I am officially CANCER FREE!!!!

I went for a follow up appointment with the surgeon Wednesday. We went over my pathology report. She said that out of the 29 lymph nodes she removed, NONE of them had any cancer remaining. So, at first I was a little bummed because they basically removed them for nothing, but it is better to be over cautious than over confident. So, I chose to look at it as a complete response to chemotherapy in my lymph nodes rather than a "removal for no reason".

My tumor that was removed had a clear margin around it. So, they removed enough and there were no traces left behind. My tumor shurnk tremendously, and it showed that it was almost cancer free. There were still a few viable emboli (traces of cancer cells) that showed they had been treated with chemotherapy, but it was not completely dead. It's all out of my body, but the tumor was not 100% dead tissue. So, I'm cancer free because it was removed, but it wasn't considered a complete response because of the few cells remaining inside the tumor. She said it is the next best thing to a complete response.

Next step is 6 weeks of radiation after I heal from the mastectomy, and then a 6 month break before reconstruction.

I still have both of my drain tubes in place, and I haven't been expanded yet. I go Monday for a follow up with the plastic surgeon, and he will remove at least one drain and pump up my expander a little bit.

My pain has subsided, I am just tender, bruised and a little swollen. All in all, I am very happy with my progress and I have SO MANY reasons to celebrate!  Thank you all for your continued prayers!