Teeth trouble, too, you say?

Not long after finding the lump in my left breast during a self-exam, I started a two-crown project on my mouth. Two new crowns for the right side, far back teeth: one up, one down. That started Dec. 8th, 2020. A few days later, I noticed that the upper right was sensitive to hot/cold. Not long after, I realized it was also becoming sensitive to chewing. So I called my dentist, but by then they had closed for the holidays. My next appointment was January 5th to put the permanent crowns on. Well, during that Jan 5th appointment, the dentist decided I better see an endodontist first before he put the crowns on. So on January 15th (the day after I was *supposed* to have my mammogram), I had a 9:00 appointment in SF. He quickly confirmed that I needed a root canal. Oh great. So he says "can you come back early next week?" And I nearly burst into tears!! I could NOT put up with the pain anymore. He took great pity on me and squeezed me into his schedule for that very afternoon. So I worked at the office for a bit, then returned at 2:30 for the root canal. The relief from the pain was so amazing!

Well, then the breast cancer diagnoses and the MRI. My final crown placement was to take place on Feb 17th and the MRI on the 18th. Two nights in SF? So I called the dentist and asked to please please fit me in the afternoon of the 18th. Well, so there I was getting my crown and I ask "what is that?" And it was a full mold set of my teeth. I ask "what do you do with it now?" with such a curiosity that my dentist replied "I put it in a bag for you?" And I said "yes! that's the right answer!" Needless to say, it did not make Jim laugh; he shook his head at my total weirdness. Ha haaa!!!!

My chompers!!! Can't wait to show Amber!

The fun and games didn't last, though. That afternoon the breast surgeon, Dr. Grissom, called to give a preliminary result on the MRI. I did a little weeping at my desk, I'll admit.

Me right after the phone call with Dr. Grissom on Feb 18th.

On the bright side, the drive home that evening was gorgeous. I LOVE Golden Gate Bridge in all her blazing glory, whether at night, in the morning, fogged in, whatever.

What the heck is up with adhesive???

I had biopsies done on February 3rd--one site on each breast, plus three markers inserted into the masses they found during the ultrasound. The right side had two masses and the left has one. They are pretty small incisions and all I needed were bandages.

I knew I have an allergy to latex so I made sure to ask "are the bandages latex-free?" Yes, they were. So off I went. The next day, the left side was itching and burning so bad that I finally pulled off the bandage. To my utter consternation, I found redness and blistering. I figured the bandages were latex after all. So I got latex-free from my niece and bandaged back up. More redness, itching and pain. So I changed the orientation of my bandage. On Friday afternoon, I tried a square bandage. On Saturday I asked Jim to take me to town so I could buy gauze and tape. No good! Now the redness and blistering were just expanding. On Sunday I went back to town to get an Ace wrap to use in place of the tape. That finally helped. On Monday I decided that my super soft cotton sports bra would simply have to do double-duty as a bandage. And that is when I finally found relief and the blisters were able to start healing.

Feb 06: The out edge of my left breast. The blistering got worse
before it got better. So glad that is behind me!!

This experience was causing anxiety as I contemplated surgery on both breast and the bandages they would use afterward. It turns out that there are other options. Now that my surgery has been postponed for months, I get to totally set aside that worry for now.

Technical information

For those of you who are curious about what kind of cancer, here is some technical information as I first received it on February 9th.

Left breast:
Invasive ductal carcinoma, 2.4 cm mass.
Grade 2 (for how closely the breast cancer cells look like normal tissue; 1 is low grade or well-differentiated, grade 2 is intermediate or moderately differentiated, grade 3 is high grade or poorly differentated).
Hormone receptor status=both positive. Here they look at whether the cancer is growing from estrogen and/or progesterone. I was positive for both which will mean I will likely take an aromatase inhibitor. Aromatase inhibitors are medications that stop the production of estrogen in postmenopausal women.
Her2/neu=negative (the gene that controls and regulates the growth, division and repair of a cell. This is a good indicator if you'll need chemo or not. Negative is a good result!
Ki-67=5 (this is how fast the cancer is growing. They rate it from 1 to 100. I got a 5! VERY slow growing!

