Another Trip to The Doctor

I went to see Dr Nate today after a long weekend with a swollen arm pit. When he saw the area, he said he needed to extract the extra fluid. So with the help of a needle and his sonogram machine I received relief at last! Hopefully I will not have to go in again, but Dr. Nate told me that this happens from time to time and I needed to contact him immediately if any redness developed. If redness does appear, it means no expander for me at mastectomy time (Ugh!).

I also asked my doctor more about the size of my cancer. He confirmed that the nipple area still showed cancer and he had taken out as much tissue as possible on that side. I have an area about the size of a golf ball missing from my breast. (Hmmmm, when the surgeon removed the tumor from my brain, he said it was the size of a golf ball. I think surgeons like to use that analogy) Anyway, I asked Dr. Nate if he was going to run any more tests to see if this cancer had spread to my lungs or liver or anywhere else. He asked if the oncologist had ordered any more testing for me, which he hadn't. Then Dr. Nate said that because cancer was not in my lymph nodes, it should not be anywhere else in my body. He felt it should be contained to the area it was found. At this point, he didn't want to run any further unnecessary tests on me. I'm not sure if I agree with his rationale but I'll let it sit for now.

After I was done at Dr. Nate's office, I walked down to the plastic surgeon's office and told them to schedule my surgery. Maybe tomorrow I'll get the exact date and time.

Oh by the way, I decided to go with an expander and then implant for my breast reconstruction.