All signs point to "yes!"

So today I went for my follow up visit to the surgeon. He gave me very good news regarding the pathology results from the tumor. He said that all of the margin areas (the extra tissue around the tumor itself) and the 4 lymph nodes (not 3) he removed showed no sign of any cancer. Hooray!

He was very pleased with the results. I was also very pleased. My friends Jackie & Marci, who were kind enough to accompany me, were also very pleased. It was just a bonanza of happy people. Heh.

We celebrated by having tea and monster-sized scones nearby at the East 64th Street location of Alice's Tea Cup. (They also have 2 other locations.) I had the organic orange ginger peach tea with the raspberry & white chocolate and apple-triple berry scones (it was a package deal) and my friends both had the pumpkin and tea-infused scones (x 2). One pair of the pumpkin and tea scones are shown above, after our attempts to eat them. Each of us took home more than half of each of our 2 scones. (urp!) All of them were moist and delicious, not at all dry & crumbly like most scones.

But back to medical stuff: since it measured over 1 cm when they removed it (1.1 cm), they will now run some genetic testing (Oncotype DX) on the tumor to see if it is the type which will respond to chemo. Yes, in the 1 month between diagnosis and surgery, it grew in diameter by 4 mm. EEK! Apparently the words "invasive" (as in: invasive ductal carcinoma, stage I) and "aggressive" were not exaggerations.

Anyway, chemotherapy is not effective against all types of cancer cells. If the results indicate yes, I get to add that to my 5-wk. radiation + 5-yr. tamoxifen cocktail. If not, just drugs and radiation treatments. The test takes 2-3 weeks to complete (on the excised tumor) and costs $2K-$3K (!) which most insurers will pay for because chemo costs $30K-$50K (!!!) so it's worth it to them to spend a few thousand to potentially save a few DOZEN grand. Yikes! (Repeat after me: thank heavens I have health insurance!)

And no radiation treatments can begin until after all of the incisions have healed (another 3-4 weeks) since radiation by definition is aimed at killing cells, not growing them.

Also today I found out why my upper left arm has been painful the past few days. Apparently the nerves near the lymph node biopsy fully "wake up" a few weeks after the surgery, so while it didn't hurt last week, I will get to enjoy the pain for the next few / several weeks. Sigh. Oh well. At least I know it's not something I did, like strain a muscle or wear irritating clothing.

Warning: icky/graphic boob & medical news ahead.

So I may or may not have previously mentioned that my breast has been swollen, bruised, and sore after the surgery. This is not so surprising, considering what went on in the operating room while I was mercifully unconscious. Looking at it kind of freaked me out since it looked so... grotesque.

Apparently, only 10% - 20% of lumpectomy patients have large hematomas (i.e., large blood clots under the skin). I am one of the lucky winners. The clotting has resulted in the swelling, which not unnaturally, was somewhat painful since it not only pulled against the stitches, but also took up more space under my skin than regular blood. (Bonus round: my period has been an unwelcome surprise visitor the past few weeks [yes, WEEKS], which as female readers may know, results in some tenderness and swelling anyway.)

The hematoma also made my boob feel truly alien, since it was not only purple and asymmetrically large (visibly so), but, well, hard -- like a baseball.

Is this what a breast implant would feel like?! I mean, when I lie down, it doesn't. (That last comment got a laugh out of the surgeon and nurse today.) Ick!

So the surgeon aspirated it today. This consisted of using a large needle to draw out about 1/4 cup of clotted blood. Since the clots didn't cooperate much, this resulted in (a) him squeezing the relevant tissue area (you know how you use a juicer to extract orange juice? yeah, like that. FUN. not.) and (b) another appointment this coming Monday for more aspiration. The aspiration did relieve the swelling somewhat though, so things are less painful & sore. Yay!

I studiously avoided looking at what he was doing during this entire process, however, as needles freak me out at the best of times, never mind when large ones are being jabbed into me. Has anyone noticed how fascinating ceiling tiles are, when one is properly motivated?

Okay. It's safe to read again.

In work related news, I found out that they laid off several folks in our division yesterday. Since we've been transferred to a different unit of the company, their jobs were redundant as they performed finance, IT, and admin functions. So far, our department has been spared, as we perform specialty functions, but we're still under evaluation, so I'm just hoping nothing major happens for another 3 months (i.e., until after I finish the radiation).

And my boss has been great throughout all of this. Since there is a nasty flu/virus making the rounds at the office, and since I am still so wiped out, we agreed that I should take the rest of this week off as well. The tentative plan is for me to return to the office on Tuesday, after the holiday.

In flower news, the lilies from my friends Sarah and Sam have kept on blooming vigorously all week, while kindly remaining fragrance free. See?

And this weekend, we went down to visit my engineer's parents. (By the way, have I mentioned how calm and supportive he's been during all of this? He's been FABULOSO! Thanking my stars daily that I did NOT accept the transfer to HK last year, for oh so many reasons: physical, financial, and psychological.)

His mom makes an annual Chinese New Year's feast, which she kindly put off this year due to my surgery. (My sweetie's mom is a sweetie herself.) Due to his dad's weekly chemo treatments, we were able to persuade her to make fewer dishes this year. By fewer, it means one dozen dishes instead of TWO dozen. I took a few photos (these photos by no means show everything she made & fed us!) and she gave me a care package for my mom. :-) [My mom also likes his mom. It's a lovefest all around! Yippee!] This is separate from the Chinese New Year duckfest I had with some friends on the actual date itself (1/26).

Okay, time to go see which doggie wins this year's Westminster Kennel Club dog show. I find watching the frou frou grooming vastly entertaining, especially when some of the smaller dogs look like they're levitating, since you can't see their legs under their meticulously styled fur.