Good news - No Radiation Necessary!
We got some great news this week! The cancer has not spread to my lymph nodes and the surgeon got clean margins on my surgery site. Although this doesn't mean that I can just get back to the life I planned to live in 2021, it does mean that I don't have to endure radiation treatment. That is a triple blessing - no more tumor, no cancer in the lymph nodes, and no radiation! I'll take it!
Here's another thing to celebrate - Tim passed his check ride for his training and is back home! He's officially able to be airborne again and is now officially the best helper ever!
What's next you might be asking... well, right now I am in a holding pattern. There are still no dates set for the next steps of my treatment plan, we aren't sure which surgery comes next, and the appointments with specialists haven't stopped. We still do not know if I will need chemo. More test results have to come back before we'll have a clear answer about that. The same goes for hormonal therapy as well. Still lots of stuff up in the air.
This past week I had a meeting with women's health to talk about my ovarian cancer risk. My care team feels that this is the most dangerous thing that I am facing because there are no early detection methods for that disease. Usually by the time it's found it's already spreading to other areas of the body. According to this article about BRCA gene mutations on Cancer.gov:
"About 1.2% of women in the general population will develop ovarian cancer sometime during their lives (1). By contrast, 39%–44% of women who inherit a harmful BRCA1 variant and 11%–17% of women who inherit a harmful BRCA2 variant will develop ovarian cancer by 70–80 years of age (2–4)."
Those are not good odds, but I do have a lot of choice in relation to how I want to minimize my risk. I am finding myself wading through many research articles right now to see if I can find a bit of data to help me decide which way to go.
COVID cases are still high here in San Antonio, so Tim wasn't able to be with me for my women's health appointment. But he was able to wait outside and wave to me through the waiting room window. Once my meeting with the doctor began I was able to call him so he could hear all of the information that was being shared about my options to address my ovarian cancer risk. Would have been nice to have him there with me, but for now phone calls and FaceTime with doctors will have to do.
Pivoting to another positive note, my cancer diagnosis made me eligible to get the COVID vaccine and I was able to get an appointment. I felt like I found the golden ticket from Charlie and the Chocolate factory. But I also feel like I took someone else's spot. Having the vaccine makes my care team less concerned about my repeated exposures to COVID from my multiple visits to the hospital. But I don't think being vaccinated is going to speed up my treatment process.It will protect me when I am in the hospital for appointments and surgeries though and I am certainly thankful for that!
