Surgery

I had a great birthday on Sunday and the surgery went really good on Monday. I don't have any drains. The surgery only lasted maybe an hour. He made the incision on one of the old scars so I won't have any new ones. I was back at the hotel by 10 and took a good nap. I saw the nurse the next day and she said everything looks great. I really don't feel any different than I did before surgery. I am so glad to get rid of the expander's and get my new permanent implants. I guess after the surgery in September this was a piece of cake. I am glad with Christmas just around the corner I didn't want to be hurting.

I see Dr H again after Christmas on the 28th.

I hope everyone has a Very Merry Christmas! I know we will.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I saw Dr freeman, the radiation oncologist on Monday. He thought everything looked great and he didn't want to see me anymore. He said I would be seeing enough doctors. I am glad to mark one off the list.

I have been taking the tamoxifen with no side effects. I am also taking a slew of vitamins. The oncologist called and said my vitamin D was low. He wanted me to take extra vit D. They also want me taking calcium because of the tamoxifen. I had the bone density test done. Good news, my bones are normal.

Surgery is in a little over two weeks, December 14. The expander's really haven't been that bad. I will be glad however to have them out and my permanent implants in. I am glad we will be able to get all the major surgery over this year. I have two more minor procedures, adding nipples and tattooing. Those will be next year.

What a year this has been, nothing we could of ever imagined. We have so much to be thankful for. I truly feel blessed to be here and cancer free. I want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving.

Last Fill

I saw Dr H today and got the last fill. I am having surgery December 14th to remove the expander's and put in the implants. Happy Birthday to me! What a present. Anyway, it will be an out patient surgery. I have to be there at 5:45 am and will be out before lunch. I am having the surgery at Baylor Surgical Hospital in Ft Worth. That won't be the last one but at least it will be the last major one. I also found out the pain in my arm is the muscle pulling. It has no elasticity after radiation and as things are stretched and pressed it is pulling in the arm. He recommended I go to therapy. So I guess I will check on that next.

I finally got everything resolved with the Dr situation. I will be changing oncologist and start seeing the new one in January for my 3 month check up. Her name is Dr Krekow and she is at the Breast Care Center. I also found out that my cholesterol didn't go down during chemo. It actually went up. The ratio is in the grey area so it will need to be monitored. The tamoxifan may make it go up but they just don't know. If that happens then I will have to start taking cholesterol medicine. We will just cross that bridge when we get there. It is better for me to be on the tamoxifan since my body has returned to normal.

I am done with all the appointments related to cancer until December. Well, except for therapy on my arm. I am not saying we have any free time though. Now it's time for all the other appointments we had to put off. The kids dentist, the dermatologist, the list goes on. I am excited that the holidays are nearly here. My favorite time of year. Now if we could just get snow.

Appts

I know it has been a few weeks since I have written. I haven't had much to say. The muscles are getting better. They are still tight in the chest, but they said that will be better when I get the real implants. These expanders are meant to be a pain. I have gotten more fluid added every week and I see Dr H again this Thursday to see what the plan is.

I had an appointment with the oncologist today to get the tamoxifan. Everything went fine, but I just don't know about him. We talked about my future care and I'm just not satisfied. He said he hasn't had anyone like me before. He would have to check on different ways to keep up with me. When I left I was a bit uneasy, but thought it would be okay. Then I picked up my prescription and was reading the paper that came with it. It said several things to tell your Dr, this and that, you know what they all say. But this was different, it said several things that concerned me. When I read this "especially of: High Cholesterol, I got real concerned. I have high cholesterol so I called to make sure he knew. They asked me if I was I taking cholesterol medicine because they didn't have it down. I told her no. She said she had talked to the Dr and they felt I really needed the medicine so just take it. They didn't address my concerns about the cholesterol or anything. They could of been nice and said let us check your cholesterol or something, but just take it. Really? Well, I'm not. I called Dr Smith's office and they set me up an appt tomorrow to have my cholesterol checked. I wanted to know what the numbers are. I am going to call my surgeon tomorrow at the Breast Care Center and tell her I want a referral for the oncologist in her office. Since all they do are breast, I feel more confident they can handle my long term care. I will have the cholesterol numbers for her and hopefully they will be able to answer all my questions.

I will let you know how things turn out.

Plastic Surg Appt

Well, things seem to be going pretty good I guess. Brian says I am a little grumpier than normal but that is because I am sleep deprived. I was so glad to get the drains out so I could lay on my side and then I couldn't. The puffy part under my arms just wasn't comfortable to lay on. But things are looking up, except for the allergies that have taken over. I wish this darn weather would make up its mind. Anyway, let me get back on track. The puffy is going down some. I saw Dr Heistein (we will call him Dr H from now on) on Thursday. He said things are really looking good and healing really fast. I do still have some fluid under my right arm which is why it is so puffy. He said he could take it out with a needle but thought my body would probably absorb it, so we left it. The other side, which is puffy, but not as puffy, he said it will go down in time. I was able to get more saline added and my cleavage is growing. It is kind of exciting. It would be nice if there was no pain, but you know what they say, no pain, no gain. I keep telling myself that. I still get the tightness in the muscle that is pulling from the back but it seems to be getting a little better. The scars are healing up. It isn't really as bad as I thought. I have two long scars on my back. They go up and down and there is one on each side. On the breast the only scars I have are a circle where they cut out the nipple and areola, and one line that goes from the circle out toward the arm maybe an inch. They replaced the areola with a circle of skin from my back. It really is amazing what they can do. The rest of the skin is scar free, Dr H said they save 90% of my skin and I believe it. I go back the next two Thursdays to get more fluid added and then I will see him on the next Thursday Oct 22nd.

I guess that is it for now, except for I need to take a moment to say thank you. I want to thank the class of '91 for the beautiful flower arrangement that was waiting for me after surgery. A very special thank you to those who brought food after we got home. I want to thank everyone for your thoughts and prayers during all of this and surgery. My journey isn't over yet but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I am at least on the last few 100 miles of this road. I know my journey will never be over but the next path I will take will be as a Breast Cancer Survivor.

I hope everyone stays well and I will talk to you soon.

OMG

Well, I am happy to say I will not be going to the insane asylum. Dr Brian took out all four drains today. Those were the worst thing ever. They hurt, were disgusting and I could only sleep on my back and not move. To sum it up when I was heavily medicated they were fine now that I am not they had to go. It was not fun at all getting them out but they are gone. Anyway, she said everything looked good. I won't see her again for a year. I will however become best friends with my plastic surgeon. I see him again next week. One of the best things about having surgery the way I did is I still have cleavage. I actually have a little more than I did before surgery. I know my muscles in my back around to the front are still really tight. I will be curious to see how much is still swelling. The boob part under my arms is puffy but they said that some of that is from the Lat flap. I will know more next week.

I guess that is it for now. My appt with Dr Heistein is next Thursday. I almost forgot, I have to go see Dr Crim again on Oct 12, he needs to get me started on tamoxifan. Yeah, pills for the next two to three years. (I hope you heard the sarcasm) Talk to you soon!

Great News

I got great news today. Dr Brian called and said she got the pathology report back and there were no residual tumors in the tissue and she took out nine lymph nodes and they were all clear. I am so happy if I could move more I would do a dance!

I also needed to clarify something I said before. I was confused. When they take muscles out of the back and put them in the front it's not that easy. They cut only part of the muscle in the back and stretch it around to the front. They have to leave it attached for blood flow. It has made me feel really tight under my arms.

Everything seems to be getting better. I hope when I see Dr Brian on Thursday she takes out all the drains.