Into the Cold

I just stopped by to look at my own blog and realized that I left you all with a post from the bad day, so I had better update this thing because I'm feeling much better since then. I was feeling pretty good by Friday and took advantage of the not too cold afternoon to take the dogs out to the ski trail. I met my goal of skiing down the flatter part of the trail without overdoing it and getting all worn out and sweaty, which is what I usually do. Since walking is getting more difficult due to the snow we've had, I need to master the art of skiing without working too hard. Unfortunately the forecast is for some nasty cold the next few days.

After that nice, stress-reducing exercise, I returned home only to get a call from the Surgeon with the MRI results. Even though I had gotten a briefing from the other Doctor on Monday, today's version was more troubling. MRI's are notorious for finding all kinds of things that turn out to be nothing, but let's face it - every test they have done on me so far has found things to be worse than expected, so I'm starting to get very stressed out by the idea of more tests. And the Surgeon wants to do more tests. The MRI found four or five more suspicious areas on the left side and so he wants to do another ultrasound to check all of those out. If they still look suspicious on ultrasound, then he wants to pick the worst looking area(s) and do another biopsy. The goal of all this would be to find whether the rest of the breast is in fact clear of cancer, in which case a lumpectomy would still be an option. On top of that, I asked him about genetic testing, which some of my research indicated might be a good idea given my age, even in the absence of any family history, and he agreed that I am a candidate and referred me to the genetic counseling center. So if I have the cancer genes, then mastectomy would make more sense and I could skip the second biopsy, or if I just want to choose a mastectomy then I could skip the biopsy, but if I want to try to save my breast, then I will more than likely be stuck getting another biopsy. And the chances are I will have to make the biopsy call long before I have any results from genetic testing. The worst, most stressful part about all of this is that I am constantly having to make decisions before having all of the information that I should have. There are times when having a scientific mind is more of a curse than a blessing. At any rate, the upcoming week will likely be filled with more tests and more trips to Fargo - and I will of course, keep you posted on the gory details.

Just to end on a bright note, I feel great and I'm looking forward to the second week of the chemo cycle, secure in the knowledge that I can expect to feel pretty good. And we're going to the John Berry Christmas concert tonight, which should be a great show.