More Cancer Updates and Surgery

A lot has happened in the past few days. 

First of all, I am all ready to harvest eggs. The retrieval process is scheduled for tomorrow morning and it looks like there are 2 good mature eggs that will be retrieved, so we are praying both of them survive. We are also planning on scheduling a second harvest at my next cycle, which has to be before I start chemotherapy so hopefully we can get another couple eggs the second time.

Also, we got the PET scan results as well as the BRAAC testing back and both came back negative. Also the biopsy on one of the main lymph nodes came back negative as well. Love hearing results come back negative! According to the PET scan there's no sign that it's spread into the lymph nodes. The MRI that was done prior looked like it had, but MRI's can catch a lot of things that end up being nothing. There is still a chance it's spread into lymph nodes, but we won't know until during surgery. If it has, they will need to take a lot of the lymph nodes, so we are hoping and praying that they are all clean. 

The doctors presented all my results and history before a panel of a lot of the doctors at Banner MD Anderson since my case is so rare and after discussing and researching, my surgeon along with my oncologist has recommended doing a bi-lateral mastectomy, although just taking off the one is also an option. They have little to no research on girls my age with breast cancer, so they want to take all pre-cautions. They said if I only take off one, my chances of recurrence are about 10% since there's no possible way to remove all breast tissue. I asked what my chances are if I take off both and they couldn't give me a sure answer since there really isn't much research on it, but the doctors came up with a ballpark number of 20%. That first made me feel like it doesn't make that much of a difference. I would think taking both off, would make a bigger difference, but maybe it does, they just don't know because I'm such a rare case. Ever since I met with my doctor I've been switching back and forth about what decision to make. Yesterday evening Tanner and I went to the temple hoping to get a clearer mind and I was able to feel comfortable about making a final decision. The one thing that was holding me back from taking both off was that I wanted to still have the ability to breast feed by future babies, but weighing out a lot of the pros and cons, I really came to the conclusion that I will feel less regret if I take both off. If I take one off and then it comes back, then I will always regret my decision, but if I take both off, I'm sure I will feel sad about not being able to breast feed, but I won't regret my decision. So my final decision to do the bi-lateral mastectomy followed by reconstruction after chemotherapy and radiation. It was a very hard decision, but I feel good about the decision and I'm ready to move forward. Scared, but ready.

Surgery is scheduled for August 1st and then we will have just enough time for another egg retrieval surgery before chemo starts approximately 3-4 weeks after the mastectomy. They also are thinking I will most likely need radiation after chemotherapy, but that will be determined by the radiation oncologist after surgery with all the pathology results. 

The timing of all this and how it's played out has been amazing. Everything with the fertility is working out perfect with the timing of all the other procedures. I owe a lot of the credit to one of my favorite cousins, Ginger, for researching and getting a reference for the fertility doctor. I know she was inspired and prompted in a lot of the things she has been providing me. It's so wonderful and humbling to have so many people sacrifice so much for me. Thanks for all the love and continued prayers. I am definitely feeling the love.