Prophylactic Mastectomy

Since the cancer was also found in my mammary nodes, I have done a lot of research and decided on a bilateral prophylactic mastectomy.  This means that I will have my breast tissue removed.  This will reduce the risk of breast cancer by 90%.  I am not sure if the odds are that high for me since they have already found the cancer in my lymph nodes.

Getting this surgery done is next to impossible if I want a good doctor to do it.  This is because of my low blood counts.  Evidently, this can be normal for years after chemo.  But my local doctor got nervous and sent me to get a CT scan of my spleen and my liver.  Your spleen and liver filter your blood and remove any worn out blood cells.  Turns out that they found cysts on my left kidney. 

Then a few months later the blood is still not good so I was sent to a hematology/oncologist to make sure that I don't have Leukemia.  The new oncologist just took one look at me and a quick blood test and told me that I was fine.

I have had all kinds of suggestions on how to improve my blood.  But the effort is futile.  The chemo has ruined my bone marrow's ability to produce blood cells. It should improve in a year or so, but I met a woman today who is 5 years out of chemo and her blood counts are still low.

I know more about this stuff than I ever wanted to know.

Back by popular demand

Hi!  I have had multiple requests for me to continue my blog into remission.  So, I have decided that I have so much to give back that I will do just that.  I hope that my posts inspire you to be positive through tough times.

Let me catch you up to date:

The last of 6 chemo sessions was April 29th, 2014.  ON May 20th, 2014 a final CT scan declared me NED (no evidence of disease).  Here we are at 6 months post-chemo and I am doing well. 

I will go back to the oncologist the first week of December for them to tell me that I continue to rock NED! 

I have had a few bumps in the road over the past 6 months.  Please stay tuned as I document all of it.