Begin at the Beginning

On Monday I had an appointment with my physician to check a lump.  She was not happy about it and sent me to have a mammogram and ultrasound.  At that appointment on Wednesday, they decided they wanted to do a biopsy.  The biopsy led to the diagnosis of Invasive Ductal Carcinoma, grade 3.  Whatever that means, right?

It means that the cancer started in my milk ducts (super-ridiculous since I have breast-fed four children each for a year) that has invaded the surrounding area.  Apparently, grade 3 means it is the fast-growing, aggressive type.  Yay.

I am still waiting on more information - staging, whether it is fueled by hormones (yeah, I'll let you look that one up), and more.  But...I do know the following:

1. On Monday, September 30th I will have an MRI.  I have to lie in an enclosed tube with no metal upon my body, while on my tummy with my hands over my head while there is a loud clicking noise.  This sounds like a treat as I get to listen to music while doing it.  I don't get to listen to whatever music I want to very often, so I guess I can look forward to that.  Depending on those results I may have more tests.
2. On Wednesday, I will meet with a team of Doctors from Columbia St. Mary's who will review my case and then give me their recommendations.
3. BUT...because CSM is so far away from us and just about everyone we know is saying we need to be at Froedtert, we also have an appointment on Friday to meet with a surgeon from Froedtert who will also discuss our options with us.

At that point, I imagine the next step will be scheduling the surgery, having the surgery, and recovering from the surgery.  Which will then be followed by lots of fun chemicals, the loss of my hair, my lunch and many other things.  Becoming irradiated will likely follow.  I can't wait.

As you maybe can tell (?), I am trying to keep my sense of humor, though I think it is mostly manifesting itself in snarky sarcasm right now.

As Matt and I are so incredibly blessed to have so many wonderful, caring, incredible people in our lives, I thought it might be helpful to have one place to keep you all informed.  I will do my best to keep in up-to-date or to have someone else do that for me.

Right now, the thing we need most is lots of prayer.  If you can do that for us, I would be forever grateful.  Thank you.