Hello,
Today we went to the surgeon’s office for a post-operative exam and to get the pathology results of the biopsies of the sentinel lymph node (SNLB) and the tissue removed via the lumpectomy.
Good news!
The SNLB found no cancer cells. Jane actually had two sentinel lymph nodes. Usually one node, sometimes two or three are there.
This means the cancer has not spread from the lump area to the lymphatic system which is the onramp to the highway that can spread cancer around the body! J
The initial tumor size at the time of diagnosis was 1.6cm or .62in.
After six months of chemotherapy the lumpectomy tissue biopsy found remaining mass of cancer cells at 5mm or .5cm or .196in in size!
Since this is triple-negative breast cancer the doctor wants to be aggressive and destroy any cells that may remain.
So Jane will start, in about three weeks, targeted radiation treatment. This will irradiate the lump area and destroy any stragglers that may have escaped the surgeon’s scalpel. For you military types and despot wannabes this is akin to a scorched earth policy. This will be a five-day-a-week treatment that will last for seven weeks. We’re told that the common side effects are general tiredness and of course tenderness at the radiation area.
So…
Praise God for showing us mercy so that we don’t have to resume chemotherapy or undergo additional downstream lymph node surgery.
Praise God for the growth he has allowed Jane and me to achieve as we labor through this process.
Praise God for family, friends, and a supportive body of believers in the church who have offered words of encouragement, shoulders to lean on, and prayers on Jane’s behalf.
Praise God for even though we don’t fully understand why this trial has come our way, we know that He has allowed it for His Glory and our good.
Jeff J
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