Update

Hi I just wanted to update you guys. First let me say that I have been bombarded by love, healing thoughts and energy, cards, phone calls, flowers, and offers to help. This all coming from family, good friends like you, lots of students and many people that I don't even know. It is powerful and I appreciate it all very deeply. I am truly blessed. This is the deal. Tomorrow I go for a bi-lateral breast MRI. This is to check to make sure that my right breast is clear. My surgeon (Kim Mudge) says that she feels from my exam today and looking at my ultrasound, that I can have a partial mastectomy (or lumpectomy) just like my sister had, and not have chemo therapy before the surgery. That is something new that they do for some people now. Technology is moving very quickly in regards to breast cancer. They have even come a long way since my sister went through it just 2 and a half years ago. I am scheduled for surgery on tuesday April 19th. After that I will know more about my course of treatment and the order of everything as far as chemo and radiation. One pretty cool thing that my surgeon told me was that just yesterday they got approval to include pre menopausal women in a relatively new form of radiation therapy. If I end up to be a candidate for this new therapy and choose to have it, it would drastically reduce the lengthy traditional radiation time. The traditional way to have radiation is to have it 5 days a week for about 6 weeks. That is what my sister did. This new way would be twice a day for only 5 days. That is wild. So tomorrow I get the MRI, then I need some blood work before my surgery on the 19th. Since surgery isn't until the week after next, I plan on getting back to life as usual next week, I'll be teaching all of my classes. I need to feel as normal as possible and stick with my routine.That's my story for today,Love and thanks, Tana