11. Mammaprint

May 20, 2022

Update. Well, the results from Amsterdam’s test arrived Tuesday night and Doreen will be taking on the role of emotional support pig for chemotherapy.

The tumor is close to the border of “high risk of recurrence if you don’t undergo chemotherapy” and “low risk of recurrence, therefore whether or not you have chemotherapy will not make much of a difference”. But it’s on the wrong side of the border, therefore chemotherapy is in the near future. If you want to spin it positively – I’m on the low end of “high risk”, so at least that’s a good thing… I think.

Here’s Doreen trying to figure out what a portacath is. A portacath (or “port”) is a medical device that provides easy access to your blood vessels, and placed right under the skin of the chest wall. That way, the nurses administering the chemotherapy don’t have to poke and search for a good vein every chemotherapy session. It will also save my veins from being “burned” by the chemotherapy drugs. Looks like I will get that placed sometime next week.

General plan is for 4 cycles of chemotherapy over 12 weeks – therefore one session every 3 weeks. Will know more about schedules and other details on Tuesday when I visit the oncologist.

Thanks everyone for the support and prayers!