"... I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert."

More than once I've been accused of having a "fire, ready, aim" personality and while that wasn't exactly the case here, it was close. It also goes to show that having only a little bit of information is not always best.

Our radiological oncologist has been great -- professional, competent, and well reasoned, yet not afraid to laugh with us either. It is her opinion that the best explanation for what the surgeon found during the surgery is that the second tumor was part of the main tumor moving it's way to the lymph nodes. Fortunately, however, it didn't reach any lymph nodes. It was a blessing from the Lord that the second tumor was even found -- it was only 1.5mm in size and the surgeon suspected it was just residual from the nuclear medicine injection. However, he decided to go ahead and remove it for testing -- we're glad he did. Had it not been found during surgery, it would have showed up six months from now and we would have been doing this all over again.

The end result of the pathologist's report was that there were no lymph nodes affected, and the margins were clear on both tumors (how does one respond to answered prayer -- with a grateful heart, of course). Because of the location of the second tumor, near her armpit, the localized, 5-day course of radiation will not work. Thus, Sarah will start the standard course of radiation treatment the first week in January and go 5 days a week for 6 1/2 weeks. Additionally, we'll have an appointment with a medical oncologist to discuss estrogen blocking therapies going forward (the tumor was strongly estrogen positive indicating that the likelihood of recurrence is heightened without the use of estrogen blockers).

We thank you all for your prayers (and your continuing to do so), words of encouragement, and acts of kindness showed to us and to our kids.