All Nodes Lead to Chemo...

"I understood from the beginning that as a Christian, I was not promised that I would never have problems, but I was promised that He would never leave me or forsake me." Hebrews 13:5

Two weeks after my mastectomy, I had my post operative appointments with both surgeons involved, one after the other. Things are moving along as they should, and for me, what a difference a week makes...slowly but surely feeling better bit by bit, which is good news.

Now for the great news:

The final pathology report from my surgery indicates a successful excision of all cancer in the right breast, and NO new cancer in the left one. Yippee!!

Now for the not so great news:

The final pathology report also indicates Lymphatic Vascular Invasion (see detailed description below) surrounding my lymph nodes which means the invasive cancer cells have gotten into my blood vessels. Not Yippee!!

Now for the not so new news:

I will have a minor surgery on February 13th at which time a port will be placed under the skin of my chest wall, thereby allowing the chemotherapy to be administered more easily each week.


LYMPHATIC VASCULAR INVASION:

Question: What Does Lymphatic Vascular Invasion Mean?

Answer: Before a cancer can spread to the rest of the body, it has to get into the channels that go through the rest of the body; that's lymph channels or blood channels, particularly the venous system. If the cell gets into the veins, it can go to the heart, and the heart can pump those cells to the rest of the body; and it might grow in those places.

One of the indicators that we have that cells have a tendency to go into the vascular system and to spread to the rest of the body is called 'vascular invasion.' And when we see, under the microscope, cells that are actually getting into blood vessels, this gives us some indication that these cells may have a tendency to spread; and we should use drugs that kill cells wherever we find them that goes through the blood stream, such as hormone therapies and chemotherapies.

(Source - Larry Norton, M.D., Deputy Physician-in-Chief, Breast Cancer Programs, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center)