Surgeon first visit

We did not sleep that night, we were anxious to know what was happening. That was the first day we met Dr Karin, she is probably one of the most organized and direct doctor I have ever met. When we arrived at her office, she had just received my biopsy results and we had to wait until she had a call with the doctor who did my biopsy before she could give us any details.

She confirmed all the biopsy results were cancer, I had two type of Breast Cancer: a small 0.6 cm DCIS (ductal carcinoma in situ) and around 2.4 cm Invasive Ductal Carcinoma which had metastasis to the lymph node. Now the main question was how far has it gone and what can we do to combat it?. The amount of information they give you on these appointments are large and very overwhelming but I think we did a very good job of coping with all the information it was sent our way. We will normally sit down after each appointment and discuss what was said so both of us had the same understanding.

I was given contact information for an Oncologist, a Plastic Surgeon and a Radiologist doctor. During the following days we met each one of them and was amazed about the coordination and the knowledge they did have, we felt we were under the care of very good doctors and that make us feel much better. Alberto and I used to say that we left each if their offices more relax as they were transmitting peace of mind to us, at the end of the day this is what they do for living and if they are good on what they do they should allowed you to have more clarity.

The following days I had an MRI, a PET scan, a genetic testing called BCRA1 and blood work to determinate what was behind this Cancer. I recall the day we went to Dr Karin's office for the results, another sleepless night of not knowing what was wrong. I started crying when she said the Cancer was located on the breast and 3 lymph nodes (one under the pectoral muscle and the other 2 under the armpit) that there was no sign of had spread anywhere else. The thought of knowing that It was located and could be treated and I had a good chance of being ok was a huge relief. I discussed with the doctor my concern about the right breast and the fact that it was in the same condition as the left breast a few years back. I did not think I could live with the anxiety of thinking the same thing could happen on the other breast so we made the decision to do a double mastectomy.