Timeline: 2012

12/1/12  Drive home again. Get home antibiotics and start home care. I start to feel normal after a few days. But Dec. 6 surgery for axillary dissection is rescheduled again for Dec. 20.

11/30/12 Released from hospital. Get bone scan and a CT scan of abdomen, chest and pelvis. Do not get MRI of brain because that can’t be done with an expander in place.

11/27/12 thru 11/30/12 – Stay at hospital for IV antibiotics. Get PICC line into my arm in preparation for home antibiotics. Dr. Kronowitz decides not to remove expander.

11/27/12 Dr. Gainer’s office called to cancel Nov. 28 surgery. Dr. Kronowitz team recommended coming to Houston to be admitted and treat what is likely an infection of the surgical area. Drive to Houston, visit the Emergency Center and get admitted into hospital at about 11 p.m. White blood cell count was 19.5.

11/26/12 –  Dr. Wayman, my local OBGYN, removed the second drain. It hurt. That afternoon, I began to run a fever and get another bad headache. At 9 p.m., we went to the ER at OU Medical Center in Edmond to be treated for the headache/fever. I had a CT scan, which showed no signs of metastasis. 

11/15/12   Met with surgeon, Dr. Gainer. She reported that the tumor was 5.8 cm and that 2 of the 5 sentinel lymph nodes had some individual cancer cells.  Another surgery would be needed for the right axillary dissection. It is scheduled for Nov. 28. Katie, the P.A. for the plastic surgeon, removed one of my drains.

11/14/12   Met with radiologist, Dr. Michael Stauder. He advised that I will likely have radiation, based on my age and pathology report.

11/10/12  Drive home after surgery. Good to be home.

11/8/12 Spent evening at the Emergency Center at MD Anderson after getting a bad headache. Headache went away.

11/5/12 – Report for surgery at 5:45 am. Get a skin-sparring mastectomy on my right side, sentinel node biopsy and insertion of expanders. Preliminary testing shows my sentinel nodes are clear. Yay!

11/2/12 – Get radioactive goo pumped into my body so they can then map the sentinel nodes in preparation for surgery the next Monday. Meet with anesthesia while I’m there.

11/1/12 Fly to Houston for pre-op appointments – greeted in DFW by a group of American Airlines Executive Platinum flyers who cheer us on to Houston.

10/18/12 – Get mammogram, meet Dr. Sarah Gainer, get echocardiogram, get ultrasound on lymph nodes. I have one slightly suspicious lymph node so they biopsy it and immediately test it. It is negative. Great news!

10/17/12 – Meet with Dr. Stacy Moulder, the oncologist.

10/16/12 – Road trip to Houston.

10/3/12 – Meet with Dr. James Reeves (oncologist). He was very nice. We liked him a lot. After we left, my first MD Anderson appointment was confirmed for 10/18/12. I called to cancel the 10/17/12 surgery with Dr. Talbert, rescheduled until 10/31/12.

10/1/12 – Meet with Dr. Beverly Talbert (surgeon) for the first time. She discusses surgery options and schedules surgery for 10/17/12.

9/27/12 – The second area is positive for cancer as well.

9/26/12  Get ultrasound to find two areas of concern. They can only find one of the two areas. They biopsy that. If negative, we will go for an MRI-guided biopsy of the third area. If it is positive, it will mean I will have a mastectomy (vs. lumpectomy) so we do not need to biopsy the third area.

9/20/12 – MRI results show two other areas of concern. We need to try to biopsy these areas to see if they are also cancer.

9/19/12 – Get a breast MRI to see if there are any other areas of concern.

9/18/12 – Results from biopsy indicate I have grade 2 invasive ductal carcinoma.

9/17/12 – Go for a core needle biopsy.

9/7/12 – Go for my first ultrasound to get a better look at the mass. It is determined to not be fluid-filled (not a cyst). They send me for a mammogram, then back for the doctor to look at the ultrasound again. He says that based on my age, the chances of this being cancer are very low, but we need to be sure so we will do a biopsy.

9/5/12 – Appointment with family doctor. Based on age and lack of family history, he felt like it was most likely a fibroadenoma, but is a big fan of “getting every lump and bump checked.” Thank God for that.

9/1/12 – Found lump.

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