(... And Inhale) Some Detail ...

So my last post was not very informative other than to say “What?!?  Cancer, why won’t you leave us alone!!!”

Sadly, cancer doesn’t listen.  If it was in some sort of conscious form I would send Liam Neeson after it with his ‘particular set of skills’ (vis-a-vis the “Taken” movies).

So, more detail.  Deb has been having a two-pronged screening approach ever since her original cancer diagnosis/surgery/reconstruction back in 2009.  Because there’s an implant on the right side and because of her history with cancer, she has a mammogram and then later an MRI to monitor her.  These have been scheduled six months apart ever since we moved to Seattle in September of 2009.  Her most recent MRI was in mid-December.

We got word back that they wanted to do an ultrasound-guided biopsy on the right side.  It was originally scheduled for December 31^st, but for some reason they only did the ultrasound part to see if they could actually locate it.  Something about not taking a sample on the afternoon before a long weekend because of the possibility of complications with the biopsy procedure (though those chances are relatively low).

It was another week and a half before they actually took the sample.  Two days later we were at a surgeon’s office going over the results.  Yep.  Cancer rears its ugly head again.  But not the same kind as last time, so we really shouldn’t think of it as a recurrence, just a new tumor (that is fortunately pretty small).  The original surgery had removed all of that cancer, but there was a little bit of breast tissue remaining.  Just enough of it, I guess.

But wait, I didn’t mention …  At the time of the MRI they looked at a little spot on the left side that hadn’t been changing much over the years but that might have been getting bigger.  Deb went back for an MRI-guided biopsy on the left side.  Why didn’t they do both at once?  Because one was an ultrasound (which requires a certain piece of equipment) and the other was an MRI (which requires a totally different piece of equipment).  This was mostly because the spot on the left was so small that they couldn't locate it with the ultrasound.

There were other doctor visits in the meantime though.  We saw the oncologist here that Deb talked to seven years ago.  We also went to see a reconstructive surgeon to discuss possible approaches and time-lines for that.

Regardless, two days after the second biopsy we were back in the first surgeon’s office to discuss the results.  Not cancer, but the cells weren't completely normal on the left.  Deb had already decided that she isn’t going to fool around with this any longer and is going to go with a double mastectomy, so that result helps to confirm that decision.

That’s enough for now.  Next time I’ll mention what will likely happen this time after the surgery.  And maybe call cancer by a few bad names (might not be suitable for small children).