Breadcrumbs

So the pathology report on Tuesday was obviously the big news around here for the grand scheme of disease and life and overall stress and anxiety. But another thing also happened that, in truth, is maybe an even bigger improvement for my moment to moment existence right now... ...and if you've had surgery, maybe especially breast surgery, or know someone who has, you don't need to the read the title because you can fill in the blank... I Got My Drain Out! To the uninitiated (skip this part if medical details gross you out), post op they put a tube about a foot long that looped around under the skin of the left side of my chest and poked out under my arm and was attached to a plastic bulb. And I'm sure they did this for very good reasons so that post operative fluid doesn't build up, fluid that is "better out than in" my body, and I am deeply thankful, I am guessing, for that intervention. But dear lord drains are miserable. They are awkward and move around jus...

Yesterday was my post op visit with my surgeon, in which we also finally got back the results from pathology. The short answer to all the most pertinent questions is: no more cancer found in the breast tissue the pathologist tested. And no cancer found in the sentinel lymph node they removed. Which means I don't have cancer any more. Which is all good news to say the least. I won't have to have radiation. I almost certainly won't have to have chemo. There might be another test to run, getting the oncotype of the tumor itself, which technically could have a finding that warrants more treatment. So there are still a couple of things to figure out, but even I in all my caution don't feel too much like I'm tempting the nonexistent-fates-of-the-most-superstitious-people-on-earth (i.e. those who do or have worked in hospitals of which I am one I can't help it) to say that it is likely that this cancer is dealt with and gone. Obviously we are super happy and celebratin...