My parents stopped by my office this afternoon before mom's appointment with the surgeon. They had some time to kill, and I had just shown mom on Saturday where the office was, so I think she wanted dad to see it. (I just started working here about 6 months ago, and they hadn't seen the place yet.)
After her 2:30 appointment, she called me and said it was pretty good news for the most part. She said the surgeon agreed with the second oncologist's approach to treatment, and despite the tumor being bigger than previously thought, he felt comfortable with the plan. He said the tumor was 3.7 cm x 1.something x 3.1. That's more than double the size previously thought - and "technically" means she is Stage II. And, as a very wise and knowledgeable person (Ann Silberman) just told me via email today, they really don't know what size a tumor is until they actually have it out. I relayed information to mom from Ann about the use of Herceptin in HER2+ breast cancer, and mom said they were starting her on it immediately. (By the way, mom said that her HER2+ is +3, which is very high - I need to look that up too and get the full gammet of what this bastard HER2+ is all about).
As mentioned above, I received a lovely email from Ann Silberman today - it's like getting an email from a celebrity! I was thrilled. She corrected me on HER2+ and said it is a protein, not a hormone - and gave me alot of useful information. AND she told me I might want to make her blog referenced in the beginning of mine an actual link to her blog. So, I will try to do that so that any of you interested in reading Ann's story can read it. I encourage you too - this woman knows her stuff from having gone through some pretty amazing/agonizing experiences with cancer - all while keeping her sense of humor and keeping it real. Ann, I'm sorry that you have cancer (see? I pay attention!) - but I'm so grateful that you've been writing about your experience for the last four years and helping us newbies out. And I'm so grateful that you took the time to read my email and responded to me. Thank you so very, very much.