Home from Seattle safe and sound

We had very informative visit to Seattle Cancer Care today.  We are so thankful for the expertise of Dr. Flanagan and the wonderful nurses, volunteers and people in Seattle.  It really is a well oiled machine.  There were many musicians playing soft music in various waiting rooms, volunteers coming around with water and snacks and beautiful views of the city.  However, it was very sad to see so many people in one place affected by cancer...it takes your breath away and brings tears to your eyes. 

We had a very quick trip over this morning and plenty of time for a walk along the waterfront before checking in.  My roomate, Margaret met us up there and it was an incredible blessing to have her there.  She added so much joy and great perspective to a very stressful day.  I realized that I met Margaret at PLU over 27 years ago...no wonder she knows me so well.  THANK YOU!!

Dr. Flanagan confirmed many of the details of my case that Dr. Guthrie had shared with us.  This was an answer to prayer...as having a whole new set of eyes on your case if very helpful.  She, with the help of their radiologist, also think that there is only 1 duct with cancer, the spot they originally biopsied.  She felt that the other suspicious areas/shading were just from trauma to the tissue after the biopsy.  She also agreed that it was stage 0 DCIS...an excellent long term prognosis.  Now we will just weigh the pros and cons of each treatment option and decide on next steps.  One new decision today was to wait for surgery until we get the genetic testing back...this will influence our final decision.  Only about 5-10% of breast cancer has a genetic link.  We will not get those results back for about 2 weeks.

Curt and I had a lot of time to talk on the way home.  I cannot tell you how much his unending support and encouragement have meant to me....I couldn't do this alone. 

We are looking forward to a good night's sleep...as last night was kind of short and choppy. 

I so appreciated all your texts today...checking in..sending verses or songs of encouragement and kind words of hope.  I am blessed!!

Love, Rachelle