Last Sunday (Fathers Day, June 20th) was my best day yet! I felt great, didn't need a nap, my drains had started slowing down in their output, etc. I just KNEW I was turning the corner.
Well, never say anything like that out loud, right?!?
The week started off well. Last Monday, the 21st, Neil and I met with an oncologist at Evergreen Hospital for the first time. She was so sweet, and calm, and smart and reassuring, and told me everything I wanted to hear: I don't need radiation (yay!), I don't need chemo (yay!) and I don't need Tamoxifen (yay!). She'd never seen a procedure like mine, so when I 'bared all', she was quite impressed with the results.
The oncologist reiterated the necessity to have my right nipple removed, to mitigate any risk of recurrence, but said I didn't need to rush, since those icky little CA cells are slow growing and have probably been in me for a long time. She agreed that waiting until September would be fine. Stage 2 surgery (nipple off and reconstructed, and hip incisions cleaned up) is scheduled for Sept. 17th, in New Orleans. It will be a shorter surgery (1-2 hours) and I'll only have to be in the hospital overnight. We'll fly down on a Thursday and be back on Monday, so a lot less time away from home.
Last Tuesday, the 22nd, I woke up with achey hips, but didn't think too much about it. I had finished my antibiotics a couple of days before, but didn't think I'd need them anymore, because I thought I'd be pulling my drains in a couple of days. That day was the end of my 4th week and they said the drains would have to stay in for 3-4 weeks, so I assumed I could pull them then. I spoke with the nurse in the Breast Center in N.O. and we went over the log I've been keeping of the drain outputs, and she said they couldn't be pulled because I was still draining too much. ugh! She said I'd need to stay on the antibiotics, too, so she called in another prescription. Good idea. Read on...
I took Josh off to a doctors appointment that afternoon, but my butt/hips continued to ache and I started to feel really crummy. By the time we got home in the early afternoon, I was shivering and so tired. I crawled into bed, thinking I was just over-tired, but when I woke up with a raging fever, I knew it had to be something more. I thought I had the flu. I was feverish on/off all night and by the next day, there was redness that spread out from both incision sites, above and below. And, the output from my drains more than quadrupled. It was pouring out of me! I was freaking out! Neil was calm, and we marked the redness with a sharpey, to keep an eye on it. I started back on the antibiotics.
By Thursday (2 days ago), the fever was gone, and the redness had subsided - phew! I was still not feeling great, but was so much less achey and so much less freaked out, but definitely felt depressed by what felt like a set-back.
Yesterday, my body was feeling a TON better, although the kids and Neil managed to pass on their lovely crud, so I'm now under-the-weather with a cold. But, I know I will survive that. It's not great, and I'm certainly in no shape to go out on this beautiful saturday, but I know there's nothing wrong with my breasts or my hips. From the neck down, I'm great - Yay! I've been drinking tons of fluid and neti-potting it away, taking Probiotics and Wellness Formula like crazy, and resting, resting, resting (any other suggestions for making a cold go away faster? I went to eHow.com, but they didn't have any great words of advice, dang it!).
In the meantime, I've been to BreastCancer.org, where they have discussion boards. There is one board that is devoted to women who have been or are going to the New Orleans hospital that I went to. There are close to 6000 posts there now! I've learned so much more, by talking to the women there, and reading their posts... like maybe my drains will have to be in 9 weeks! egads!! And to give myself a break on how wiped out I am still (sure feeling like a baby here!). So, that's been awesome.
So, that's the skinny now. Hopefully, with the weather maybe finally starting to change in Seattle, and if I can get rid of this stupid cold, things really will turn the corner sooner rather than later, and I'll be back riding my bike and running in no time!
Love you all!
p.s. If you ever find yourself in this boat (and I surely hope you don't, of course!) you must have a Meal Maven set up meals for you. It's been the BEST THING EVAH! And, I mean it! I really, really, really don't know what I'd do without all of them. Thanks, friends!!!!
