Sweat, Seroma & Sneaky Cells

O.M.F.G its too bloody warm. Even without healing sweaty boob scars encased in a compression bra I'm not a fan of the heat. If its over 20 degrees - I'm staying in the house hun. And I know everyone's saying it this week but 28 degree heat abroad IS different to 28 degree heat in the UK. I probs won't be moaning when I'm in Tenerife round the pool next year!

I've managed to sit outside a few times to get some fresh air (pics for evidence ha!), in fact, I'm actually sat outside (well, hiding in the shade with an iced coffee, my new love) writing this blog post. I've also managed to get out and about a little bit this week which has been nice because I am hating been stuck at home. I cannot sit still and do nothing, it's driving me bonkers. I do have to keep catching myself though and reminding myself I had major surgery 3 weeks ago so need to take it steady. "Chilling" really isn't in my nature though, I'm more of a do-er and a cracker-on-er. Can someone hurry up and invent magical healing potions please!

p.s Yes I have got an eye mask on under my sunnies. Trying to cool the eye bags down!

Another thing that has been driving me bonkers this week (just realised I'm starting to sound like an episode of Room 101) is the fluid handing around my boob aka Seroma. It's fluid that builds up after having surgery and is common after breast cancer surgery and is a massive pain in the ass. Everytime I move about it's sloshing and what feels like nipping. I have been reassured that the sloshing is a good sign that there is room in there which indicates its not inflamed or infected but still. Ouch. I've been for it checking a few times this week and been reassured that all is okay and it should eventually drain away. Basically, my body needs to figure out how to reroute it because it's usual route has been disrupted by taking some lymph nodes out so its more a case of leaving my body to do it's magic than draining it out. So I just need to suck it up and be patient with my body too.

I pulled this out of my little pack of affirmation cards this week. I think the universe is trying to tell me something!

I was due to get the results from surgery on Friday along with the plan of what's happening next. However, I got a call on Thursday afternoon to say that my results haven't come back from the Histology lab (lab that looks at tissue sections) in time to be discussed at the Multidisciplinary Team Meeting (MDT). I was really gutted as we'd been hoping to get some answers on Friday in terms of if I was definitely having chemo & rads and when they were likely to start so that we could make some plans over the summer and do thing with the boys. All was not lost! When I went to my appointment (they asked me to go anyways so the surgeon could check my scars) the nurse asked me where Ryan was straight away (I'd gone in on my own because the waiting room had got busy) and then told me that my Histology results had been reported that morning and they knew I was keen to know the results ASAP so would talk them through with me, albeit without recommendations of next steps as they hadn't been discussed at MDT and won't be until the following Thursday.

I'm feeling really positive about my results. The histology (what the cells in the tissue) of my boob came back exactly the same as the biopsies. They were able to measure the amount of invasive cancer in my boob and the largest one was 15mm/1.5cm and more or less the rest of my whole G cup boob was DCIS (Ductal Carcinoma in Situ - pre-invasive early breast cancer). So a bloody good job I had a mastectomy! They took 3 lymph nodes out and in 1 of the 3, a tiny amount of invasive cancer was found. Not gonna lie, this freaked me out a bit because technically, the little f*cker has been on the move. Clinically, I have been told this isn't something to worry about as the area was 0.6mm and is therefore is classed as 'micrometastases'. The fact that it is called anything involving the word 'metastases' is unnerving though as it denotes the spread of cancer cells from their original 'invasion site' (not official terminology, just me babbling again).

With this in mind my the surgeon said he personally would recommend that the next step is Oncotype Dx. Oncotype Dx is a test where they test tumour samples (bits of the boob they took away during surgery) to see if there is a benefit of chemotherapy and risk of distant metastasis in the future. To be eligible for Oncotype Dx testing in the UK you have to fit a certain criteria (early stage breast cancer that is Hormone Receptor + & HER2 -). Oncotype Dx and its quite complicated (genomics) so I might so a separate post for those science nerds like me who are interested. It is quite cool to be honest, think of it as one of the steps towards personalised medicine. Its looking at the biology of each persons tumour biology to see how certain genes are working which can then be used to predict the usefulness of chemotherapy and likelihood of the cancer coming back. I know its probably a bit weird to be so interested in something that is trying to kill ya - but that's me and my way of dealing with it. I like knowing as much as I can and I'd like to think I'm not to shabby at been able to weedle out the solid, evidence based information from the sh*te. All that been said, I am waiting to hear if the MDT agrees, they may say I just need chemo anyways which is fair play.

I've just re-read what I've wrote and realised that's a long 'un. Told ya early on in my blog posts I don't stop talking!

Here's some (I am thankful for so many happy things!) of the happy things from my week!

I bought my new mid-year diary and my Facebook memories popped up and it was the exact same day last year that my last diary arrived! (I'm a saddo I know, but how strange?!). Another lovely friend sent me some Radiology colouring books to keep me busy. I will keep posting as I colour them in because they're ace!

Enjoy week!

Kirst x