ritaxis: (hat)
ritaxis ([personal profile] ritaxis) wrote2016-03-21 08:36 pm

The joy of banality

Every bit of information I have gotten since that first partial pathology report has been boring. That's good. I do have a fairly rare and aggressive type of cancer, but it's not more aggressive than other more common cancers, it doesn't appear to be growing fast, it has given no evidence of having spread anywhere, and it has helpful receptors and it  doesn't have unhelpful ones. So therefore my treatment plan is really routine. I will have a wee bit of a lumpectomy and the lymph nodes connected to that part of the breast will be removed too. If all goes well, and there's no cancer in the lymph nodes and the piece of flesh that's removed looks like it has a good margin around the tumor, I'll get a course of radiation and five to ten years of a hormone-locking medication. If there's doubt about the margins, they might go in again and remove more tissue. If there's cancer in the lymph nodes, or if no cancer in the lymph nodes but there's dangerous looking genetics in the removed tissue, I will also get a course of chemotherapy.

Everybody seems to think this is walk-in-the-park level of treatment, by which I mean, i'm not expecting tremendous amounts of side effects--some, of the type we associate with these things, but not a lot. And no disability to speak of. Which is frustrating the hell out of friends and family who want to do things for me. All I need is three rides the day of the surgery and someone to walk the dog that day and the next. After that--I'm a boring normal person.

It's all a bit anticlimactic, but I'm not complaining.

On another front, doves sat on my skylight for half an hour yesterday, giving me a lovely view of their red red feet and their fuzzy feathery butts, but it sure drove Zluta nuts.

[identity profile] hrj.livejournal.com 2016-03-22 03:50 am (UTC)(link)
I will be delighted if your treatment requires next to no outside support!
pameladean: chalk-fronted corporal dragonfly (Libellula julia)

[personal profile] pameladean 2016-03-22 04:44 am (UTC)(link)
Yes, yes, here's to boring and normal.

P.
julesjones: (Default)

[personal profile] julesjones 2016-03-22 07:25 am (UTC)(link)
I am glad to hear that the news is as least bad as it could be in the circumstances.

[identity profile] green-knight.livejournal.com 2016-03-22 07:30 am (UTC)(link)
Boring is good. May everything about this disease be boring.

[identity profile] davidgoldfarb.livejournal.com 2016-03-22 12:22 pm (UTC)(link)
This.
kiya: (Default)

[personal profile] kiya 2016-03-22 01:25 pm (UTC)(link)
Absolutely this.

[identity profile] thomasyan.livejournal.com 2016-03-23 01:33 am (UTC)(link)
Indeed!
ext_12726: (Default)

[identity profile] heleninwales.livejournal.com 2016-03-22 02:16 pm (UTC)(link)
Boring and routine are exactly what you want with any sort of medical treatment. I hope all goes well.

[identity profile] kate-schaefer.livejournal.com 2016-03-22 03:41 pm (UTC)(link)
Yes, boring good.
ext_58972: Mad! (Default)

[identity profile] autopope.livejournal.com 2016-03-22 09:46 pm (UTC)(link)
Cancer sucks mightily. Let us hope that your cancer sucks less than average.

[identity profile] bohemiancoast.livejournal.com 2016-03-23 12:01 am (UTC)(link)
I hope your cancer and its treatment continue to be boring, routine and unmomentous.