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Thursday, June 17, 2010
catching up...
Neil keeps bugging me to update my blog, so guess I will, but I'm not sure anybody is reading this anymore. But, if you're like me, and like the details, here goes (don't read on, if you don't want the down and dirty - ha!)...
I'm 3 weeks out from surgery now, and feeling better and better every day (for the most part - it hasn't been a straight upward trajectory, like I wish it was, but it's certainly going up overall).
To back up a bit...
Pre-op Day, Monday, May 24th: We flew down to New Orleans at oh-dark-hundred, Monday, May 24th. We'd just arrived home at midnight the night before, from celebrating with Sam at his graduation from Whitman College the day before. It was an wonderful weekend, and we are so proud of him!
We arrived in New Orleans at about 2pm, and were picked up in a limo provided by The Center For Restorative Breast Surgery, the hospital where I was having my procedure. The service was awesome! The driver was an original New Orleanean, and gave us a tour as we entered the city, showing us the water line on buildings and areas still affected from Hurricane Katrina. It was very interesting and so nice of him to take the time to show us around.
The limo driver took us to the Center, where I had a couple of hours of pre-op appointments at the clinic. I met with: the mastectomy surgeon, a lovely older doc with a LOT of experience, who immediately made me feel at ease, safe and comfortable in her hands; the plastic surgeon, who again, was very calming and obviously knew what he was doing (and sounded exactly like Matthew McConaughey, but didn't really look like him - dang it!), and had more pictures taken (don't do this if you don't have to - rather humiliating...!). I met with the pre-op nurse (sweet, pretty young thing, who immediately wanted to tell me all about her infertility issues, once she found I what I did for a living), and the anesthesiologist, who I swore I'd get in the next life, if he didn't bring me back to my family!! I had a CT scan of my butt (yes, of my butt!) to find the largest, prettiest looking vessels to use for the reconstruction. Those 3 techs/nurses were awesome, too - again, very kind and reassuring and they'd stayed open late just for me, since we arrived so late. One of them even shared that she had been diagnosed with the same type of CA that I had, and had the same type of procedure done awhile ago. That was hugely helpful!
The clinic and hospital were fantastic. The plastic surgeons built the hospital about a year and a half ago. It was beautiful - more like a spa than hospital. It is tiny - only 17 beds - and the only surgery they perform there are what I had done (simultaneous mastectomy and breast reconstruction), or just reconstruction post-mastectomy. They don't do nose reshaping, or eyelid lifts, or tummy tucks, or any other kind of plastic surgery. They specialize ONLY in post-mastectomy reconstruction. They don't do breast implants either - only the flap procedures (butt or tummy).
The limo drove us to our hotel after all my pre-op stuff was done, a quaint hotel near the hospital and the French Quarter, and Neil and I had a fab fish dinner and some good vino to calm the night-before-surgery jitters.
Day 1 - surgery day - Tuesday, May 25th: The limo picked us up from our hotel at 5am and took us to the hospital for surgery. The limo driver this time, was an elegant older man, who had driven hundreds of women back and forth for the Breast Center, and reassured me up one side and down the other, that I was in the best of hands, and all women do well with my surgeon. He just knew I'd be very pleased in the end. He was so kind and just what I needed that morning.
We arrived, were settled right in, in the pre-op room, and before I knew it, I was tearfully saying good bye to Neil, was given Versed (a sedative) and was out!
The next thing I remember was waking up in my hospital room (which felt like 5 minutes later but had actually been 9 hours!) and looked down to see... soft, new breasts! Wow - I couldn't believe it! I had a mastectomy but woke up with breasts! I mean, I knew that was the plan, but it was still stunning!
And I was wired for sound, baby: I had a drain coming out of each breast, 2 doppler wires coming out of each breast, and a drain in each hip. The nurses came in every 15-30 minutes for the first night, hooking the doppler wires up to a machine, to listen for blood flow. My breast tissue was now my hip tissue and fat that they had transplanted into my breasts. The whooshing sound that came from my breasts was a beautiful sound to hear, since I knew then that the tissue was indeed alive!
