A Great Pathology Report

Dear Friends,

This morning I went down to the hospital for a meeting with the radiation oncologist. We figured we would be setting up a radiation schedule and talking about the therapy. Instead, the oncologist's fellow, a lovely young Irish woman, came in and told us she had the pathology report from the surgery and that it was good news. Would we like to hear it? (Um, yes.) From all of the samples examined, which included both breasts, 29 lymph nodes from under the left arm (ouch) and several from under the right arm, there was no remaining cancer. None. They could see residue from where the chemo clearly had killed the cancer cells (scar tissue and other indicators to suggest that there had clearly been a battle), but no cancer. They will still do radiation as there might be stray cells that were not removed. But I can't tell you how much more optimistic this report makes me for radiation, and for my long-term prognosis.
So it has been an emotional day, full of gratitude and happiness, and tears. There's still a road ahead--I'm recovering from surgery with nerve pain and quite a bit of discomfort, and 5 weeks of radiation after that--but it's the best news I could have received.
The chemo worked beautifully after all.
Tonight, Giselle came with ice cream (remember that blog entry a few days ago about wanting to eat as much as I want?) so she, Julie and I had dinner with a few glasses of wine, and Rocky Road Haagen Dazs (with the hope that the rocky road is behind us).
I will sleep incredibly well tonight.
With much love,
Kip