July 10: Surgical Oncologist Update

So far my week has been good – little side effects outside of being a hair tired. My back is hurting again, but it may be because I’ve been walking again.

I had my follow up with my surgical oncologist today. She was pleased to see the lump had disappeared and said the red spot left looks like a scar/scab. We were both suspicious of the bump that was higher up. I mentioned it’s been there since after surgery but before chemo. She thought she may have seen a pore in it, but she decided to do a punch biopsy and remove it. Unfortunately, it’s in a place that still has nerves, so it is a bit sore and painful now. She also tried to close it without a stitch and just the strips, I’m skeptical it’ll close right, but it’s so small it’ll be fine… hopefully.

I asked about the surgery and she said she’ll take more skin and just deflate the expander on the left (to almost flat). We’ll do the reconstruction after radiation because we won’t want to radiate the skin from my back or the final implants. I guess I’ll be stuffing my bra this fall.

I also mentioned my back was still in pain. She said since it’s recurrent, she wanted to X-Ray my chest, lungs and back. She didn’t think it was related to cancer, but wanted to be sure since it has persisted for over a month. She wrote up the order, and sent me over to the hospital to get it done. They were surprisingly quick and she called me later to say it was negative! The only thing they saw was the nodule which was there on the last scan and it hadn’t gotten bigger so it’s still consistent with the radiation effects.

So overall a good day – tomorrow I have my Cleveland Dr. consultation. I fly in, head to the appointment, and then fly out. Wish me luck all goes well.