Right breast:
Invasive pleomorphic lobular carcinoma, larger mass is 1.8 cm.
Grade 2 (for how closely the breast cancer cells look like normal tissue; 1 is low grade or well-differentiated, grade 2 is intermediate or moderately differentiated, grade 3 is high grade or poorly differentated).
Hormone receptor status=estrogen is positive, progesterone is negative.
Her2/neu=inconclusive. It is being sent out for a different kind of test.
Ki-67 is also a 5 (this is how fast the cancer is growing. They rate it from 1 to 100. I got a 5! VERY slow growing!

Basically, we caught it early and it grows so slowly. But as you know from another post, the MRI found an additional mass (4cm) in the right breast, and the left side is larger than they thought (a little over 3 cm rather than 2.4) as well as weird-looking tissue at the bottoms of both breasts. So more testing tomorrow!

Where did the time go?

I am writing this before I intend to share it. It is weird what a cancer diagnoses does to you. For me, the effects were immediate--I lose my train-of-thought quicker than quick! Right in the middle of a conversation. It's scary to contemplate what chemo might really do to me when just waiting for it has my thoughts spinning.

Back in late November 2020, I found a lump. I was already procrastinating on setting my regular mammogram appointment, but when I found that lump, I knew it was different. I called my doctor and asked her to add a diagnostic to my regular mammogram. For those of you who don't know, if your regular mammogram shows anything unusual, they call you back for another appointment to do an ultrasound. Adding the "diagnostic" to the regular mammogram means they'll do both in one appointment. I had my appointment for January, but then a close contact with a positive Covid case meant I had to reschedule everything. That was nerve-wracking. Finally on February 2nd I went to San Francisco for my appointment. It was interesting to see the ultrasound images and to realize they looked different than previous ones I'd seen during earlier exams. Then I was asked if I could come back after lunch for biopsies. Not just one, but three masses were found.

Ultrasound images that look WAY different than previous ultrasounds I've had.

I ended up going back the next morning with Jim for a 7:30 appointment. Waiting for those results was an interesting week. When I finally got the call and heard "you have stage 2A breast cancer" I didn't freak out. A part of me knew that they would call with that. 

February 3rd, waiting for the doctor to do the biopsies at CPMC Breast Health Center.

That's where the first biopsies happened.

 

As we discussed surgery options and set a date, it was decided that I should have an MRI so that we could see the masses more clearly, get accurate measurements and see where the two masses are in relation in to each other before surgery. I had the MRI on February 18th. That afternoon Dr Nima Grissom called with the results: another mass had been found and the one in my left breast was bigger than originally thought. In addition, the tissue at the bottom of both breasts didn't look right.

The next day after my MRI, my oncologist, Dr. Stephanie Jeske, called to explain more about the MRI results from Feb 18th. She said "I don't like surprises when it comes to cancer" and wants me to have a full-body scan to make sure there are no other surprises lurking somewhere. I go in tomorrow, Feb. 24th, for a dye injection, a pet-ct scan and additional biopsies.

That Friday conversation with Dr. Jeske was harder than the initial diagnoses. For some reason I had felt that I would not have to deal with chemo. It took the weekend to get my feet back beneath me. I also slept well for several nights in a row. On Sunday, Jim and I went to Mendocino and I had a fabulous time--and discovered a new wine to enjoy.

For now additional information is on hold until we get the results from tomorrow. I have an appointment on March 1 with Dr. Jeske. We are definitely looking at infusion chemo and my March 5th surgery has been postponed until after chemo. March 1st will be about getting the results, setting a chemo action plan and putting it into effect.

February 3rd: Jim and I went to Fort Miley
for a walk after the biopsies. It was
a gorgeous day in San Francisco!