Mayo Part 2

All things considered, my Mayo trip went relatively well. No new cancer discovered, numerous ultrasounds/ mammograms/ MRIs/ CTs to rule out anything else suspicious... So, where does that leave us?

I'll be beginning a five week course of radiation on February 11th at Mayo in Rochester. My radiation oncologist (a new one... bonded with her MUCH better than the first one of a year and a half ago) decided giving me a week and a few days to organize my house and classroom wasn't going to impact treatment at all, so I have a little extra time. I'll be in treatment about 15 minutes a day, five days a week, and will hopefully feel well enough to drive home on weekends.

After my radiation course I'll take another break of anywhere between 3 and 6 weeks before surgery. Exactly what that consists of gets a little gory, but the basics are that they'll take a 5 centimeter area of tissue which they'll need to replace with something... apparently that'll be tissue from my back. The good news is I don't have enough tissue on my tummy to allow them to do a TRAM flap, so they'll do the back procedure instead. Yum. Can't wait. Sarcasm overflowing. Apparently it's supposed to be less painful, but we'll see.

So anyway, that's the news for now! We'll spend the next week organizing our lives, trying to figure out Kile's school schedule so he doesn't have to miss school while I'm living up North, and writing copious amounts of lesson plans!

Thank you for all of the positive energy and prayers. We truly did get the best possible news this week considering the options, and I look forward to beating this once and for all. All we learned with this latest setback is that my race is a marathon, not a sprint. (Which is good, I haven't been very fast since about 4th grade anyway...)

Carpe diem.
Trela