Today during my break Dr. John West (the surgeon, not plastic surgeon) called me and asked how I was doing and if I had decided whether or not to keep my nipples. I said I decided not to keep them, and he said he totally agreed with that decision because of the non responsive tumor being so close to my nipple. It was a sigh of relief to feel like I was on the same page as someone on my medical team. It made me feel like if I chose him as my surgeon, he would take care of me in a parental sort of way. Then, I finally got the call I had been waiting for... the surgery scheduler called during 6th period. So I stepped outside (and who knows WHAT my students were doing for those 2 minutes) and took the call. She said that she had orders for both surgeons and asked who I wanted to go with. I told her I decided to go with whoever was available first, because I am sick of waiting and can't decide. The problem? Both surgeon's first available day was the same day. Great. I panicked, and tried to decide on the spot but I could not. I told her I'd call back after school so I could get back to my class and have time to think about it. I debated back and forth and back and forth for awhile, but finally ended up deciding to go with Dr. West, mostly because of my confidence in him but also because I really feel like St. Joseph's Hospital is the more reputable place to be.
When I got home from work, I was making dinner when the PA called with PET/CT results. She said that my major lesion has drastically improved, even since my ultrasound. The nodes are gone, even the potential one in my chest. The other smaller tumor only improved very slightly, but it is clearly not reacting the same as the others. She said because of that, they are going to want to send my tumors to a lab in Arizona to do more testing on it. I asked if this was the Mick Assay test my dad was telling me about, and she said no this is an even more modern test where they stick a probe into the DNA of the tumor which tells us exactly how it should be treated. At this point, she thinks there would be no reason to do radiation because the surgery and herceptin/tamoxifen would take care of any potential residual cancer cells. But, the tumor test results will help make the final decision. I asked if I could radiate, even if it's not deemed "necessary," and she mentioned that there may be long term risks with my heart since the radiation would be done on my left side. I guess I need to just cross that bridge when I get there and for now, prepare for surgery. Oh, she also mentioned I have "hemangiomas" on my liver (blood filled cysts) but that they will probably go away. Weird.
She also said because of the tumor that didn't react to chemo, she wants the pathology to be done at St. Joseph's Hospital. So I guess it's a good thing I chose Dr. West because that's the hospital he works out of. It's too bad she hadn't called sooner, because she could have made the decision for me rather than me debating back and forth for days! Oh well. Decision is made, and I should find out soon which date and time the surgery will be done. Stay tuned!
Oh and speaking of decisions that have been made... Chris is going to take time off of work to take care of me after surgery. We are applying for Paid Family Leave (where the EDD pays you unemployment benefits while you stay home to take care of a loved one). And thanks to the FMLA, he will still be employed after. :-)