Follow up with Dr. Mudge

The pathology came back from the lumpectomy. The tumor was originally thought to be about 1.3-1.5 cm, but it was actually closer to 2 cm. The margins around the tumor turned out not to be good, which means that I have to go back into surgery. They need to have healthy margins all the way around the tumor to make sure they got everything. Even though they got the tumor out in tact, there was still some pre-cancerous stuff there. This is the stuff that is invisible on mammograms. So with the added pre-cancerous area, that brings the area of disease closer to 3 cm.
What this means is that she will go into the same incision, clean it up and get the rest. All of this means that chemotherapy is inevitable, followed by radiation. Dr. Mudge had one of the nurses look at my veins to see if they would be good for chemo treatments. Their decision was that my veins/arm may not tolerate the therapy well and putting a port in for chemo treatments was advisable. This is a surgical procedure. The port is inserted under my skin near the breast. The chemo will go strait into it. The reason Dr. Mudge had them make this determination is, since she needs to go back into the incision to get the remaining pre-cancerous cells, she may as well put the port in at the same time to avoid additional surgery. That's ok with me.
This second surgery is scheduled for Wednesday May 11th. After that, there will be another follow up appointment with Dr. Mudge, a consultation with the oncologist, and the chemo will begin a few weeks after.
Another fact about my tumor is that it is not estrogen receptive. This also means that I will not take the drug that many women take for 5 years after treatment called tamoxifin . I asked Dr. Mudge,"If the tumor was not fed by estrogen, then what did make it grow?" There' s no answer for that. I asked, "So, when I'm finished with chemo and radiation, will I have to take some other drug?" She asked if I meant as a maintenance drug like tamoxifin. I said yes. And she said, no I would not.
So I'm back to surgery next week. Thanks for keeping tabs on me. More to come later..........