On the heels of yesterday's great news, I had my first consultation with my oncologist today. She's younger than me! I actually like that. Glad to have a progressive, young doctor.
She took a lot of time to explain the four different kinds of cancer that are all called 'breast cancer'. I didn't know that. Turns out, all of them have different traits, and are all treated differently.
The super short Cliff's notes on the situation is that my type of cancer is called a "triple negative". This type of cancer doesn't respond to any other therapy other than chemo. So, I'll have to have chemo. Good news is that it will only be four cycles, not six. While it is a stubborn kind of cancer, it is very responsive to chemo, and when it goes away, it tends to stay away.
So...I'm going to do everything I can to clean the slate and make sure that we zap any cells that may have settled down elsewhere in my body. My doctor explained that while my lymph nodes and margins tested clean, there is still a high enough chance that some cancer cells are still setting up shop in my body somewhere. Chemo will evict them.
She said that I'll definitely lose my hair, which honestly doesn't bother me much. She also told me that I'll have a greater than 50/50 chance of keeping my period. yay!
Healing up nicely from the surgery, and enjoying the company of my friends that are swinging by.
LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!!!!
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