I just got back from seeing my surgeon. He is very happy with the way my mastectomy wound is healing and took the last drain out - hooray! He says there are no concerns at this stage beyond the normal healing process.
Pathology results - he took out my sentinal lymph node during surgery and sent it for analysis, it tested positive so he took out the surrounding 15 nodes. Pathology results for those have come back negative so the cancer had not progressed beyond the sentinal node and the removal of the others should provide a safe margin.
Pathology also report that the tumour was as suspected and the margins removed all around it were healthy.
All this means that all the known cancer has been removed
I will be having a course of chemotherapy beginning around the end of January. I am hoping that since it is only to be on the safe side it might not be too drastic a type of chemo and that I might not have the worst of side-effects.
He asked his receptionist to make an appointment with the oncologist for me for next week. When she phoned his office she was told he was off the island and that his appointments are being covered by an oncologist from one of the top cancer hospitals in the US.
We bumped into a breast cancer nurse who has been a wonderful support to us just as we were leaving. When we told her about this visiting oncologist she said we should think of it as 'a gift from heaven' - she said she couldn't say more or she'd get fired from her job!
So that's it for now, many many thanks to everyone for the support you've given me, and I will keep you all posted as to my progress!