The good news is that Sophia doesn’t have invasive breast cancer.
The bad news is she has DCIS (Ductal carcinoma in situ).
What is DCIS?
DCIS is not life-threatening. It is non-invasive, and is considered the earliest form of cancer—Stage 0. Stage 0 breast cancer (sometimes called pre-cancer) is an uncontrolled growth of breast cells that is stuck inside the milk duct where it started. It has not yet figured out how to spread outside the duct or to other areas of the body.
Although this cancer stays inside the milk ducts, it is associated with an increased risk of getting an invasive cancer, or cancer that has spread to surrounding tissues, in the future. The risk of the DCIS coming back is extremely variable and depends on the size and personality of the DCIS, as well as the type of treatment. Recurrence of cancer can be either non-invasive (not life-threatening) or invasive (potentially serious). The main goal of treating DCIS is to reduce the risk of an invasive cancer later on.
Another downer is that the doctors want Sophia to come back for another surgery in the same spot– in TWO AND A HALF WEEKS from now. This will be the third surgery she’s had at Cedars-Sinai in less than two months. It seems that the DCIS was found very close to one of the margins, so they have to do a bigger surgery.
Now, remember when we bad-mouthed Cedars-Sinai for their treatment of Sophia’s mother when she was in the hospital? Remember we changed our mind about Cedars-Sinai when everyone was so kind to Sophia during her surgery? Well, we’ve changed our mind AGAIN. It seems that when the surgeon at Cedars-Sinai took out the tissue, he forgot to mark the orientation (the North and South, so to speak) of it, so now the pathologists have no idea whatsoever near which margin the DCIS is located. Apparently, doing the orienting is a standard procedure. Because of this error, the surgeon will have to cut out more tissue all around. Sophia is incredibly pissed off at the doctor for that. She insisted that I write about this detail here, but I was nervous about mentioning the surgeon’s mistake.
“Do we really want to get on his bad side?” I asked. “After all, he’s probably going to be doing the surgery again.”
Sophia was adamant.
“Don’t write about it all if you’re NOT going to tell the truth about what happened to all the people who have been waiting to hear from us.”
Sophia is pretty sad and upset. I’ve been trying to be upbeat all night, telling her to look on the bright side. It is non-invasive. But maybe I’ll shut up for a while. Sometimes, it’s good to let someone be angry, although this is an area that I’m not very good at. I never know what to say, other than “Don’t be angry and sad.”
Thank you all for your wishes, prayers, and the good cheer you sent Sophia’s way. Keep ‘em coming.
“You should go back to writing your regular stuff.” said Sophia. “We all could use something funny.”
Sophia just told me that she saw the pathology report and that her surgeon cut a huge “piece” out, a lot, a lot more than we expected, based on the size of what was seen on the MRI and related to us. Her family doctor thinks that he made this mistake because he thought that by excising so much he covered all the bases, and nothing will be found. Still…
Of course Sophia is in our thoughts and prayers.
Oh dear… obviously, saying things like “look for the positives and how they can be improved rather than focus on the negatives” is terribly trite and cliche, and probably unhelpful. Still, blah. Neil, maybe you should have a chat with your penis and see what kind of opinion it has to offer on the matter…
So glad for the part of the news that is good. Yes…some funny. Despite the glimmer of good news we still need some funny up in here. And Sophia? My best thoughts to you.
I put Sophia’s name on some of the guerilla art heart magnets and will distribute them around town when I go for my morning walk. Perfect strangers will be sending loving thoughts your way.
What a story. It’s one good reason to trust the Old Mighty, as my zaideh O’H used to say. We have this expression about not putting faith in man. Woman, yes, but not man. Refuah shlaimah, Sophia, Sarah Rivka bat Fanya, right? (a complete recovery)
I’m so sorry, Neil. How incredibly frustrating. sigh.
I think this merits an interview between the penis and the tumor.
We’ve been through this a lot with my Mother-In-Law and it’s not an easy decision when a doctor you thought was great makes a big mistake. We have really personal relationships with these people. With Mother-In-Law I think it’s helpful to get her to step away from the situation because some doctors see her age before they see her as a person, but this doctor’s mistake wasn’t like that.
It doesn’t hurt anything to be angry and maybe knowing that you’ll report to the world will keep him on his toes in the future.
Wow, no wonder Sophia is pissed at the doctor. Don’t you think when doctors make heinous errors like that they should attempt to compensate by taking a chunk off your bill? They’d never think of doing that, though. Send Sophia my love.
prayers and good thoughts sent to both of you. Yes, feel our emotions, so that we can deal and move on. Repressing doesnt help, but, focus on the light. (on the good).
Lets celebrate! It wasn’t cancer!!! and it sucks, but hey, a little more take away means less area for the little bugger to decide to come back later!
Heres to a successful surgery and God bless you both
oh and also, i dont think you’re being ass-kissy..you need to have faith in the surgeon operating on the love of your life! and the surgery is going to go just fine!
Dang, sorry to hear the bad news, but Sophia is right on all counts — especially on writing something funny.
As to best way to handle these situations: Give Sophia lots of hugs and keep your mouth shut. If only I could learn the second part of that advice, I’d be much better off.
Holy crap that completely sucks. Get her a punching bag (or maybe a little one for her thumbs) and just let her rip into it with all her fury. She’s right to be pissed! I understand your feelings too though– it’s hard to watch someone be angry and hurt and not know how to help them. Maybe you could be the punching bag, then?
Sophia,
Get your bitch on and raise some serious hell. At the very least you are owed profuse apologies. If it were me, I’d walk in there and tell that doctor the subsequent surgery is on him because it was deviation from standard procedure that is causing it. Medical care is stupidly expensive and now he’s spending your money because of his carelessness. That does not work.
If you need/want a second opinion, and don’t mind coming down to San Diego.. . Dr. Mary K Wilde at Scripps Ximed Center is awesome.
As always, fingers and toes crossed for the lovely Sophia.
I’m truly sorry I haven’t been here more lately. But allow me to say, as late as it is, that I’m really pulling for you, Sophia. From all accounts you are one heckuva tough cookie and, if anyone can beat this, you can!
Dear Sophia,
Wishing you all the best and that you recover quickly enough to make your displeasure known to those jerks for making you go through that procedure again.
Dear Neil,
Do everything Sophia says.
Love to you both. xo
Thanks, Sandra, Kapgar, etc.
Thank you, Tara. Your friendship means a lot. I’m just afraid of going to your site today and seeing what you wrote about Israel.
I am frustrated and angry on Sophia’s behalf as well. Hopefully this means the doctor will feel a potential malpractice suit looming for this huge mistake and be two or three times more careful and thorough this time.
Pingback: Cosmic Joke of the Week. « Conscious Living
Pingback: Conscious Destiny! » Cosmic Joke of the Week.