Hello and GOOD NEWS!

Thank you so much everyone for your thoughts and prayers.

The first event on yesterday's agenda was the dye injection for the sentinel node biopsy, which was done at the breast center. This injection needs to be done in the nipple, putting radioactive dye into the breast that is later followed to the first few lymph nodes using a Geiger counter. I'm happy to report that although I had TONS of anxiety about this procedure, I didn't feel a single thing. Not even a tiny sting! The dye is infused with lidocaine so the entire procedure is not felt. It was a bit awkward that the radiologist doing the inject is Greek God hot. He also made a nice big black "X" over the lump for the surgeons reference later on.

Then I was brought over to the pre-op area at the hospital and Dean joined me there. I got all hooked up to the various things. My surgeon came in to talk to us, and I said, "Lets go! Get this thing out of me." He replied with, "We're gonna cut it out, chop it up, look at all the cells, and get you back to 100% in no time!"

I suggested they give me the happy drugs ASAP so I would just stop talking everyone's ears off about various dumb things. When the finally did I think I was in the middle of signing something. They next thing I know they were waking me up! LOL

Surgery did take a bit longer than the surgeon expected. As is common with this type of cancer it has a lot of little fingers and can be hard to get clear margins around the tumor. He told us there was a chance  I'd have to go back into surgery in a couple of weeks to get the rest of it.

After surgery he told Dean the first piece of good news! The preliminary pathology report done in surgery is that the lymph nodes are clear of cancer. YAY!!! Thank you God for this answer to prayer! This is a *very small* chance that cancer will be found when the full pathology report is done, but it doesn't happen very often.

Last night was pretty rough. I was taking percoset which doesn't agree with me very well. Lots of vomiting and that horrible feeling of just being out of it. I couldn't even sleep well because it makes me jittery. This morning I got up and helped Dean get the kids off to school, then Audrey and I hung out for the day. I only needed tylenol today. I'm a bit sore, mostly under my arm where they had to go through muscle to get the lymph nodes.

Then, just a few minutes ago, at 8:00 pm tonight, my surgeon called to tell us the margins are clear! That means I don't need another surgery!!! It also means as soon as I'm healed from this one - 4-6 weeks - I can start radiation. I will have this all behind me by my birthday the end of June!

Thank you all again for your tremendous amount of love, thoughts and prayers during this ordeal. Still a few weeks of trials ahead of us as we navigate fitting radiation and its side effects into our lives, but tonight I'm feeling SO much better about everything!