MRI and a crazy week

So it's now June and my MRI and other tests are booked for Tuesday at 10:15 AM. Marilee, my neighbour and dear friend, who recently lost her husband to ALS, took me in to the regional this time. I had a hard time sleeping the night before thinking about the "coffin" and the dye that I would be injected with and the fact that the heavy metals in my old tattoos could react to the MRI by burning. It was a long day but seriously nothing to fear. I went to get the contrast injected, that helps outline any abnormalities. For the breast MRI, I had to lay on my stomach with my with my breasts in a holder(see photo I found on the internet). I think it took 45 minutes, I am not sure, I just laid there and listened to the machine wiz and make some banging noises. I could hear the technician talking to me. I had to lay very still. And there seemed to be a blur of time.

A MRI is:  uses powerful magnetic forces and radio-frequency waves to make cross-sectional images of organs, tissues, bones and blood vessels. A computer turns the images into 3-dimensional pictures. An MRI of the breast is not routinely used to diagnose breast cancer, but may be done in certain situations to:

• find the primary tumour in the breast
  • MRI may be used if cancer is found in the axillary lymph nodes or if a woman has Paget disease of the nipple.
• find out the extent of cancer in the breast tissue (local disease)
  • MRI may be used when test results from physical examination, mammography or ultrasound are not clear.
• better examine an abnormality found on mammography
  • MRI may be used if the abnormality cannot be found with other tests, such as a clinical breast exam or breast ultrasound.
  • It may also be used if the abnormality can be seen from only one view of the results of a mammography.

After that I had to get dye injected into me into me for the CAT SCAN or CT scan.

A CT is:  "is an X-ray technique that gives doctors information about the body’s internal organs in 2-dimensional slices, or cross-sections. During a CT scan, you lie on a moving table and pass through a doughnut-shaped machine that takes X-rays of the body from many different angles. A computer puts these X-rays together to created detailed pictures of the inside of the body. Before the test, you need to have a contrast solution (dye) injected into your arm through an intravenous line."

CT scan was not problem. You lay on a bed and get pushed into another donut hole machine that open at both end and is thinner then an a MRI and it just has something in it that wizzes back and forth from side to side.

After that I was sent for a bone scan. A bone scan is: uses bone-seeking radioactive materials (radiopharmaceuticals) and a computer to create a picture of the bones. It is used to see if breast cancer has spread (metastasized) to the bones.

It has open sides and is more square than the MRI or the CT scan.

So that was that, got through the day. So somewhere along this crazy ride someone tells me that surgery with be in August, then June.The next day I met with Walter. I thought it was time enough to get the family burial plots chosen and paid for up on Kirkhill Cemetary. 2 people now that I know are up there. It is just across the road basically and has been there a long time. I wanted to do this years ago, but as usual it just didnt happen. Now, I thought was a great time to do this. Walter C. manages the plots. He said is there anyone you don't want to be next too? lol small town humour I guess! And I said no. He showed me the map. I chose our plots to be next to Marilee and her husband plot. 

Monday June 9th. The kids go on a school trip to Acadia Village. Mom goes with them. Since they will be gone all day, I have booked make up and hair session at Element 5 in Saint John. I get my make up done and then my hair straightened by a really nice lady from Columbia. Her sister died from breast cancer. It is amazing the stories from peoples hearts that you come across once you are open about having cancer. They did a wonderful job at the salon. I could not believe how straight my hair came out and it lasted for a few days.

The next day I go see breast surgeon Dr.Scarth- Tuesday June 10. He tells me all tests were clear. We go over everything as of this day and make plans for what is coming up. I agree to getting a skin sparing mastectomy, which will give me the option to get fat from my belly put into my chest after. At this point I am thinking all this happens at once. Operation and reconstruction. I tell him fake boobs are never an option for me. I will be getting a sentinel Lobe biopsy once they open me up. They will just check a few and if they show anything they will take lots out.

"A sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) is the removal of the sentinel lymph node to see if it contains cancer. The sentinel lymph node is the first lymph node in a chain or cluster of lymph nodes that receives lymph fluid from the area around a tumour. Cancer cells will most likely spread to these lymph nodes. There may be more than one sentinel node, depending on the drainage route of the lymph vessels around the tumour. This test may also be called sentinel node biopsy or sentinel lymph node dissection (SLND)."

The surgeon injects a radioactive substance (radiotracer), a blue dye or both into the tissue around the tumour or into the area from where the tumour was removed.

• The radiotracer is injected anywhere from 1–16 hours before the surgical procedure.
• It takes about 5 minutes for the blue dye to reach the sentinel nodes, so the dye is often injected in the operating room just before the surgery.

The dye or radioactive substance is taken up by the lymph vessels. It travels along the lymph vessels draining the area around the cancer to the sentinel lymph node(s).

A special scanning device detects the radioactivity in the sentinel lymph node(s), or the surgeon looks for the lymph node(s) stained blue.

• Sometimes, the sentinel lymph node cannot be identified.
• If the sentinel lymph node is positive or if it cannot be identified, then more lymph nodes will need to be removed."

So along with all this info I was getting on what was the results and what was going to happen, it was on this day that I learned that my surgery has been moved up to June 19th, yes thats right, a week and a half from now! yup my head was spinning...across the hallway from Dr.Scarth, I go see Kathy Woodhouse again, my cancer navigator...