cancers tend to spread more quickly and are more likely to recur than HER2 negative cancers.
With these new findings, I was scheduled to see a medical oncologist. She explained that with triple positive cancer, chemotherapy along with targeted therapy and radiation were recommended. She also recommended that I have a second surgery in order to remove a lymph node and make sure the margins were adequate. I had my husband with me at that appointment, and we both agreed that chemotherapy sounded like the wise choice.
My second surgery was June 2. Thankfully, the lymph node was free from cancer. This meant that my chemotherapy dosage could be milder. I was scheduled to start chemotherapy on June 9. However, I was unable to begin chemo that day due to severe hives from some substance used on my skin in the surgery.