I Am Home

Well, I made it home today and that was a trip. Everything went fine until I started to get motion sickness. That made for a long trip. I am home now and all is well. I have pain but nothing like I did yesterday.

I know Brian told you how long the surgery ended up being. I was a little surprised but I wanted them to have plenty of time to do it right. Everything they were supposed to do they did. The expander's pretty well fill out what I had before. The muscles are what is the most sore. I came home with four drains and I hope to get them all out this Thursday when I go back to see Dr Brian. I won't see the plastic surgeon until the next Thursday Oct 1.

I don't know anything else for now.

Day after Surgery

Teisha asked me to post something last night, but I didn't get it done. When she did the pre-op interview over the phone with the hospital, they thought it would be a three hour surgery. That person was wrong. It was a six hour surgery. It made for a long day.
Everything went well, no surprises. She is sore, but she is walking up and down the hall about every hour. The doctor still anticipates releasing her tomorrow. It will be a long ride home, with two three-year olds.

Brian

Tomorrow is the day

I had both pre-ops today and everything went fine. Dr Heistein got me all marked up and ready to go. Surgery should take approx 3 hours. I don't know if I will be able to blog tomorrow so hopefully Brian will. I am sure it will be short and sweet but at least you will know that all is well. Everyone say an extra prayer for me tomorrow and I will talk to you soon.

CAT Scan & Dr Appt

We had a great vacation. Here are a few pictures. We stayed one night in San Antonio on the river and then went to Port Aransas for three nights. The kids just loved the beach and the pool at our hotel. It was so nice to get away for a few days with no appointments or worries.

I had a CAT scan last Thursday, the medical oncologist just wanted to see everything before I had surgery. I met with him today to get the results. Everything looks good. The tumors in the breast are not showing anymore and the lymph node that was slightly swollen before appears to be normal size now. Even though deep down I knew that it hadn't gone anywhere else you still worry a little. I am sure every time I have a scan or test I will have that little bit of worry and sick feeling. I will see Dr Crim again in a month to start my medicine. He wanted to wait until after surgery because it could cause blood clots. I will be taking Tamoxifan and he said I will be on it for two or three years.

Well, time sure does fly by. I will be having surgery in 10 days. I can't believe it is already here and I'm just ready to get it over with. I have pre-op on the 17th and then surgery will be at 10 am on the 18th.

I guess that is it for now.

One Month To Go

I met with Dr Brian yesterday and we are on for the 18th of September. She will do a Right Modified Radical Mastectomy, a Left Simple Mastectomy and port removal. They said she would probably take 1 1/2 hours and then Dr Heistein will do his part which will take longer than that so I will be out a good while. I won't go into all that Dr Heistein is going to do again, if you missed it check the post from August 8th. It will be at Harris Methodist Southlake and the dr said I will love the hospital. All the rooms are private and they said are very spacious. I think they are tyring to make it sound like a hotel. Anyway, they are a specialist in breast cancer treatment which is what really matters. I have to be there at 8am and surgery will start around 10am. I will have appointments on the 17th for pre-op. I go to Dr Brian's office at 11:00 and Dr Heisteins office at 3:30. We are going to stay the night in Southlake since I have to be there so early. They said I will only be in the hospital two days so I should go home on Sunday. I think that is about it for surgery.

I will have a CAT scan on Sept 3rd and meet with Dr Crim again on Sept 8th. He just wanted a repeat CAT scan after chemo and radiation were over and before I had surgery.

That is all for now. I am off until the 3rd. I can't believe I have so much free time. I am most excited about going to the coast.

Only two more!!!

Only two more treatments. I will be done tomorrow!!! I forgot to mention that my hair is growing back. It is so soft and has turned dark. I am finally able to grab it with a pinch. I mentioned earlier that I had a delayed eyelash falling out. Well, they came back real quick. They are not long yet but they are there and thick. I also ended up having my eyebrows thin. I looked very strange, as they were falling out new ones were coming in. Have you ever seen anyone with a 5 o'clock shadow on their eyebrows? Very odd. Well they all finally fell out, but I was never without any because the new ones are growing fast. They are not long yet but are getting thick. I think I may have to go get my eyebrows waxed. They definitely are lacking shape.

I saw Dr Freeman yesterday. He said that everything is great. He will see me again in three or four months to look at the skin. I don't know why because there is really no change whatsoever, but that is fine.

Lets see, I meet with Dr Brian on Monday and that is it for August. My next appt will be Sept 3rd when Dr Crim will do another CAT scan. I will see him again on Sept 8th to get the results.

37 days until surgery. I guess that is it for now.

Surgery Scheduled!!!

I just love this. I think I should have it printed on a shirt or something.


I only have 4 more days left of radiation!! I am so excited that will be over. Everything is looking great there. No real obvious changes to the skin.

I hope this is not too much info, but you know me. Brian said everyone might not want the gory details ,if that is so, only read the next sentence and then move on to the next paragraph. I met with the plastic surgeon (Dr Heistein) yesterday and it looks like I will have surgery on September the 18th. It will be more than I thought. I thought, take the old ones off and put new ones on. Well, because I had radiation there is more to it. Evidently radiation makes the muscle scar and it looses its elasticity. So he is going to have to put in a new muscle from my lower back. Even though the muscle is fine on the other side he is going to put a back muscle there too. Because they are different muscles it would make the boobs appear different. Since I am going to all this trouble I sure want them to be the same. Then he will put in expander's to stretch the muscles. I will go back every week for him to put fluid in the expander's until they are the size I want. Once they are the right size he won't do anything for two months to let the muscles stretch and shape. At that time I will have another surgery to take the expander's out and put my new permanent boobs in. Because I am having the mastectomy and surgery done at the same time they are able to save 90% of my skin. So that is really good. I will however loose my nipples because that is where the milk ducts go through so I will have to have new ones added after I have my permanent boobs. They are also going to take out the port. What a day that will be. The surgery will be at Harris Methodist Southlake and I will be in the hospital for two days. I will see him on Sept 17th for pre op to get marked up for surgery.

I see Dr Brian, my other surgeon, on August 17th. Then I am of until September 3rd. Unless something changes. On September 3rd I will have another CAT scan. I will meet with Dr Crim on September 8th. The kids dentist is September 14th and I will be back for pre op on the 17th. Wow, that is why we are having a vacation the last week of August. We are taking the kids to Port Aransas. They just love the beach and we need a vacation.

I guess that is it for now.