"No surgery for you!"

I just came from a very happy meeting with my surgeon. He explained to me that the margins - all of them - are quite clear. One of them - the so called "deep" margin, which was on the side of the tumor closest to the chest wall, or furthest from the skin - was a very thin margin: only 1 mm. It was the most he could excise without cutting into my chest muscle which would have been a different thing altogether (essentially, a mastectomy). So he took all of the tissue he could, and that tissue was clear. He explained that there would be no point in going back and biopsying the chest muscle, since all of the margin which was removed was clear. I am satisfied on this point. And thrilled at the work he has done for me, and told him so. The tumor did measure 1.9 cm, which is 1 mm shy of the 2 cm threshold for stage 2. The cancer is positive for estrogen and progesterone receptors and negative for HER2 receptors, which are all good things. He also explained that while the cancer has not entered my lymph nodes, it is on its way there. For this reason, as well as that of the size of the tumor, my oncologist (who should be assigned shortly) will be advising me on whether or not to pursue chemotherapy in addition to radiation therapy. In any event, I will have five to six weeks of radiation as well as five years of hormone therapy. The oncologist will enter all of the specifics of my particular situation into a computer program, which will return information concerning the relative benefits of chemotherapy. If the data shows that the chemotherapy would be beneficial in my case, that's what I will do. My understanding is that the oncologist will then refer me for the chemo and/or radiation treatments. So, I'm back in waiting mode, but feeling very, very lucky indeed! The arm pain is also gradually improving (I said it was an inflamed nerve but it's actually an inflamed vein). Thanks to all of you for your kindness, caring, support, and good wishes these past few weeks. It has meant the world to me and I feel so blessed to have so many wonderful people in my life! Thank you. I will continue to update as I learn more.