I made a few phone calls that night, to my kids, I think because I so happy to be ALIVE! I couldn't believe it! All I remember is Mia saying "Ok, mommy. I'm going to hang up now, since you aren't making any sense" and me thinking "I am too making sense! What is she talking about?!?". I am sure I did sound crazy... looking back, I don't remember anything much at all. Neil said I repeated things and fell asleep mid-sentence. Don't ask me why he let me operate heavy machinery (a cell phone) that night, with all the drugs I had on board! ha!
Day 2-5, Tuesday, May 25th through Friday, May 28th, are a blur and I remember very little of them. I didn't do great from the general anesthesia. Very wonky and woozy and dizzy. I was out of bed, though, and walked a lap in the halls the very next day, because the nurses told me to! (I'm a good patient... ;-)).
I was a little nauseated on the 2nd post-op day, which set me off emotionally, since it was the thing I was so worried about before the surgery. Neil had to leave to go home that morning, as well, so that's also why I was a little more out-of-sorts. (Neil left thursday morning, May 27th, and my sister, Carol, arrived later that same day. The limo service drove Neil to the airport and went back and picked up Carol later that day.)
In terms of pain, I wasn't too uncomfortable. I was given narcotics a couple of times, but I was so dizzy and nauseated that after that first post-op day, I settled on Tylenol. I just couldn't take that wonky, woozy feeling.
I showered on the 3rd post-op day. That took a lot of help, but I did it and it felt SO good!!!
Day 5, saturday, May 29th: Discharge day! Carol and I left the hospital and went to a condo I'd rented through VRBO.com (transport via limo provided by the Breast Center again). I've always had good experiences with them, but it didn't work out so well this time for me, because although the condo was cute and as pictured on the website, it was extremely tiny and SMELLED BAD! It was horrible! I had a terrible night that first night out of the hospital. My sister was SO patient with me, and kept me from completely going insane. My advice, if you ever rent through vrbo.com, is call ahead and have somebody do a sniff test for you!!
Mostly, I was having one good day, with the next day being not so good, and then a good day, followed by a not-so-good day.
We left bright and early the next day for a hotel, the Hilton Homewood Suites, which was perfect. Roomy and spacious for the 2 of us. We could eat in or go out, since it had a little kitchenette and was close enough to the French Quarter to walk to, but not in the thick of things, so was quiet.
Day 6, Sunday, May 30th: We left the condo for the hotel (via limo). We strolled up to the French Quarter, walked down Bourbon Street and around, and back again, and called it a day. That was about a 10 block walk for me and it was all I could handle. N.O. is an "open-container" (for alcohol) city, too, so it was wild to see people walking around (stumbing around) with their open bottles or cups of beer, or tall Margarita glasses. It made me a bit uneasy to be around this crowd, so I couldn't handle more than a couple of hours of it.
It was hot in New Orleans. Perfect for us moss-covered Pacific Northwesterners! New Orleans is a bit depressing in some areas: boarded up buildings, falling down houses, etc., but so interesting in other areas. The architecture is so completely different than the NW.
Day 7, Monday, May 31st: We took a cab to the French Market, wandered around, bought a few things, had a great lunch, and had beignets and latte's at the famous Cafe DuMond. Yummy! It was SO crowded, though, and quite overwhelming at one point, when it started to pour and everybody who had been outside came dashing in for cover (they have BIG rain in the south!), so it got very crowded very fast, and very loud!! My sister walked in front of me, to protect my sore, swollen body, which helped. I didn't want anybody near me!
Day 8, Tuesday, June 1st: We hopped on a street car and went due west for 7 miles. We traveled out past Tulane University, where the grand old Southern homes are. Apparently there are approx 7000 homes on the historic register in New Orleans! We saw a lot of them! We stopped and had lunch at a very quaint french bakery/deli. I had my post-op appointment (transport via limo) with the plastic surgeon that day, who gave me an A+ for recovery!
