"IF"

That seems to be the Word of the Day. "IF." 

It's funny how, if you think about it, it's really the BIGGEST of the smallest words. (Take a minute with that... pretty profound eh?)

So the appointment today was good. LOVE LOVE LOVE the doctor (yay!) and heard pretty much everything I was hoping to hear (yay!) with only a few minor "surprises" (boo!). The surgeon agrees with the radiologist when she says the cancer was caught early (Stage One), is very small, is slow-growing and is NOT the really icky kind (remember y'all, I have the good cancer). I go in tomorrow for an MRI that will help them see the rest of the breast (both) to make sure there isn't anything else lurking in there that they couldn't see from the mammogram or ultrasounds. 

So... here's what I know so far... 

IF there is no more cancer found in one (or the other) boob or in any nearby lymph nodes and IF the BRCA genetic testing comes back negative (they sent in the test today and should know within 2 weeks)... then she said they can just do a lumpectomy followed by radiation. (NO CHEMO!) The amazing thing too is that IF I only have to do the lumpectomy and partial radiation, they can knock out that radiation in FIVE DAYS!!! They would just put a catheter (ew) in the tiddy and I'd have to go TWICE a day, but for only five days. Then zip zap zoom... done! So IF that's the case (and it's obviously the one we're hoping for... best case scenario...) then we could be in and out and done with everything within a two-week span of time!!!! WOW!!! AWESOME! Ponytail stays put. No biggie at all and it almost seems like it never even happened!

Now, IF they happen to find cancer elsewhere then things will become a little more tricky... like perhaps a full mastectomy (or even double...), but we'll wait and see on that. For now I'm going to hold out hope that it's gonna be super quick to knock it out of the park!! :) 

Oh but the "surprise" was they will also treat me (to prevent a recurrence) with hormone squashing therapy... a pill I'll have to take for 10 years with side effects similar to menopausal symptoms. Joy. But hey, as long as I don't gain back 20 pounds or get a thick ass mustache I'll be okay with that! 

So to review... MRI tomorrow (John's coming with me... he's gotta drive the getaway car since mama's gonna be popping a Xanax) and then waiting for genetic test results and then we'll make surgical/treatment decisions from there. 

Let's hope for the best and that I don't "light up like a Christmas tree" (for all you Fault in Our Stars fans) tomorrow. Ha.