Hi everyone,

I had my MRI last week and got the results. We consulted with the cardio/thoracic surgeon and he said the sarcoma isn't involved with the nerves and veins in my shoulder as it looked like on the CT scan. It is however wrapped around the collarbone and he is proposing surgery to remove that part of the collarbone and grafting a vein from my thigh for the new blood supply. He will also pull up a muscle from the upper chest for additional blood supply and to fill in the missing collarbone.

Of course, one of my main concerns in all this is how it will effect my current semester at school and he said this is a very slow growing tumor and doesn't appear to be metastatic at this time. It would be at least 30 days before we could operate and it won't matter to my outcome if we wait till the semester break in early December. That will give me 6 weeks to recover and be ready to go in January. There is no need for pre-operative chemo and we'll have to wait and see about post-operative. He also said this will give him additonal time to consult with 2 plastic surgeons-he may have one in there - he's trying to keep the scarring to a minimum (remember he's working with irradiated skin here)that's why he's pulling up skin and muscle from the upper chest so I'll have some better skin on the neck. He will see me again in 30 days and repeat the MRI - if he sees any new growth, then I will have the surgery sooner. Also, my head/neck ENT surgeon that had the detached retina when all this started is doing well and called me today to see how I was doing. It was great to hear from him. He will be there for my surgery also - even though he doesn't operate below the neck - he said I'm still his patient and he has vested interest in my outcome. He also said waiting an extra 30 days won't cause any harm. So all in all, I'm happy if I can wait till semester break - I've worked too hard in my science and math classes to lose them now.

Pam