Being a tourist was tiring, but loved getting out and seeing the city - so just pushed on through! My sis was there to catch me, if I stumbled around - at least, that was my thinking!
I also received my biopsy reports that day. My left breast was totally clear and my right breast showed that although I had diffusely-spread, multi-focal DCIS, it was all contained in the ducts. Nothing invasive seen and all 4 nodes they'd taken and biopsied were clean! yay!! I was so relieved to hear this, I started to cry!
Day 9, Wednesday, June 2nd: Home again! We left for the airport (via limo again!) at 5am, flew through Chicago and got home by 2pm. It was SO nice to be home again!!!
The bad/not-so-great news: About an hour after I walked in the door on that wednesday, I received a call from the mastectomy surgeon saying she'd poured over my pathology reports one more time, and came to the conclusion that she didn't get as clean of margins as she hoped, on my right nipple, so I have to have it taken off. I knew there was a possibility of this going into it, but a slim one (only about 10% chance, since my DCIS seemed to be well back into my breast and not close to the nipple at all). I was disappointed to hear this, of course, but also know that it's just a tiny little bump in the road, not a huge set-back. I just wanted to be able to say "I'm 100% cancer-free!" and all I can say now is that I'm about 99% sure I'm cancer-free. Dang it! The surgeon didn't say she left bad cells behind, she just said she wasn't sure, so to be sure, they have to do another little surgery.
It's also disappointing because my breasts look so good with my own nipples. But, they do a pretty good job of being able to re-create a nipple, and with some tatoo'ing (yep - regular tatoo'ing like at Joe's Dragon Tatoo Inn!) it'll be hard to tell.
I've been home 2 weeks now, and have kept up a very busy schedule of napping and reading, and napping some more! I was just saying to Neil today, that it is amazing how much one girl can sleep. I have to sleep on my back still, so maybe I'm not sleeping super deep at night? I don't know. I just know that by about 1 or 2pm I hit a wall and need to take a nap. I have been also trying to get out for a walk each day, but since the weather's been so up and down, it hasn't been every day.
In terms of incisions and what's going on with my breasts and hips, here's the nitty gritty:
Breasts: First off, they look great! Oh yea, baby - you heard me... they are actually quite spectacular. MUCH better than the old pair of knockers I left behind in NO. :-) I have tiny little incisions that go just under the areola and down into the crease under the breast. I don't think I'll even be able to see the incisions in a few months, they're so tiny. My breasts are bigger than the original pair, too - there's still some swelling, though, so I'm not sure what size they'll settle into. I'm thinking I might have them taken down a notch or 2 but my sisters think I should leave them the way they are! They're round and soft. They feel just like me! yay!
Hips: I've got these knarly-looking 7 or 8 inch incisions on both hips, and still have drains coming out of them. They don't really hurt, except when I bump them or sit up too fast. The place where the drains come out of the hips is probably the most tender area on my body. And because they've been in there so long, they're getting more red and more tender. I can't wait to get the drains out, but I'm still putting out a lot of fluid, so it'll probably be another week. ugh!
The area of the hips where they took the fat and tissue is at the top of my butt, and starts about 3 to 4 inches below my hip bones, and go straight back towards my butt crack (I told you I was going to get graphic here!).
I have to go back to New Orleans in September for what they call a "2nd Stage" operation, where they revise the hip incision sites (they kind of have to smooth things out a bit, since there's kind of a divot where they took the fat and tissue out) and also take off the right nipple. That's when they'd do a little lipo to my breasts, as well, if I didn't want to stay as big as I am right now.
I am feeling better and better each day, and thanks to all the wonderful meals friends have been delivering, my only job has been to sleep and rest and recover! (Well, not quite, since my house is full of all 4 of my kids + many of their friends, but almost that's all I'm doing...)
