MRI...

Hello,

Well each day brings new updates and swings of emotion, and yesterday Nicole had her MRI of both breasts. The radiologist was able to call her as she was reading them and said they show two additional 'spots' of concern in the breast, and a lymph node that might be swollen.

It's obviously not the news we had hoped for, but it also shows that any spread of the cancer at this point is at a very small level and very containable. There are more tests upcoming. Ultrasound will be done on these new spots Tuesday, and if they show up on ultrasound, she'll have them biopsied on the spot and sent to pathology.

What does this latest development mean? Even if these are proven to be positive for cancer, they will still consider the cancer local and early stage. If the lymph node is positive, they will likely remove all the lymph nodes on that side of her body and she'll have chemotherapy. If the other spots in the breast are positive, they will likely recommend mastectomy as well. Again, it's all speculative at this point so it's not fair to leap to conclusions, but with each new piece of the puzzle we're able to narrow down the pathways.

We are disappointed in this latest curve ball, we had definitely hoped to avoid chemo, but both of us are just anxious to get moving on a plan, whatever that might be. Nicole seems to be doing better than me, just because I'm so anxious to get into the fight at this point. I'm thankful for their thoroughness in diagnosis but the waiting is maddening and Nicole and I both have our moments of frustration. The bottom line is that they want to be as cautious as possible and kill every last cancer cell while they have their chance, and that's a very good thing.

On a positive note, I keep telling Nicole that regardless of what comes of the following weeks, she will be healthy and cancer-free by Christmas, and that makes us both feel better and keep our perspective. Nicole is headed for Michigan tomorrow for a long weekend of no doctors, no tests, no Steve, and hopefully some cooler weather. I am going to be in Charlotte trying to make it a few days without Googling breast cancer articles, which is pretty tough these days.

Thank you all again. Nicole says 'hi'...