final pathology news

We heard from the doctor today.  It was actually kind of amusing, cause I had turned the ringer off on my phone because we were at Ethan's Kindergarten graduation this morning.  I knew she would probably call, but I knew that I could just call back after the graduation.  Then Elliott decided to take pictures with my phone during the ceremony, which was fine until I looked over and saw him talking on the phone to someone.  After giving him an evil look, he gave it to me and of course it was her number on the display :)  I quietly explained where we were and asked if I could call her back.  She was so sweet about it and told me to enjoy the graduation. 

So I talked to her later this morning and here is the news. 

1.  The lymph nodes are clear!!!  Yay!!  Praising God for that news. 

2.  Looking at the tissue under the microscope, it shows that the cancer has invaded the blood vessels.  Sounds a bit scary, but I believe that this only means that we will be treating with chemo like we had planned and maybe more of it than originally thought. In our doctor's words "we don't want to leave one stupid little cancer cell floating around to grow somewhere else"  Amen.

3.  The margins of tissue that they removed with the cancerous tumor last Tuesday were not clear.  They were positive for cancer in 2 separate areas. 

Unfortunately, the last bit of news means more surgery tomorrow (Wednesday) morning.  Our doctor wants to make sure to get all of the cancerous tissue out, and so do we.  It will only be getting the tissue out this time.  Not taking anymore lymph nodes and the port is already in.  So a shorter procedure for sure.

I know some of you have been asking when chemo will start.  We thought we might get a good idea of that this week, but this will set us back about a week I'm guessing.  We think maybe 2-3 weeks from tomorrow, but we'll keep everyone updated!

So 8:00 tomorrow morning will be the surgery.  We have to be there at 6:30 - that's an early morning!  We know that you will continue praying for us and we appreciate all of your prayers and messages and visits so so much!!