Lymphatic Non-Invasion

Monday was my latest appointment with my surgeon. We were going to learn the pathology report from my surgery. Joe and I obviously planned this appointment time (3:30 pm) with little sleep and a post surgical allergic reaction brain as there was no way Joe could work, come get me, and get to the appointment on time. We have great friends though who helped us out with our current situation. With great anticipation and fear, I went into the appointment with Jeanne. Jeanne had asked on the ride to the appointment what the expected conversations would be in the appointment. I had told her that I expected the pathology report, drains, driving, and incision site healing were to be discussed. Jeanne knew that at every appointment before this one I had been given news that was difficult to deal with, so I think she was preparing herself for the possibility of this happening again today but we were both hopeful. The doctor came in and started in on the pathology:
1. I had 2 tumors in the left breast about 2.2 cm apart from one another: one was 4 cm large and non-cancerous (benign) and the other was 1.3 cm large and cancerous. The one we could feel was the larger one not the cancerous one.
2. The margins were negative
3. The small tumor had just begun to establish lymph vessels and recruit blood vessels
4. The lymph node taken from my left side was NEGATIVE!
5. There was no cancer found in the right breast
All of these things show that we caught this early! Being able to feel the larger tumor probably changed the entire treatment process for me and possibly saved my life as if it had established a blood supply the cancer cells could have started to metastasize. I will not need radiation at all just chemotherapy and Herceptin treatments. I wanted to jump up and down and celebrate when he said there was no lymphatic involvement.

The rest of the appointment was interesting just because it was obvious that my doctor has me pegged for the not overly compliant patient and overly excited to get back to my normal life patient. He kept asking if I was overdoing it with my arms. I kept saying no and honestly I haven't been trying to do much with my arms. He also asked if I had been walking!!! I asked about driving but I realize that I am not ready to drive my standard car yet. Joe has also said he is not sure about me driving myself anywhere safely at this point. When I asked, my doctor said we would discuss it again next week. The bummer points were that the drains are in for another week and I still am not cleared to try the range of motion activities. The lymph node being negative for cancer though far outweighs the little negatives that we found out on Monday!