So far we officially know one thing for certain...we all hate waiting for these results! Waiting is just so frustrating and as much as we try to distract ourselves - it's always there, looming in the back of our heads. The alarm went off at 5:20am and we headed to Beaumont for the MRI and lymph node ultrasound and biopsy. My yoga instructors at the Yoga Shelter would be pleased to know that I practiced my deep breathing techniques while in the MRI machine :) If you haven't had a breast MRI before, you are actually on your stomach, face down. At first, this made me feel even more claustrophobic, but it actually ended up being okay and I tried to just relax and try to sleep. Yeah right, it's so loud in there! Truth be told, when the loud noises started, I pretended I was playing video games in my head! haha! I envisioned Jeff and I playing Atari like the good ole' days. Whatever works, right?! The lymph node ultrasound showed two enlarged lymph nodes that were extremely vascular and the radiologist debated back and forth whether she should do the biopsy or not because of fear of too much bleeding. I was like, "listen lady, I need to get these results so put some compression on there and let's get this party started. And the bruising...that's the least of my concerns!" Okay, so I am kidding and didn't really say it like that - but in so many words. They are all terrified of how much I will bleed because everything is so vascular and if you saw what my breast looks like after that biopsy...well, you would understand why. The biopsy was pretty uncomfortable and tricky for the doctor because my lymph nodes sit very high up in my armpit and the two in question are right behind my pec muscle. They ended up taking four samples, and I will have those results within the next 2-3 days. For now - no working out, no lifting, no walking the dog, no nothin'! I actually smirked and sorta laughed when the nurse said that. When she questioned me about my reaction, I informed her I am a physical therapist and heading back to work for the next three days where I work with all neurologically impaired patients - many of which require me to physically transfer them. Needless to say, work will be pretty interesting as I navigate my way around how I am going to give the best care to my patients, while also taking care of myself. After about 4 hours at the hospital we headed home and Mike & I spent the rest of the day trying to relax and catch up on our sleep. Wrigley is loving that his mom & dad are spending so much time at home these days and has become an even bigger cuddle bug - all 85 pounds of him! I finally heard from Dr. B (my surgeon) about an hour ago with the CT results. Some good news, some questionable news. The CT scan did show the two enlarged lymph nodes that we already had biopsied this morning. It also showed a "suspicious" area at my T12 level of my spine. That means the twelfth and final thoracic vertebrae before the lumbar vertebrae begin. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/imagepages/1116.htm Dr. B said that it could be nothing...or it could be a metastasis. Which means the cancer has spread from my breast to my spine = bad news. So let's pray that this spot they see is nothing. http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Sites-Types/metastatic Dr. B said that because I already have cancer, any suspicious areas will definitely be noted and full follow up will be required. Dr. B is calling us back at some point to let me know if this means an MRI of my spine, or a biopsy. Ugh-spinal biopsy does not sound like a walk in the park but I guess I need to get used to being pretty uncomfortable. The good news is that the rest of the CT scan looked crystal clear...so thank you all for your prayers because I am pretty sure they helped :) Oh, we also found out the exact type of cancer cell is what is referred to as "estrogen positive". This is actually a good thing because it means that it will respond well to hormone therapy. After my surgery and chemo, I will be on hormone therapy for 5 years. I don't know a ton about this but I know everyone says this is a good thing - and that's all I need to know right now. I will take any good news I can get at this point. Thank you again for your blog messages, texts, emails, phone calls, flowers, food, thoughts, and prayers! We are seriously beyond blessed to have you all in our corner! Off to go have some yummy leftovers from our mexican dinner Saturday night with some of our very best friends, Katie & Justin. For all of you that know them, you know it was a perfect way to spend Saturday night --laughing to the point that my stomach hurt :) It was exactly what we needed. Hope everyone's week is off to a good start! "Talk" to you all soon! xoxo, Meghan Beaumont does a great job of giving you a ton of information and in a very organized binder. They put all of your info and resources into this nice canvas pink tote. As nice as it is, I immediately felt like it was a billboard saying, "Hey everyone, I have cancer!" So, as soon as I got home last Thursday, I switched everything to my cute green bag and now feel less like a patient, and a little more stylish while I go to all my appointments :) I won't publicly embarrass my mom on here about what she called this pink bag, but feel free to ask her yourself sometime if you want to make her laugh:)
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