Update

Just to become more complete -- my second surgery was successful - no cancer remains. I spent a lot of time with the oncologist going over all aspects of my diagnosis. I'll try to summarize it - though I may have to come back and revise it.

Invasive breast cancer with lobular AND ductal features. So, it's both kinds, and I guess both are invasive. Stage IIb, Grade 1 (so that grade is good).

On the one hand, there is no evidence of any cancer remaining in my body. (She did admit that refers to 'cancer of a size large enough to detect'. And, she was no longer saying there is no need for chemo. (I think my type is a bit atypical - I think the mix is less common than the unmixed.)

On the other hand - I still have no prognosis. Of course, I don't think I'll get a prognosis of 99% - and getting 86% is sure gonna be scary.

I guess doing the things that kill off stray cancer cells is a good thing. More on this later (as in the connection with VitD - which I've been low in for years). And, I've started melatonin this past week - love that it works so well for me - and I was so relieved to see that it may have some anti-cancer properties (I was afraid I'd find it was a no-no.)

A throw-back to my first surgery

Here's a term that could be useful as I learn about 'likelihoods' of outcomes... "axillary lymph node dissection" the term for the node removal. I now am searching to life-long implications of it (as I'm a person who really doesn't like losing body parts - just ask me about the discussions with my dentist about not taking out my wisdom teeth waiting til now is kinda surprising). I've been told by some (occasional) nurses various things like "they'll never take blood from that arm again" and "you should never have your blood pressure taken on that arm again" - yet my surgeon hasn't said anything (and it hasn't been important enough to make the current list of questions for her yet). [term saved]
[edited - those directives are temporary, as I suspected; that's guidance for the following several months - maybe 6]

36 Years

When thinking of that day - the number of years just seems impossible. Really, I cannot describe what the passing of such large quantities of time is like. All I can describe are some of the specific events - or routines - and I know there are many that I can't recall - and sometimes I'm recalling my versions which others report are just resemblances of the real thing. I do notice that I seem to feel much the same as I did then. I recognize the woman in that photo more than I do the woman in my mirror (especially the bathroom and dressing ones!) [And, in looking at the image uploaded here - I feel great pleasure with my progress in image manipulation work - AKA "photoshopping". Haha]