Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Cancer Free

I just got the call this morning. I am 100% cancer free!!! There was no cancer in the lymph node and they had margins of over 1cm from the cancer in the tissue they removed. The tumor was a total of 1 1/2 cm diameter.


I would just like to point out that I am now more of a man than any of my brothers or in-laws. I only have one mammary gland.

Friday, June 25, 2010

I know I'm stealing Brent's thunder BUT the cancer surgery was very successful!!!

The cancer hadn't spread. He is cancer free - no chemo, no radiation!
Thanks for all the prayers.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

MRI Resutls

I just got a call from my doctor. The MRI shows no cancer in the left breast (that is for you Jeff). It also does not show anything abnormal under my right arm. They look under the arm for abnormalities in the lymph nodes. It did show something abnormal, or a "hot spot" in one rib under my chest close to the cancer. I told her about my breaking some ribs in the same area and she thinks that the MRI is probably picking that up. They have ordered a bone scan to be thorough.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Group Fast

We moved the surgery up to the end of this month. June 25th at 8:30 AM. There is no time to wait for a fast sunday to come around so we are going to fast this Sunday.


I have my final test on Thursday. A breast (or peck - just for you Jeff) MRI. This should give the doctors a better idea about my lymph nodes before surgery and see if there is cancer on the other side that can't be felt yet. If there is cancer, they will do both sides on Friday. We don't think that will happen.

I look forward to having a cancer free chest the will forever be winking. ; )

I'll let you know if anything else changes.

Friday, June 18, 2010

Surgery Scheduled

More tests have come back. I am negative for HER2 and positive for estrogen and progesterone which means I will respond well to hormone treatment. The PET-CT scan came back showing no other cancers in my body and nothing under my arms in the lymph nodes. I will have a breast MRI next Thursday for more definitive look at the lymph nodes before surgery and a closer look at my other breast. 30% of people who have breast cancer have it in the other breast and it is not able to be felt. If that comes back showing cancer in the other breast, I will have a double mastectomy. That surgery will be on Friday the 25th of June at 8:30 AM at Banner Gateway Hospital.


We are consulting with a breast cancer specialist at St. Josephs hospital in Phoenix. He is providing a 2nd opinion.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Better pictures

I got digital copies of the mammogram and ultrasounds today. These are better pictures and you can see the cancer better in relation to the nipple.

This one is the Mammogram

This one is the ultrasound.


These were both done on 5/24/10. The size of the tumor at that time was just under 1 centimeter. The stage they think I am in is Stage 1. The definition for that stage is: The tumor is small (less than 2 cm) and well-localized (has not spread to the lymph nodes).

At this point they do not think that it has spread to the lymph nodes. If it has then I would fall under Stage 2. There are a total of 5 stages.

This week I will have a few more tests:
Tomorrow (Wednesday): PET-CT scan
Thursday: Meet with Oncologist, have an EKG done and a Chest Scan.
Friday??: Meet with an Genetic Counselor. My doctor wants testing done because it is extremely rare that a male my age will get breast cancer. This can help for my kids in the future as well as studying genetic markers that will help identify cancer in others. From what I understand, they just want my blood.

I will also have a Chest MRI done. This will take a closer look at the lymph nodes and try to determine if there is cancer in them before surgery. I don't have that scheduled yet.

After all this is completed, we will then look for a second opinion. Assuming everything is as the doctors think it is and the 2nd team of doctors agree, we will have the surgery sometime in July.

I will post more information as the test come in. Here is a link for the type of cancer I have, Invasive Ductal Carcinoma.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Man-O-Gram


Here is what my cancer looks like. It didn't scan very well. The cancer is directly under my nipple.

I updated the picture to explain it a little better.

I went to the doctor today. I have an appointment with an Oncologist later this week. We will get his opinion and the opinion of another doctor before surgery. The surgery will probably happen the middle or end of July. Everything still looks good. I will post the results from future test if they change things. Before surgery I have to do an EKG, Chest Scan and some blood work to test for genetic markers.