Sad News from Home

This email from my dad explains it:

Connie has breast cancer. Her last mammogram revealed a lump which was biopsied and determined to be malignant. The mass is about 2 cm and the stage of the cancer is either IIA or IIB depending on if it has spread to her lymph nodes. The good news is that it was detected early. The bad news is that the cancer cells are a fast growing type.

Connie is scheduled for a lumpectomy on January 27. She will have some additional testing to include an MRI to see if they can determine if the cancer has spread to her lymph nodes prior to surgery. The surgeon may take some nodes or all depending on what he finds. The surgery is fortunately a day surgery and she should be finished at the hospital in about four hours with relatively little discomfort. She will undergo about 4 months of chemotherapy followed by about 1 ½ months of radiation therapy.

We are positive. We are going to beat this. We are going to take it one day at a time and not let it control our life. I know we have support from all of you and that is comforting. I know Connie will appreciate hearing from you. I can’t tell you anything else and, frankly, I don’t want to further discuss the disease, the treatment, or the prognosis because at this point, you know what we know.

Thanks for your love and support.