Peggy (left), her daughter, and her infant grandson (taken five years ago).
This is Part 2 of Peggy's cancer story. Read part one HERE if you haven't yet. Peggy's daughter (pictured here) is also a survivor who is a part of the H4TG family.
...So, the next two weeks went flying by. Our older daughter finished her finals at college and came home before she drove up to her boyfriend's (now husband) graduation festivities for his graduation. Our younger daughter was finishing up her junior year of high school. I had told a very close friend what was going on so that she could be a support for my girls (and me). I had picked up my films from the radiology office and my husband looked at all of them. I got all of the mammogram films so he could see the progression of the cancer over the previous few years. Unfortunately, the reports that were sent to my physician did not include the telltale clumping of cells in my breast. I must say that he did a fabulous job around the girls and not mentioning that.
The day that we went to my Breast Surgeon was the same day that our older daughter left for West Point in New York. I think all of us were on edge those last days before THE DAY.
When we arrived at the Breast Center, I was alarmed at the number of women who looked just like me----scared---and the husbands/partners sitting there trying to ignore where we all were and why we were there. My name was called and I went back alone first. My husband would come back in a little bit. I walked into the doctor''s office and he was sitting behind his desk with my mammogram films on his view box. I felt very comfortable and safe with this surgeon and he was trying to explain what was on the films. I told him that I was a nurse and that I wanted nothing "sugar-coated" and I prefer no mincing of words. He told me that it appeared I had a tumor and he wanted to do an exam and sonogram. So, that was done and my husband was called back. The surgeon said that he was 99.9% sure that I had cancer, but a biopsy would confirm it. He asked me when I wanted to have that done, I told him "yesterday."
Back to the examination room for a needle aspiration biopsy with sonogram. The surgeon showed me the two tubes and he said that he knew it was cancer, but the biopsy would confirm. I hadn't cried at all before and I have to admit that I cried and cried. My husband was called in and he just held me while I cried. The nurse in the Breast Center who had been with me during the biopsy brought me a small ice pack to slip inside my bra for the biopsy site and she told me that she was a breast cancer survivor and now I could officially say that I was too.
We had one last appointment with my breast surgeon to review the biopsy results and decide the course of action. No surprise that I had cancer and that it was invasive ductal. The surgeon took his time and we covered all of the options. He also mentioned a final phase clinical trial for something called SENTINEL NODE BIOPSY. My patient information was put into some computer and I was put into one of two groups. I forget which was which, but I remember that if I woke up with an incision under my arm, that it wasn't a good sign. Surgeon told us that my chances for survival were basically the same whether I had a mastectomy or a lumpectomy. My husband and I both determined we would go with the lumpectomy because it made no difference on my final outcome and it was less surgery to go through.
Surgery date scheduled for two weeks from that date. June 10, 2002. A date that neither my husband or I will never forget....
Stay tuned for part 3!