Love to you all, and please call and take me for a walk, if you're in the area. I'd love to get out!! oxox
I'm 3 weeks out from surgery now, and feeling better and better every day (for the most part - it hasn't been a straight upward trajectory, like I wish it was, but it's certainly going up overall).
To back up a bit...
Pre-op Day, Monday, May 24th: We flew down to New Orleans at oh-dark-hundred, Monday, May 24th. We'd just arrived home at midnight the night before, from celebrating with Sam at his graduation from Whitman College the day before. It was an wonderful weekend, and we are so proud of him!
We arrived in New Orleans at about 2pm, and were picked up in a limo provided by The Center For Restorative Breast Surgery, the hospital where I was having my procedure. The service was awesome! The driver was an original New Orleanean, and gave us a tour as we entered the city, showing us the water line on buildings and areas still affected from Hurricane Katrina. It was very interesting and so nice of him to take the time to show us around.
The limo driver took us to the Center, where I had a couple of hours of pre-op appointments at the clinic. I met with: the mastectomy surgeon, a lovely older doc with a LOT of experience, who immediately made me feel at ease, safe and comfortable in her hands; the plastic surgeon, who again, was very calming and obviously knew what he was doing (and sounded exactly like Matthew McConaughey, but didn't really look like him - dang it!), and had more pictures taken (don't do this if you don't have to - rather humiliating...!). I met with the pre-op nurse (sweet, pretty young thing, who immediately wanted to tell me all about her infertility issues, once she found I what I did for a living), and the anesthesiologist, who I swore I'd get in the next life, if he didn't bring me back to my family!! I had a CT scan of my butt (yes, of my butt!) to find the largest, prettiest looking vessels to use for the reconstruction. Those 3 techs/nurses were awesome, too - again, very kind and reassuring and they'd stayed open late just for me, since we arrived so late. One of them even shared that she had been diagnosed with the same type of CA that I had, and had the same type of procedure done awhile ago. That was hugely helpful!
The clinic and hospital were fantastic. The plastic surgeons built the hospital about a year and a half ago. It was beautiful - more like a spa than hospital. It is tiny - only 17 beds - and the only surgery they perform there are what I had done (simultaneous mastectomy and breast reconstruction), or just reconstruction post-mastectomy. They don't do nose reshaping, or eyelid lifts, or tummy tucks, or any other kind of plastic surgery. They specialize ONLY in post-mastectomy reconstruction. They don't do breast implants either - only the flap procedures (butt or tummy).
The limo drove us to our hotel after all my pre-op stuff was done, a quaint hotel near the hospital and the French Quarter, and Neil and I had a fab fish dinner and some good vino to calm the night-before-surgery jitters.
Day 1 - surgery day - Tuesday, May 25th: The limo picked us up from our hotel at 5am and took us to the hospital for surgery. The limo driver this time, was an elegant older man, who had driven hundreds of women back and forth for the Breast Center, and reassured me up one side and down the other, that I was in the best of hands, and all women do well with my surgeon. He just knew I'd be very pleased in the end. He was so kind and just what I needed that morning.
We arrived, were settled right in, in the pre-op room, and before I knew it, I was tearfully saying good bye to Neil, was given Versed (a sedative) and was out!
The next thing I remember was waking up in my hospital room (which felt like 5 minutes later but had actually been 9 hours!) and looked down to see... soft, new breasts! Wow - I couldn't believe it! I had a mastectomy but woke up with breasts! I mean, I knew that was the plan, but it was still stunning!
And I was wired for sound, baby: I had a drain coming out of each breast, 2 doppler wires coming out of each breast, and a drain in each hip. The nurses came in every 15-30 minutes for the first night, hooking the doppler wires up to a machine, to listen for blood flow. My breast tissue was now my hip tissue and fat that they had transplanted into my breasts. The whooshing sound that came from my breasts was a beautiful sound to hear, since I knew then that the tissue was indeed alive!
