Shannon's surgery update

Sent: Thursday, March 26, 2009 2:51 PM
Subject: Shannon's surgery update

Hi everyone,

I wanted to let everyone know that Shannon’s surgery went very well yesterday and she is back home and taking a much deserved nap!

A couple key points to share about the surgery:

First, because one lymph node showed positive in the MRI and PET-CT scan, the surgeon performed an axillary dissection of the lymph nodes on Shannon’s right side. This is basically removing a bunch of lymph nodes from under her arm in order to verify if there was cancer in any other lymph nodes. While we still need to wait for pathology, the surgeon said that he only “felt” one lymph node. So the initial signs are positive. Why is this important? As I recall (sorry but I can’t seem to find the reference right now and I am tired), if there are more than 4 positive nodes then that is an indicator of cancer spread to even more lymph nodes and Shannon may need radiation.

Second, the surgeon took two lymph nodes from the left side and the immediate pathology determined they were negative for cancer. This is good for two reasons; one is that it is a key indicator that IF there was cancer in her left breast that it hasn’t spread, second is that if it were positive, he would have had to take more lymph nodes on the left side (essentially the same procedure as the right). The downside of this would be the higher risk of lymphedema, or arm swelling due to the lack of lymph nodes. So, from this day on, please be gentile with Shannon’s right arm.

In summary:
Shannon’s surgery was successful (yea!)
Shannon is doing very well and only has pain under her right arm (if you need to twist her arm, use the left)
Neither Shannon nor I have ever slept well in a hospital (the streak continues)
Hospitals need to get away from paper and go digital (but that’s another story)

Seriously though, through the 11 hours of waiting for surgery, we talked at length about how amazing everyone has been to us. I’ve personally heard so many comments about her strength, inspiration and positive attitude. And while I agree with this 100%, I have to say that YOUR support makes her feel that she isn’t alone and that her fight is a team effort.

Go TeamShannon!

Thank you all very much,
Mark