THE HARD WAY

You’ve got to give credit where credit is due. Ever since Sam went to the doctors to get the lump checked our feet haven’t touched the ground. The very next day she got the hospital appointment, the following week she had the biopsy, the week later she had the diagnosis. 2 days after that she had the MRI, 5 days later we had the results from the MRI, the day after that she had the Pre op followed by the Sentinel LNB on the Friday. Well done NHS. I don’t even think it would have moved that fast if we went private.

So here we are, another corridor on another Wednesday afternoon. This time we’re in the Macmillan Centre which is located within the hospital. We’re surrounded by some very very friendly people (some of whom I think are volunteers). The decor and feel is completely different to the rest of the hospital. It’s still clinical but more welcoming and friendly.

“Samantha Lester?”
“This way please”

As we’re shown into the consultant’s room I notice that Jill is already there. The nurse who shows us in takes a seat at the back of the room and then all 3 watch as we take our seats. Charlie proves to be a bit of a distraction as we sit down but I can’t help wondering why there are 3 people in here with us. The consultant introduces herself and explains why we are here. I still can’t stop wondering why we have 3 people in the room when we’ve only ever had 2 at a time in the past (and why do they keep looking at us sympathetically?) . The consultant recaps us on what we already know (sort of like a previously on……….) and goes through things one by one. I ask her if they’ve got the results from Friday and she looks in her folder.

“We’ve got the result of your Sentinel Lymph Node biopsy here and I’m afraid we’ve found traces of cancer in one of them………. “

Shit.

So what does this mean? Apparently only one of the 2 lymph nodes that were taken out had traces of cancer in it. It looks like the cancer had only “touched” the node and not gone through it (but they’re not 100% sure). The next step now is to give Sam a full body CT scan to see if there’s cancer anywhere else in her body (more unknown, more waiting). The MRI last week just concentrated on her breasts, whereas the CT scan will show the complete picture so they can rule out everything else. If any microscopic cancer cells got past the lymph nodes and were floating around her body then (in theory) the chemo should kill them off. This will mean when they take out the tumour (after the chemo) they will also perform an auxiliary clearance of all the lymph nodes on that side (so much for not kicking that black cat…..).

Sam is also having a couple of “clips” inserted inside her breast (on the tumour). These are markers for the surgeon. They clip them to either end of the tumour and they show if the chemotherapy is having any effect on the tumour by helping to mark any changes in size. Also, if the chemotherapy completely wipes out the tumour then they’ll know which area to cut out afterwards.

The name of the chemotherapy that they’re going to use on Sam is called FEC-T (pronounced Feck-T) and it’s divided into 2 parts. The FEC (I giggle everytime they mention it. Damn you Father Ted!) part and then the T part (otherwise known as Taxotere). They administer both parts separately over the course of the treatment.

On the 20th February she will have her pre-chemo check. This is where they’ll get her ready for her first session which will be on the next day (21st Feb). After the first session is completed she’ll have to wait 3 weeks before having the second one (this is the stage where she’ll start losing her hair). The reason for the delay is because she has to let the side effects subside before proceeding. Once she’s ready, the cycle will begin again.

They are planning on giving her 6 sessions of chemotherapy in total (3 sessions of FEC and 3 of T) with 3 week gaps inbetween. So, 18 weeks in total then. (Fec!).

The side effects vary from person to person so we’ll find out in time which ones she’ll get. You never know…..she may get lucky.

Either way, it’s going to be one very tough journey.

Sorry babe. Xxx 😦