So here's more information

I started having pain in my left breast on Saturday February 3rd, on the way home from the boys birthday party at Build-a-Bear in Syracuse NY. The pain got worse on Sunday February 4th and so on Monday February 5th I was at the OB/GYN at 10:30am. She did a manual breast exam and found nothing. To be on the safe side - she sent me on Tuesday February 6th for a mammogram at the hospital so that the radiologist would be right there to read my films. Not too long after, the mammography tech came in and said that the radiologist wanted an ultrasound. While watching the ultrasound, I saw an area (about 2 cm) on the screen. It was very hard to find but the ultrasound tech helped me find it and then sure enough - there it was - I could feel it. Original speculation was that it was a fluid filled cyst and so I went off to see the surgeon (Dr Shaikh) who also did a manual breast exam and couldn't feel the lump. He suggested that I be scheduled for an ultrasound guided Fine Needle Aspiration - which I had on Monday February 19th (the first opportunity) at the hospital. The radiologist could not get any fluid out as the lump was a solid tumor and so they did a core biopsy. At that time, I asked him to tell me what he thought about what he saw and he told me that I had real reasons to be concerned. The lump was irregular in shape and thickness and the samples were very heavy and sank in the sample jar. I left there pretty much knowing that I had breast cancer. I saw the surgeon again on Wednesday February 21st and he confirmed that. What I have is called "Poorly Differentiated Invasive Intraductal Carcinoma". On a scale of 1-4 with 4 being the most aggressive cancer that there is - mine is a 3. I am now scheduled for a lumpectomy on Tuesday February 27th at 11am. I am going to the hospital at 8am though to also have radio-active isotopes injected into my breast to see if my lymph system is at all involved. This is called a Sentinel Node Biopsy. If the sentinel node is not infected, they won't take any of the lymph nodes. They know this by seeing if the dye "lights up" the lymph node. If it is, they take out the ones that are 'hot'. Then everything is sent to pathology and they do lots of tests. The results of those tests will tell the Oncologist what types of drugs to use, how much, and how long. I will be having both chemo and radiation. Anytime the lump is bigger than 1cm - chemo is the standard. Radiation is always a standard with any breast cancer. That's what I know right now and what is going to happen. I hope this helps answer any questions you might have. Please check back often for updates as this is the easiest way for us to keep you posted. Love to all of you :)