Results of sentinel node surgery revealed a "very small amount of cancer" in the first lymph node and none in the second or third, which is "very good news" (it's all relative). This means the chemotherapy I am undergoing is more aggressive than if there had been no lymph involvement at all. My chemo regimen is designed to both shrink the size of the breast cancer before surgery, and to target any rogue cells.
I will first have 4 treatments of AC chemo, 2 weeks apart, for a total of 8 weeks. I will then have 4 treatments of Taxol, 2 weeks apart, for another 8 weeks. If everything stays on track, this will continue through the end of March. The AC chemo is more toxic than Taxol and has more side effects.
There will be somewhat of a rest period after the end of chemo to recover from the side effects before surgery. I'm not sure yet how long this will be.
Sometime in late spring I will have surgery. My surgical oncologist and I already decided that I will have total breast replacement (I made this term up because it sounds better than the typical medical terminology). I have been "randomly" assigned to the head of the Breast Center and I have the utmost confidence that he will give me the best possible outcome. I will post more information about this after I meet with the plastic surgeon.
After surgery, I will be on hormone suppression therapy for five years.
People with my diagnosis who follow this protocol have very good outcomes!
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