Nuclear Mapping Test...

Today's appointment was the radioactive nuclear lymph node mapping. This test doesn't yield "results" of any type- it's basically a "road map" for tomorrow's surgery. They injected dye (which burned like crazy) and took pictures every 2-3 minutes- for over an hour. What happens here, is that the dye is absorbed by the lymph nodes and the surgeon will pull the sentinel node and a few more around it during surgery. From what I understand, and I may be totally wrong in explaining this, the sentinel node is the first lymph node which would have cancerous cells, if they have any at all. The cancer spreads upward- going from the sentinel node and then up the chain. The surgeon will use a "mini geiger counter" during the surgery to find that first node, take it and a few more around it out, and then test it right then to see if the cancer has spread to the nodes. If it has, she will take more out until she gets a clean margin of nodes. Whew...I hope this makes sense- because it really doesn't even make too much sense to me! Haha! Tomorrow morning is surgery- yeah- I'm ready to get this nasty cancer out! Greg and I have to be at the hospital at 6am for an 8am surgery time. The kids are taken care of and are in great hands- as well as myself- because I am sitting in God's hands now. The surgery itself takes around 2 &1/2 hours and then I'll be in recovery. And if all goes well, I go home! Keep the prayers going- God is in control here! :)