el Cancertan

Hello! Have you ever wondered why people enjoy and even pay to do really difficult or dangerous things? Like...why would someone pay tuition to become an expert on snakes? Why would that guy in River Monsters go in search of scary fish that lie in wait under the water? Why would someone choose to scale a mountain like el Capitan in Yosemite if they could fall and die at any moment? For the record, I am a belt-and-suspenders kind of gal; I'll take risks, but they're calculated, so having to deal with cancer has upset my sense of equilibrium. The risks and dangers are choosing me. It's a weird feeling to say the least.

Whether I want to or not, this week I continued my climb up el Cancertan. I finally got the pathology results back from the doctor and this is what they found:

1. My right side was totally clear with no indication of any cancer.
2. My left side contained a tumor that measured 5.2cm or this long: ________________________
3. The surgeon took out 5 lymph nodes. Why 5? Before surgery they shot a colored dye into that side to see which nodes the tumor might drain to if it had a chance. During surgery, it drained to 5 nodes.
4. Three of the five nodes were clear, but two of the nodes had ITC or Isolated Tumor Cells.

*Dramatic side note - I started freaking out a bit when I heard this!

5. My surgeon said that she thought it was "fantastic" that there were only ITCs in 2 of the nodes with a tumor that size. Basically, it means that the tumor cells in there hadn't started clumping together, so they kind of don't count or affect my diagnosis. Plus, since she took everything out, I feel better about it now...more cancer free than I was.

6. It doesn't change my diagnosis - I'm still Stage IIb. I will start chemo in a few weeks and then do radiation.

7. I went to physical therapy yesterday and found out that I will always need to be concerned about possible lymph-edema in my left arm since the nodes were taken out. This means I will need to wear a compression sleeve on the airplane when I take a trip to the Caribbean next summer (Hans, that is a hint!). It also means I just have to be careful with that arm and try not to get it inflamed/aggravated so it doesn't swell.

Other than that, I am on the mend and am enjoying a visit from my sister this weekend!
Love and light,
Jennifer