Here is the story of the little lymph node. He didn't like hanging out with all the other lymph nodes who were negative. They never wanted to have any fun. He wanted to be positive and be happy and cheerful. Then one day he was positive. He liked his little lesion, it was cute and he showed it off to all the other lymph nodes and smiled away. They all frowned and said 'That doesn't count, it has to be bigger if you want to be positive'. He said 'Its big enough so I am positive' and pulled out a ruler and measured it. But it was too small, he was still negative. He pouted away. Then he said to himself 'What if I measure it this way instead?' He measured again and found out it was big enough so he was positive. That made him very happy!
Essentially that is what happened to me. The first lymph node was positive microscopically. The oncologist said it is positive but by such a small amount (<0.2 mm), I can be called node negative. Then he had the pathologist review the report again and it is bigger than initially thought (0.5 mm) and I am definitely node positive. I think from a surgical point of view, any cancer is considered node positive and warrants further surgery but from an oncology point of view it has to be bigger than 0.2mm to be considered positive. You would think they would keep their stories straight.
What this all means is the oncologist called me yesterday and based on the revised diagnosis, I am not eligible for the clinical trial (even though I did my homework) and will receive a more aggressive set of chemo - 4 rounds of AC and 4 rounds of Taxol - at 2 week intervals. All this fun will start August 1. Before then I have to go to the dentist, get my hair cut, fitted for a wig, and have a MUGA scan on my heart as well as the all important pedicure. That will keep me busy!
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