Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Surgery Date is Set

I am going into surgery on Wednesday, December 10th. The mass has shrunk to nothing, and I will be able to have a lumpectomy or breast conservation surgery. There was only one bump in facing surgery. I am hoping to have only the sentinel lymph node removed. However, with chemo prior to surgery sometimes the radioactive dye that is used to determine the sentinel lymph node does not do its job. In that case I have to have an axillary lymph node dissection. In that procedure several lymph nodes are removed and tested for cancer. We won't know until the surgery if this will happen. When you have several lymph nodes removed you have to worry about swelling in the arm, and you could have problems with that arm in the future.

I am not looking forward to surgery, but I am ready for it to happen. It is time for the next step.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's great news about the MRI. I have December 10 marked on my calendar.

Anonymous said...

The MRI experience sounded terrible, Elizabeth! Thank goodness the news was good and I've got my fingers crossed for everything else coming up for you!!!!