What we know so far - 7 days post diagnosis

I have invasive ductal carcinoma breast cancer in my right breast.  This is the most common type of breast cancer and makes up about 80% of breast cancer cases so lucky for me there is a pretty standard treatment protocol. 

My tumor is currently classified as stage 1! We caught it very early and feel really good about that! I had an MRI that confirmed I am showing no signs that the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes. Unfortunately, we won't know that for sure until post surgery but we are feeling really optimistic given the test results thus far.  Given the size and location of my tumor we have the option of a lumpectomy vs a mastectomy.  I will have surgery inside of a month to get this tumor out and then follow up with radiation therapy. 

My tumor is estrogen and progesterone positive meaning it has hormone receptors. This is good news because it means it will respond to hormone therapy vs. chemotherapy.  We are still waiting for the pathology report regarding a protein called the HER2/neu. If my tumor has this protein I will need chemo, if it does not then I will be able to proceed with hormone therapy. 

While there are still some outstanding questions we feel confident that things will be ok.  My cancer seems to be very straightforward and for lack of a better word boring. And boring cancer is very good news wrapped up in a crappy diagnosis.