April 18

I just got back from an appointment with my surgeon. They removed the drain from under my arm and said everything looks good. I can take a shower and wash my hair this weekend – yeah!!! No more just baths and keeping under my arm dry.

Nothing new to report really – my final pathology was exactly as Dr. Rosenthal stated on Wednesday. I haven’t been given the 100% all clear on “no more surgery” but she said she is almost certain that there isn't an Oncologist alive that would require me to have more surgery. Dr. Sause, my Radiation Oncologist, is out of town and she wasn’t able to confer with him. She did, however, confer with one of his associates and he – too – said he doubted that Dr. Sause would want me to have additional surgery. So, I’m at 99.9999% and holding – but quite certain I won’t have to have any more surgery – at least for this.

Except for the one measly pre-cancerous cell – I had very healthy margins – much larger than Dr. Rosenthal thought she would get pre-surgery. My mass ended up being 1.7 centimeters – a little larger than originally thought. Still only 2 nodes showed cancer - which is still a miracle to me considering that it did not look like that would be the case.

I meet with Dr. Ross Morgan - my Medical Oncologist - next week. Dr. Rosenthal recommended him and Tammy Lewis gave me a huge thumbs-up on him. I will work with him to figure out my treatment - whether I have radiation first or chemo first.

Other than a killer sinus-type thing and a feeling like I have a little bug - I am feeling great. I worked 6 hours at the office yesterday and am at the office today. The pain has been minimal. I have a feeling it might get a little worse once the nerves start coming back. The most pain I am feeling right now is from the chunk for my thumb that I cut-off using one of my really sharp new Henckles knives cutting bread last night. I have problem with this. This is the 4th or 5th time I have done this in the last 6 months. Someone stop me!

This will be my last update email. From here on out - I will post updates on my blog site:

http://cynthiaupdate.blogspot.com/

I'm still looking for a better name than Cynthia's Updates. My friend Scott Sorrenson suggested MediCyn - which is really funny - but he said he was just kidding.

I feel so blessed and grateful. I wish I could somehow relay how grateful I am to all of you for your concern and prayers on my behalf. I can literally feel your prayers working for me. At the risk of sounding selfish - keep them coming. I know I will continue to need them.

On a side note - Rod Snow also got some good news this week. The biopsy from his throat came back clean. He is very grateful to all of you that have prayed for him as well.

I love you all!

Cyn