Oncology 101

We've got a plan!!!! Ok, so it's a tentative one, but I'm going to tell this like I see it. I am, and always will be, a naive optimist, so please keep that in mind :)

Yesterday, I met with Dr. Belt, the oncologist, with Kelly by my side. Needless to say (and no need for anyone to take offense), oncologists are an interesting breed. Unique, let's just say. Anyway, he was very direct and I left there with a plan. That's what I went there for, right? The information flew at us pretty fast so Kelly and I were having a rapid fire Q & A session basically. He did the exam and told me that I look very healthy otherwise (why, thank you :) ) and moved directly into the plan. There is probably a lot of information that I'm missing here, but basically, he said 'so you're having a bi-lateral mastectomy, right?' Well, prior to walking in, I was leaning that way, but my surgeon told me that I have a few different options. So of course I replied 'Well, I didn't know that I had decided that.' He really didn't skip a beat and we asked him about rates of recurrence. His whole point in suggesting the double mastectomy is that I have history. Whether or not that BRCA1 or BRCA2 comes back positive, there is still history in my family. It's not a deep history, but at this point, why take chances? There may be some other gene mutation that we don't know about yet that causes me to be predisposed to breast cancer. As long as there is remaining breast tissue, the chance is there. Kelly and Dr. Shelley both armed me with the simplest, but necessary, question that I pulled out here... 'If I were your daughter...' I didn't even need to finish the sentence before he finished with 'You'd have a bi-lateral mastectomy.'  Dr. Belt has been in the biz for a VERY long time. He has seen a lot and had tons of experience. That's really all I needed to hear.

So, on August 24th, I have two plastic surgeons lined up (I still have yet to meet them and won't for a couple weeks. I'll decide then.)  with my oncology surgeon, Dr Shook to get rid of these and get some new ones. These are trying to kill me...they've just gotta go. :)

I chose August 24th for 2 very good reasons. First, with everyone on vacation (see? I told you! Bad time to get cancer!), the earliest I could do it is a week earlier. Well, that just so happens to be the day my son starts kindergarten. I'll be damned if I am going to miss this milestone in Josh's life. No way. AND, my friend Brooks Williams and his pacer (my dear friend) Andy Henshaw are planning on my mad crewing skills to get Brooks a top 5 finish at the Leadville 100 trail race. I am not going to miss that unless my life depends on it. And at this point, it does not :)

My hope is that I will start chemo treatments on Sept 2 and will have chemo every 2 weeks for 8 weeks. And there you have it. A plan :)

I am having an MRI and full body PET scan on Friday of this week just to make sure that this stupid cancer isn't anywhere else. I'll keep you all posted!

I slept better last night than I have in a while (ok, the melatonin that Desiree gave me probably didn't hurt) and I feel good today. I am fully aware that there are still some holes in my plan and that it won't be easy, but I have a plan and that feels good.