April 10, 2025

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April 10, 2025... Nathan and I both have cancer appointments.. At least we're still doing everything together, right? 😜

His appointment is in the morning and is a follow-up from his removal procedure. They discuss his "spot", which Nathan renamed Bob. The doctor wants to send it off for growth an further testing. So, adios Bob. See ya later!

Wouldn't it have been nice for our appointment times to be close together since they're both in the same vicinity? Sure would've, but that's not how our lives work. 

So, my appointment. The typical questions first... 

Family history of breast cancer? No

Ever take birth control? No

Ever take hormone replacements? No

Last menstrual cycle? ten years ago

Literally nothing put me at a high risk for this shit. 

The oncologist goes over the expectations, chemo cocktail to start ASAP, following that would be surgery, reconstruction, etc. Imagine a the speed of an auctioneer speaking, but it's about cancer. Yea, that's what I heard. And reading material for DAYS! I'll probably be cancer free before I get thru all the paperwork!  Luckily, as I mentioned before, I already understood what lies in front of me. 

Let's give a little explanation about this stupid cancer. 

Invasive, poorly-differentiated carcinoma, consistent with invasive ductal carcinoma

What the hell does that mean? This: It's a type of cancer where the tumor cells have grown outside the milk ducts and appear abnormal under a microscope, which suggests a higher grade, more aggressive cancer. This is consistent with invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC), which is the most common type of breast cancer. 

Now, the fun part... mine is a grade 3. This means it's a type of breast cancer where the cancer cells have spread from the milk ducts and invaded the surrounding breast tissue, and the cancer cells appear significantly different from normal breast cells. These cells tend of have a bizarre shape. Grade 3 tumors are considered high grade, which means they tend to grow and spread faster than others. 

But wait, there's more....

Mine is also triple negative... I know, I know... huh? What that means is the tumor doesn't express estrogen and progesterone receptors and it doesn't overproduce the HER2 protein. Ok so... what's that mean? It means that my cancer will not be touched with hormone driven therapy treatments. We have to pull out the boxing gloves. 


Head spinning yet? In English it means this cancer isn't playing nice. It's ugly, rude and thinks it's in control. IT'S WRONG! MY GOD IS IN CONTROL! How do I know?? Well, the surgeon speculates it's been hanging around for a couple months... luckily I found it when I did, sought testing immediately and am on treatment to kick this muddafukkas ass. 




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