Gather round Phalanx and Zombie will tell you all about her post-op review.
IT'S FUCKING EXCELLENT NEWS!
The surgeons are extremely pleased. The resection was a complete success. They were able to remove the remaining tumours with good clear margins. So, for the moment, my liver is cancer free.
The surgeon I saw said I was nearly unique. They very rarely do a resection on breast cancer mets. It's even rarer to be able to remove all visible evidence of the disease.
My liver will have fully regenerated by now. If they remove half of a liver, the remaining liver will fully regenerate in 6 weeks. Since they only removed bits of mine (plus my gall bladder) the process will have been MUCH quicker. They have cleared me to resume chemotherapy as soon as my oncologist wishes.
My liver is a bit fatty and they believe that is damage from previous chemo. The gall bladder showed evidence of past inflammation but no signs of gall stones. The inflammation was most likely due to eating a 'Western' diet. The removal of the gall bladder means that bile now drains directly into my intestine. That explains why I thought my IBS was kicking off with very loose stools.
The histology shows that the tumours were "heavily" HER2+ and hormone negative. This confirms that these tumours were definitely from the more recent breast cancer. It also shows just how nasty and aggressive this cancer is.
I will have an MRI in the first week of February 2016 and have my next liver clinic appointment on 18 February.
This comes with my normal caution to remember that this does NOT mean I am cured. There are still rogue cancer cells circulating in my body. At some point some of them will find a place to put down roots and grow more tumours.
But for now I am Over The Moon.