The best bad news

This just in: the "biopsy thing" on Monday revealed NO cancer in the second area! Hurrah!

Okay, here's the story. First of all, it was actually nice having some convalescing time this week, not only for my impressive gash from Monday's biopsy, but for my spirit. I spent Monday afternoon pretty stationary, as I was quite sore after the happy numbing drugs wore off. With my aunt and uncle, and later Michael, I watched movies, read, and just generally rested. Tuesday felt a little better, but I still lay low, a much needed respite. Wednesday I felt good enough to work, but not good enough to drive too much (that takes a lot more boob muscle than you might realize!), so stuck around home.

Today I feel almost normal. I put on a cute outfit (new jacket, a favorite necklace, and cute shoes!), and decided that today would be a beautiful day! I noted to myself how very blue Irondequoit Bay was on my drive to work. I smiled at people, and laughed, and said, "Good!" when people asked how I was. And I carried my phone around obsessively, waiting for the doctor to call. She didn't. As the day went on, I felt more and more deflated. By the afternoon, I was a zombie. I called the doctor 15 min before the office closed, and learned that although my results were in, my doctor, who is the only person allowed to give me the information, had been called into the OR. "She'll probably call tomorrow," the nice receptionist said. And I hung up and hung my head and started to cry. "I can't take much more of this," I texted my loved ones. I had spent so much energy being upbeat today that I simply had nothing left.

Just when I had come to terms with not hearing until tomorrow, the phone rang, at 5:45. "This is Dr. Skinner." "Hi!" "It's not cancer.... Thought you'd appreciate some good news. I'll see you on Tuesday." And suddenly, I am 50 pounds lighter! I feel a skip in my step! My smile is genuine instead of forced! Who has ever been so happy as I am that she will have surgery next week followed by 6 weeks of radiation, but here I am, happy as can be! It's the best bad news I could have hoped for.

So yes, that is the plan. I will have a lumpectomy (officially called "partial mastectomy") on Tuesday. The day will start with a wire being put in to the chip the doctor left after the biopsy that found the cancer, and this wire will guide the surgeon. It's outpatient, so I'll go home the same day. I don't know what the normal recovery period is for this, though someone told me she had gone out to dinner the night after her lumpectomy, so that's good. And then at some point in October, we will talk more specifically about radiation, and I expect that will continue into early December. Not sure how it will impact me physically, except that I will have a sunburn (inside and out, both sides) for 6 weeks and will be tired. But otherwise, radiation won't make me look like a cancer patient (I won't lose my hair - that's a chemo side effect). It certainly has its fear factors, especially long term, but, well, I've done it once, and I can do it again.