The funny thing about rollercoasters...

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The funny thing about rollercoasters is this. After you scream your head off as you hurtle towards the ground, something good happens. The fear goes away, and what is left is either calm, a big hardy laugh or a "whoa! what a rush" feeling... So guess what? I am on the flipside of my massive downward rollercoaster spiral, and I am going back up!

In the past twenty four hours, I have recieved two major pieces of good news!

#1. I spoke to the nurse practitioner at my surgeon's office who informed me that the ultrasound showed a complex cyst... while I know that sounds gross and scary, it is a cyst, not a mass or a tumor! i.e. very unlikely to be cancer!!!!! WHEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!

#2 (yes there are TWO good news items... I am so loving that!!!). I am BRCA 1 and BRCA 2 negative. For those of you who have not taken the crash course in oncology and genetics that I have recently taken, that means I do not have the known genetic mutation that can cause breast cancer. Which is great for me because it's better for my prognosis AND it means my family is less at risk!! Good news for mom, my nieces, my son, any future grandchildren, my aunt, my cousins, my brothers (p.s. boys, what I didn't tell you is if I had the gene, you would be at risk for Male breast cancer or prostate cancer... See? who's the best sister ever? I do things right! Just call me the lone ranger! I'm it. The rest of you should God willing be fine!!!!!!)

As for those of you who are like my two beautiful cousins who said "well then where the hell did you get this from?" The answer is, I don't know. However, I was given this for a reason. Maybe it's because God's testing to see whether I really am an optimistic person. I always said I could find the good side of anything. Maybe he wanted me to prove it! Again, I would have preferred to find the good in having termites or something less traumatic, but I don't get a vote. Or perhaps to be an example and an inspiration to other women. I intend to make God glad that he picked me to give this to!

So let's recap:

• I have breast cancer in both, and in a lymph node or two on the left. The right lymph nodes are clear.
• The tumors are estrogen positive which the good news is, that allows me to get treated with tamoxifen. Good news for long term prognosis of someone getting this monster so young
• The bones, lungs, liver, etc. are all clear. As of now, not metastatic disease i.e. it hasn't spread, i.e. I CAUGHT IT IN TIME!! Thank you God!
• The ovary looks like it's ok. I likely will have to deal with it, but it's more than likely benign so just a pain in the ass, but a managable pain. HUGE relief there. Breast cancer is much more doable when the ovaries aren't involved
• I am BRCA negative... Less chance of ovarian risk in the future... less risk for my family!!!

Shit, aside from the first bullet, I'm doing pretty darn good! So I say, bring on the surgery and bring on the chemo!!!! Survivor rising folks. I will earn that pink shirt!!! (and Helen, since you offered, you have to buy me the shirt when it's time. hahaha! How about this? I will pay it forward to the next survivor in our circle of friends and family.Sound like a plan??)

 

WOOHOO! the cancer patient is super happy today folks... Imagine that!!!