Retraction

Today was supposed to be a great day filled with fun activities....I stopped by YAA to see how my friend, Phyllis, was feeling.  At 9:30, I met a friend for breakfast.....we talked and talked and talked.  From there, I went to OLLI to share my love of Mah Jongg.  On my way home to pick up Lily for her 3:30 grooming appointment, I checked my phone for messages.  I noticed one from Leader Surgical (I have that number memorized!) but I came upon a string of green lights.  Please, I need a red light!  Finally, I was almost home, and hit a red light at the intersection of Richland and Country Club and listened to my voicemail.  "Charlene...this is Dr. Mudge.  Please call me when you get this message."

Well....it's been nearly a week since my lymph node surgery.  I knew she wasn't calling to chat.  I am scheduled to see her tomorrow and if the appointment needed to be changed, certainly the doctor would not be calling.  This had to be about my lymph nodes. OMG.

I called and within seconds, Dr. Mudge was on the phone.  "How are you?" she asked.  I told her that I would reserve that response until after she told me why she was calling.  I knew. 

"The lymph nodes showed a few micrometastatic cells."  She was very disappointed, and that, my friends is an understatement.  On the day of my lymph node surgery, she told me she would eat her shoe leather if something showed up, that's how confident she was that my nodes were clear.  I got the "all clear" on the preliminary testing, as reported in "Clear".  But, what I failed to mention on that post was that the nodes would be sent out for additional pathology. 

Dr. Mudge called Dr. Fortier, my radiation oncologist, before calling me.  I wish I could have heard that conversation!!!    

I reminded Dr. Mudge that she was wearing her navy blue loafers that day and that I hoped they taste good and told her that I would see her tomorrow.

Bob was golfing with his friend, Shel, so I knew I couldn't reach him.  My first call was to my friend that is walking this journey with me.  She was shocked.  My second call was to my friend, Christy.  I knew she would deliver the words that I needed to hear to "center myself".  Thank you, thank you, Christy!

On my way home from Lily's appointment, I finally reached Bob.  I asked if he was seated.  He was.  Told him what I knew.  Then I called Anne.  Her question: "why did they give you results in the OR if those results could change with further pathology?"  Good question. 

Bottom line....Dr. Mudge is ordering the Oncotype DX test.  From the Oncotype DX website: http://www.oncotypedx.com/enUS/Breast/HealthcareProfessionalsInvasive/Overview/Overview
"Because not all women benefit from chemotherapy equally, the Oncotype DX assay is a 21-gene assay that provides an individualized prediction of chemotherapy benefit and 10-year distant recurrence to inform adjuvant treatment decisions in certain women with early-stage invasive breast cancer^1,2. The Oncotype DX Recurrence Score^® result cannot be predicted by traditional clinicopathologic variables¹, and provides critical information that changes treatment decisions approximately 37% of the time³.

The results should be available in about a week.  So, buckle up.  This ride gets bumpier by the week.  Will I have to have chemotherapy?  Maybe.  Maybe not.  What I do know is that Dr. Mudge and Dr. Fortier discussed my case and have determined that I do not need additional surgery and my radiation treatment will be as recommended. 

Bob and I went out for a relaxing dinner this evening.  I'm OK.  I need to be OK.  I will do what is needed to be OK for the long haul.  Stay tuned.

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