Follow-up – Drains removed!

I had a follow-up with Dr. Smith in Idaho Falls.  Lori took the day off to take me.  I was hoping for a fast easy appointment saying all was clear and negative…not so easy.  The Pathology report stated that the Sentinel Node was Negative but it was positive for isolated tumor cells, approximately 8 tumor cells (pN0 (i+)).  What does that mean?  Dr. Smith called Dr. Dixon (Oncologist) to see what pN0 (i+) meant.  Dr. Dixon said it happens sometimes and if they take the lymph nodes another tumor cell will only show up about 5% of the time.  I’ll have to talk to him at my appointment to see what my options are.  

The tumor was as expected at 2.3 cm (pT2).  The Cancer is stage IIA.  Dr. Smith asked me if I knew what triple negative breast cancer was but I didn’t.  He said the results weren’t in for that yet. 

I just want to play with this cutie all day long!

Dr. Smith looked at my drain log and took them out.  It felt strange and burned a little but not as badly as I had expected from the things I had seen on the internet.  I’m so excited to be able to sleep on my side.  

Lori and I went up to Rexburg to take some things to Lori’s daughter Nikole. Nikole did some observations (took our medical history and evaluated our vitals) for her nursing degree.  It took us longer then her fellow students.  I guess age, surgeries, medical conditions and such takes extra time.  She was very thorough and professional despite the fact that Lori and I were a bit difficult to work with.  NOTE:  Don't give your caregiver a hard time.


Then we went over to see Rachel and Braxton for a little while.  He is so stinkin’ cute!  I love visiting with them.  It made my whole day.

Bob (my brother) went in for a biopsy for his prostate.  The preliminary diagnosis is cancer.  Mom’s oncology Dr. is Dr. Dixon.  I wonder if Bob is going to go to Dr. Dixon as well.  Dr. Dixon was trained at and works directly with Huntsman in SLC.