God had my back….Again! Six weeks after the quadruple bypass there I was in surgery again at another hospital. I thank God it ended up 6 weeks and not the 4 weeks that the doctors wanted.
Invasive Ductal Carcinoma. 70% to 80% of all breast cancer is IDC. 62 years old and that was my first mammogram. Yes, ladies, get you mammograms yearly. I am blessed that it was slow growing and only Stage II. All indications led to the decision to have a lumpectomy and radiation. Like I stated, I am thankful I had 6 weeks in between surgeries. That 6th week I did an amazing amount of healing from the bypass surgery. I would of had a very difficult time at 4 weeks.
I checked into Radiology across from the hospital at 8 a.m.. There a wire was inserted via ultrasound into the mass. The wire was tapped up and I was sent across the street to the hospital to check in for surgery. First step was I was led off to a procedure room where I was injected with radio isotopes. I was to lay there with warm compresses on my breast until the isotopes reached my sentinel nodes. That took approximately an hour. This was the part of the procedure where I was glad I was scheduled at 6 weeks after open heart surgery. I was maneuvered and manipulated many times in that hour to check and recheck the progress of the isotopes.
The isotopes reached the sentinel nodes and I was whisked to pre op. There I was rapidly prepped for surgery. My surgeon came in to check on me and off I went into surgery. I had told my surgeon that I left the house that morning with breast cancer and I’d be going home cancer free. He said “Remember what we talked about”. I stated that I was confident the cancer would be removed. I was right. All tests came back with clear margins and cancer free.
Radiation…..One month later.