Treatment Plan

Today I met with the oncologist today to get my treatment plan and staging results. The good news is that the CT and bone scans were clear, so no detectable cancer outside of the breast and axillary (armpit) lymph nodes yet. Therefore I'm not at stage IV (the highest => worst stage). However, I am at stage III, which is still bad, but could be worse.

The bad news is that given the size and aggression of the tumor I will most likely need to have a masectomy once I get to the surgery stage, rather than just a lumpectomy. This is the most upsetting part of today; I was hoping I would get away with breast conserving surgery. I guess I have a few months to get my head around losing one of the girls...

I will be starting chemo next tuesday, then having it every three weeks, six times, three sets of one drug combo then three sets of another. My hair will fall out within two weeks of the first treatment, so I'll be bald in three weeks time! Not so much time to get my head around that. Helpfully, the hospital has a wig library (!!!) so I can try a few styles on, see how they suit me, then borrow for the duration. Perhaps I'm destined to be blonde...ha ha, or maybe not. Weirder will be losing my eyebrows as I won't be able to hide that. Losing body hair will save on waxing though :)

They recommended shaving my head before the hair starts to fall out, as it will come out quite quickly and go everywhere. That will be pretty tough. Have to take some "before" photos soon too. So surreal to even be thinking about all of this now, especially since two weeks ago I was just concerned with whether or not it would rain so I could put the top down on the convertible. What a charmed life I was living - funny how life turns around and bites you on the arse when you least expect it :)

Anyway, after chemo is done I'll have surgery and then possibly radiotherapy too. They will do some more tests to see if the cancer is receptive to hormones and/or herception, if so they'll add those treatments in too. All a bit overwhelming, but I'll just have to trust the doctors and stay positive that I'll beat this.

P.S. No joy in the Melbourne Cup, again. Maybe next year.