So, how bad is it? I talk to the surgeon.

I must confess that the fourth of July holiday (Friday-Tuesday) wasn't nearly as interminable as I had predicted, given that my first appointment with the surgeon after my initial diagnosis was scheduled for July 5th. It actually gave me some much needed time to reflect and crystalize my bottom line. I walked into Dr. Whang's office with a clear perspective and a ton of questions.

So, how bad is it? "Well, it's certainly not good". She then proceeded to explain that the tumor is about 3.5 cm x 3.5 cm and it's tucked uncomfortably close to the axilary lymph nodes--AKA close enough to the arm pit to cause some serious harm, while still wedged within the breast tissue. A bit of a janus-faced tumor, if you would. Perhaps it had a difficult childhood and couldn't settle his identity entirely? Maybe it's going through therapy right now to find its inner-cancer.

At any rate Dr. Whang estimated that we are most likely looking at stage IIB if no cancer is found in the lymph nodes. If the little bastard cells collonized the armpit, then I get upgrade to stage III. Ok, so what does this mean? "Given your age, the tumor's size, and how fast it seems to be growing..this means we'll give you the most aggressive treatment we can." There really is no middle ground with me is there; not even my cancer could be mild. Danm it!

Since I am a triathlete in excellent health--cancer aside--and very strong, this means surgery to remove the tumor,3-6 months of the most aggressive chemotherapy possible, and maybe radiation and hormonone therapy after that. Before we do that, let's get at least two more MRIs (one for each girl), a chest X-ray, pregnancy test, and a whole lot of other blood work too. "Well, then. Who do I talk to about slowly poisoning my body?" Dr. Leibowitz.

> More on cancer staging.