And the results are in...

and on balance, I'd call the news good.  Poss more on the 'fair to middling' side of the good scale, but could def. be a lot worse.

You want technical spec? Have you ever known me to be able to spout technical stuff??? Well, actually, I am quite proud of my burgeoning medical vocabulary.  Here's what my OH and I found out yesterday...

1.  The tumour was 32mm
2.  The cancer was graded at 3 (the wrong end of the aggressive scale, I'm afraid)
3.  It is oestregen receptive, which means that oestregen in the body can fuel this type of tumour.  This is fairly common - and actually is a positive thing, as by blocking oestregen output, we can raise the good prognosis considerably.
4. The cancer had spread to ONE lymph node.  I had all 16 removed from under my left arm pit (known as an axillary clearance.  Did you know your armpit was your axillar?  I'm not sure it is, actually, I'm just guessing..)
5. The tumour was HER2 negative.  This is GOOD news, HER2 pos. cancers are much more likely to recur.

So, how is this good news? Well, no lymph nodes would have been brilliant, obviously, but with such an aggressive cancer, catching it before it had spread further than one node is good good good news.  If you have to have a breast cancer, to maximise successful treatment, you want that cancer to be oestregen positive and HER2 negative - and mine complies.

Now... weighing up my young age (at 41 you don't think you'll hear that phrase with regards to yourself, but with bc, you hear it quite often), the lymph node involvement and the aggressive nature of the tumour.... drumroll...

Chemotherapy.

This, apparently starts at around 6 weeks post-op, so that the wound has had a good opportunity to heal up.  Six weeks to the day of my op is Christmas Eve.  Chances are I'll have had the first session by Christmas, but then, I suppose, if that happens, the sooner it starts the sooner it will be over and done with.  I see the oncologist on Monday at 4pm, and may well find out then when I'm due to begin.

It will prob. be one session every three weeks for six sessions - so, adding in recovery time after the last round of chemo, and the wait to start chemo... we're looking at the next six months.

What can I say? Bring it on.......