Thank you for all of your messages of love and compassion. It really means a lot to all of us to know there are so many people praying for me and supporting our family.  

I had my radiation oncology appointment at Lowell General today. Dr. Matthew Katz met with me for over an hour and answered all my questions. I will not be having radiation until more is known about my bump. That said, my bump has been graded Birads 4c, or high risk of breast cancer (about 80%). Birads is a scale the radiologists use to track how well they can identify malignancy. 4a is a 13% chance of malignancy, 4b is a 36% chance, and 4c is 79%. Birads 5 is a confirmed cancer. It appears that my bump is a lymph node. Dr. Katz explained that the lymph nodes are in a chain, usually one after the other, so when I had my surgery and 5 lymph nodes were removed, all found to have no cancer, the surgeon made the assumption (as all do) that any lymph nodes further down the chain would also be cancer free. For this one to crop up after surgery and while I am still having chemotherapy is concerning.

The main questions that need to be answered are is this cancer and if so, is it the same cancer. When I have the biopsy the pathologist will check the genetics of the tumor and that will answer the second question (assuming a malignancy). If it is the same cancer I will likely have to have more surgery to remove all the lymph nodes. I don't know what will happen if it's a new cancer. There is another chemotherapy protocol that I could have, but it's worse than the one I've just had, so that's a last resort for me. I will still be having radiation, but that has to wait until after the biopsy.

I feel a little better now that I know what's going on, even though what's going on isn't good. I do better with information than without. If I don't answer calls and texts it isn't because I don't care or don't want to. It is overwhelming to digest this information and exhausting to repeat it dozens of times, so please bear with me and know I appreciate every gesture of support and caring.