Pathology, pathology...

You are looking at a cancer free me! Yes, you read correctly. My pathology report from this morning indicates that the cancer is gone. It's out and it hadn't spread at all, anywhere. It was a well contained tumor, and my decision to get my breast removed means the margins are all clean, and there's only a 5 to 10% chance it will come back. But if it does, I'll feel it right away under my skin, no need for regular imaging. Even better, I went down a stage since the tumor was 1.2 cm as previously thought from the ultrasound, not 2.1 cm as the MRI had indicated I'm therefore officially a stage 1 --a good, early catch. Unfortunately though, my cancer was a grade 3, the most aggressive kind, not a grade 2. That's not a surprise, since breast cancer in younger women tends to me more aggressive. But it's gone, so whatever. However, I haven't found out if the cancer had hormonal receptors and/or had the whole aggressive HER2 gene mutation. If so, it most likely means more yucky, expensive treatments. The results of those tests will take about 2 more weeks.

This doesn't mark the end of my Cancer Chronicles though since, in my surgeon's words this morning, they will give me a "nasty dose of chemo" to make sure it doesn't come back. First appointment with the oncologist is in two weeks and first chemo treatment will be two weeks after that. That'll be fun...