Sharing The News

I just sent an email sharing our terrible, horrible, no good, very bad news.  It has all of the information in it that we know so far, so instead of writing a whole blog post on that, I am just going to copy the email.

Somebody please pinch me and wake me up from this nightmare.

Dearest Family and Friends,

This past week I received some news that has turned our world upside down and then some. I'm sorry to be sending this in an email, but I simply don't have it in me to have this conversation repeatedly, so please bear with me in this impersonal format.

On Thursday afternoon, February 24th, I was diagnosed with breast cancer.

I still have more questions than answers regarding this, but here is what I know:

• It is ductal breast cancer which is the most common.
• It is about the size of a ping pong ball in my right breast.
• It is "triple negative" which means: "These subtypes of breast cancer are generally diagnosed based upon the presence, or lack of, three "receptors" known to fuel most breast cancers: estrogen receptors, progesterone receptors and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2). The most successful treatments for breast cancer target these receptors. Unfortunately, none of these receptors are found in women with triple negative breast cancer. In other words, a triple negative breast cancer diagnosis means that the offending tumor is estrogen receptor-negative, progesterone receptor-negative and HER2-negative, thus giving rise to the name "triple negative breast cancer." On a positive note, this type of breast cancer is typically responsive to chemotherapy. Because of its triple negative status, however, triple negative tumors generally do not respond to receptor targeted treatments. Depending on the stage of its diagnosis, triple negative breast cancer can be particularly aggressive, and more likely to recur than other subtypes of breast cancer." (http://www.tnbcfoundation.org/understandingtnbc.htm)
• It was given a grade of 3 which means: "Based on the microscopic appearance of cancer cells, pathologists commonly describe tumor grade by four degrees of severity: Grades 1, 2, 3, and 4. The cells of Grade 1 tumors resemble normal cells, and tend to grow and multiply slowly. Grade 1 tumors are generally considered the least aggressive in behavior. Conversely, the cells of Grade 3 or Grade 4 tumors do not look like normal cells of the same type. Grade 3 and 4 tumors tend to grow rapidly and spread faster than tumors with a lower grade."  (http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/detection/tumor-grade) As I understand it from my pathology report, the cells do not look like their "normal" cell state and are really fast growing.
• We do not yet have a "stage" for the cancer which tells us how far advanced into the body it is. We have additional diagnostics to complete before we will know that. Currently the belief is that we caught this early which should mean it will be an early stage.

Here is what we know about our "game plan" to date:

• First things first, we need to gather all of the information. I have already had two ultrasounds and a biopsy of the mass. That is how we know what we know currently.
• Monday I will get additional ultrasound imaging of both breasts and the lymph nodes as well as diagnostic mammograms.
• Next Monday I will get an MRI.
• Sometime in the next week I will get a PET scan to confirm there is no cancer anywhere else in my body.
• I am working with the Fertility Preservation Center at UCSF in an effort to ensure our ability to expand our family once I've beaten this. Isabella needs a sibling after all (once we know her mommy is healthy again!). We aren't sure exactly what protocol we will follow but my age and known fertility are in my favor.
• We will start with Chemotherapy since this type of cancer is most receptive to it. Once the Chemo is complete (approx 4-5 months) the mass will be surgically removed.
• We are not sure which chemo will be used yet since we still don't have a complete prognosis/diagnosis. However, based on the information we have to date, the doctors think they want me on a trial through Stanford that is supposed to be highly effective and less brutal on my system. 

So there you go. I wish this wasn't news that I had to share. I keep saying I feel like I'm living in someone else's movie because it is all so surreal. I've "beat the odds" to be given this diagnosis since we have no direct family history and I'm so young. Hopefully that means that I will beat this quickly and get back to "normal" soon. As you can imagine we are all spinning from this situation. It is a lot to digest and right now we are just trying to get our feet under us. I am grateful to have so many wonderful people in our lives and will surely call on you as needed and appropriate. In the meantime your thoughts and prayers are welcome. We need all the good energy we can get!

I probably won't email frequent updates, but if you are interested, I will definitely keep writing in our family blog to let everyone know how we are doing and what is going on. You can follow that here: http://ourgauthierfamily.blogspot.com/

All our love,

Karey, Nick and Isabella