I made a few phone calls that night, to my kids, I think because I so happy to be ALIVE! I couldn't believe it! All I remember is Mia saying "Ok, mommy. I'm going to hang up now, since you aren't making any sense" and me thinking "I am too making sense! What is she talking about?!?". I am sure I did sound crazy... looking back, I don't remember anything much at all. Neil said I repeated things and fell asleep mid-sentence. Don't ask me why he let me operate heavy machinery (a cell phone) that night, with all the drugs I had on board! ha!
Day 2-5, Tuesday, May 25th through Friday, May 28th, are a blur and I remember very little of them. I didn't do great from the general anesthesia. Very wonky and woozy and dizzy. I was out of bed, though, and walked a lap in the halls the very next day, because the nurses told me to! (I'm a good patient... ;-)).
I was a little nauseated on the 2nd post-op day, which set me off emotionally, since it was the thing I was so worried about before the surgery. Neil had to leave to go home that morning, as well, so that's also why I was a little more out-of-sorts. (Neil left thursday morning, May 27th, and my sister, Carol, arrived later that same day. The limo service drove Neil to the airport and went back and picked up Carol later that day.)
In terms of pain, I wasn't too uncomfortable. I was given narcotics a couple of times, but I was so dizzy and nauseated that after that first post-op day, I settled on Tylenol. I just couldn't take that wonky, woozy feeling.
I showered on the 3rd post-op day. That took a lot of help, but I did it and it felt SO good!!!
Day 5, saturday, May 29th: Discharge day! Carol and I left the hospital and went to a condo I'd rented through VRBO.com (transport via limo provided by the Breast Center again). I've always had good experiences with them, but it didn't work out so well this time for me, because although the condo was cute and as pictured on the website, it was extremely tiny and SMELLED BAD! It was horrible! I had a terrible night that first night out of the hospital. My sister was SO patient with me, and kept me from completely going insane. My advice, if you ever rent through vrbo.com, is call ahead and have somebody do a sniff test for you!!
Mostly, I was having one good day, with the next day being not so good, and then a good day, followed by a not-so-good day.
We left bright and early the next day for a hotel, the Hilton Homewood Suites, which was perfect. Roomy and spacious for the 2 of us. We could eat in or go out, since it had a little kitchenette and was close enough to the French Quarter to walk to, but not in the thick of things, so was quiet.
Day 6, Sunday, May 30th: We left the condo for the hotel (via limo). We strolled up to the French Quarter, walked down Bourbon Street and around, and back again, and called it a day. That was about a 10 block walk for me and it was all I could handle. N.O. is an "open-container" (for alcohol) city, too, so it was wild to see people walking around (stumbing around) with their open bottles or cups of beer, or tall Margarita glasses. It made me a bit uneasy to be around this crowd, so I couldn't handle more than a couple of hours of it.
It was hot in New Orleans. Perfect for us moss-covered Pacific Northwesterners! New Orleans is a bit depressing in some areas: boarded up buildings, falling down houses, etc., but so interesting in other areas. The architecture is so completely different than the NW.
Day 7, Monday, May 31st: We took a cab to the French Market, wandered around, bought a few things, had a great lunch, and had beignets and latte's at the famous Cafe DuMond. Yummy! It was SO crowded, though, and quite overwhelming at one point, when it started to pour and everybody who had been outside came dashing in for cover (they have BIG rain in the south!), so it got very crowded very fast, and very loud!! My sister walked in front of me, to protect my sore, swollen body, which helped. I didn't want anybody near me!
Day 8, Tuesday, June 1st: We hopped on a street car and went due west for 7 miles. We traveled out past Tulane University, where the grand old Southern homes are. Apparently there are approx 7000 homes on the historic register in New Orleans! We saw a lot of them! We stopped and had lunch at a very quaint french bakery/deli. I had my post-op appointment (transport via limo) with the plastic surgeon that day, who gave me an A+ for recovery!
