So it begins...

We just spent about 3 hours at the surgeon's office and just arrived home. We got many of our questions answered, and at least have a better idea of the road we are about to travel.

She told us that the clinical diagnosis is Stage 2b Invasive Ductal Carcinoma. She also guesses that Kimberly has actually had cancer in her body for "years". The MRI showed that there is more cancer in the breast than the tumor which was biopsied.

We have a big choice to make: have surgery (mastectomy) first followed by chemotherapy, or begin chemotherapy first with surgery after.

The surgeon thinks that perhaps chemotherapy can shrink up the tumor in the breast and help with the cancer in the lymph nodes paving the way for a much easier surgery afterwards.

So, the next step is to meet with the oncologist to get his opinion, and then we can make a decision.

Also, since Kimberly is under 40, they want her to go to a genetic specialist on Thursday to run some tests for a certain gene which will determine how this should be treated.

This is not easy to think about, and definitely not something we signed up for, but unfortunately is going to define what the next year of our life looks like.

There was some good news in spite of all this: The doctor reiterated what the biopsy pathology report showed and that is that the breast cancer is receptive to estrogen and progesterone (for those of you Googling this is considered ++- cancer). This is a great sign since it means that hormone therapy will most likely help.

Kimberly and I really appreciate all the thoughts, prayers, encouragement, offers for help, etc that have been pouring in. This really makes us pause, look around, and really appreciate the amazing friends and family that surrounds us.

I'll send more updates as I have them. As always, feel free to reach out if you have any questions.