Let's catch up...

So since my surgery I've had a couple of appointments. 

February 21, 2013 - me, Zac, & mom went for my follow up visit with my shrink to make sure all of my meds were working out. Before the appointment we went to the cafeteria so I could eat a little something. I got a call from Dr. Caudle's PA, Angela, to let me know that my pathology came back. She said nothing was different from what they discovered during surgery. Recap - they took out 3 ancillary nodes under my arm and cancer was laying on top of 1 of them. It had not penetrated into the actual node and it was measured at 1 mm. They tested 20 other lymph nodes and those were all clear. What that means is I should not have to have radiation!!! Yay!!! Needless to say, I went to the shrink crying of joy....that will be the only time she sees me cry. Lol

My final cancer is Stage IIB, T2 (size of tumor >2cm), N1 (cancer was found in 1 node), Mi (the cancer found on the node was 1mm in size)

February 22, 2013 - yep we are back at MDA for a follow up visit with my reconstructive surgeon, Dr. Crosby & her PA, Rachel. They took out two of the five drains. Everything looked great except I must have been allergic to the tape they used because I had blisters. No wonder why in the hell I've been itching so bad. They wanted to pump up the tissue expanders, but I declined because I was still super sore. We also met with my Medical Oncologist, Dr. Melhem; she will be the one in charge of my chemo. This is what my chemo schedule looks like:

Stage 1 - I will be taking Fluorouracil, Doxorubicin (Adriamycin), & Cytoxan (aka FAC) every three weeks for four cycles and this starts March 22, 2013. This will have to be done at MDA, but the remaining treatments can be done in The Woodlands.

Stage 2 - I will be taking Taxol & Herceptin weekly for 12 weeks

Stage 1 & 2 (a total of 6 months) will be the reason I will lose my hair...

Stage 3 - I will be taking Herceptin, alone, every 3 weeks for one year and the drug Tamoxifin for 5 years.

I will be a busy girl!  I should be going back to work during Stage 1 around treatment #3 or #4.  It's going to be really hard because I get tire real easily now without chemo involved, but I will just need to take it one day at a time.

February 27, 2013 - very bittersweet moment.  I am back at MDA to meet with Dr. Caudle (my Surgical Oncologist) for my final follow up visit.  Everything went well and she said I was healing well.  I gave her a little present for thanking her for spending Valentines Day with me and taking good care of me. 

March 1, 2013 - Now off to see Dr. Crosby & PA Rachel.  I got the remaining 3 drains out and was pumped up an additional 30 cc's (15 cc's in each breast).  It really hurt because it's done with a needle which caused my chest to start having muscle spasms.  I have video, but won't share because you can see my boobs and I don't want anyone to get jealous LOL, but I will look to see if I can find something on youTube to show how it is done.  I was in pain all weekend because the tissue expanders were so uncomfortable.