Surgery results and radiation planning

Yesterday Jeff and I met with the surgeon to hear about my pathology report. I am so relieved and grateful that she said there was no evidence of cancer left in what they removed! I got my pathological complete response! Woohoo!   This is the best possible outcome and means I have a better chance of avoiding recurrence.   She said that for triple negative cancer survivors if you go 5 years without a recurrence you are considered cured.   I will be seeing her again in April for my first follow up. Sounds like she will be tracking me and will be monitoring me going forward.

After the meeting with the surgeon we went over to princess Margaret for the appointment with the radiation oncologist.  We went over the plan for radiation, which will be 6 weeks in total. She said the side effects are mostly topical, and I will likely end up with burnt skin by the end of treatment and potentially some peeling too. I have to apply unscented lotion to the area regularly.   The other side effect is fatigue.

It shouldn't be as bad as chemo fatigue though. There also isn't an infection risk while on radiation so I am glad about that.

Next week I will go for a ct scan where they determine the area of radiation (right breast and lymph nodes) and do very small dot tattoos to mark it.  Radiation will start a couple of weeks after this appointment.

The journey continues, but I would say I was officially cancer free on November 8th!