Our prayers have been answered, friends.  I saw the surgeon this morning and she has seen the (preliminary) pathology report.  I have two words for you:

Clean Margins.

The 6 months of chemo reduced the tumor in my right breast to a more manageable size.  The surgeon was able to cut it out completely, with a thin section of normal skin and tissue around all sides.  The very definition of clean margins.

But there’s more.

Remember my reasons for having a double mastectomy last week?  Remember that my first surgeon didn’t want to remove the second breast in this surgery, even though it would reduce my risk of breast cancer recurrence, and how I ended up going to a different surgeon, at a different hospital, who would?  Well, it turns out it was a very good idea.

Because my surgeon told me today that she was able to get clean margins on the tumors in both breasts.  I have had cancer in both breasts, friends. 

IBC in the right breast, and typical ol’ ductal carcinoma in the left.  The lab is still studying it to determine what stage the cancer on the left was and its characteristics, but three things are clear to me today:

1. Prayer works;

2. The double mastectomy was the right decision;

and

3. I am very, very lucky.