Being a tourist was tiring, but loved getting out and seeing the city - so just pushed on through! My sis was there to catch me, if I stumbled around - at least, that was my thinking!
I also received my biopsy reports that day. My left breast was totally clear and my right breast showed that although I had diffusely-spread, multi-focal DCIS, it was all contained in the ducts. Nothing invasive seen and all 4 nodes they'd taken and biopsied were clean! yay!! I was so relieved to hear this, I started to cry!
Day 9, Wednesday, June 2nd: Home again! We left for the airport (via limo again!) at 5am, flew through Chicago and got home by 2pm. It was SO nice to be home again!!!
The bad/not-so-great news: About an hour after I walked in the door on that wednesday, I received a call from the mastectomy surgeon saying she'd poured over my pathology reports one more time, and came to the conclusion that she didn't get as clean of margins as she hoped, on my right nipple, so I have to have it taken off. I knew there was a possibility of this going into it, but a slim one (only about 10% chance, since my DCIS seemed to be well back into my breast and not close to the nipple at all). I was disappointed to hear this, of course, but also know that it's just a tiny little bump in the road, not a huge set-back. I just wanted to be able to say "I'm 100% cancer-free!" and all I can say now is that I'm about 99% sure I'm cancer-free. Dang it! The surgeon didn't say she left bad cells behind, she just said she wasn't sure, so to be sure, they have to do another little surgery.
It's also disappointing because my breasts look so good with my own nipples. But, they do a pretty good job of being able to re-create a nipple, and with some tatoo'ing (yep - regular tatoo'ing like at Joe's Dragon Tatoo Inn!) it'll be hard to tell.
I've been home 2 weeks now, and have kept up a very busy schedule of napping and reading, and napping some more! I was just saying to Neil today, that it is amazing how much one girl can sleep. I have to sleep on my back still, so maybe I'm not sleeping super deep at night? I don't know. I just know that by about 1 or 2pm I hit a wall and need to take a nap. I have been also trying to get out for a walk each day, but since the weather's been so up and down, it hasn't been every day.
In terms of incisions and what's going on with my breasts and hips, here's the nitty gritty:
Breasts: First off, they look great! Oh yea, baby - you heard me... they are actually quite spectacular. MUCH better than the old pair of knockers I left behind in NO. :-) I have tiny little incisions that go just under the areola and down into the crease under the breast. I don't think I'll even be able to see the incisions in a few months, they're so tiny. My breasts are bigger than the original pair, too - there's still some swelling, though, so I'm not sure what size they'll settle into. I'm thinking I might have them taken down a notch or 2 but my sisters think I should leave them the way they are! They're round and soft. They feel just like me! yay!
Hips: I've got these knarly-looking 7 or 8 inch incisions on both hips, and still have drains coming out of them. They don't really hurt, except when I bump them or sit up too fast. The place where the drains come out of the hips is probably the most tender area on my body. And because they've been in there so long, they're getting more red and more tender. I can't wait to get the drains out, but I'm still putting out a lot of fluid, so it'll probably be another week. ugh!
The area of the hips where they took the fat and tissue is at the top of my butt, and starts about 3 to 4 inches below my hip bones, and go straight back towards my butt crack (I told you I was going to get graphic here!).
I have to go back to New Orleans in September for what they call a "2nd Stage" operation, where they revise the hip incision sites (they kind of have to smooth things out a bit, since there's kind of a divot where they took the fat and tissue out) and also take off the right nipple. That's when they'd do a little lipo to my breasts, as well, if I didn't want to stay as big as I am right now.
I am feeling better and better each day, and thanks to all the wonderful meals friends have been delivering, my only job has been to sleep and rest and recover! (Well, not quite, since my house is full of all 4 of my kids + many of their friends, but almost that's all I'm doing...)
Love to you all, and please call and take me for a walk, if you're in the area. I'd love to get out!! oxox
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Only the BEST NEWS EVER
There was one more piece of news we have been waiting for, and that is the post surgical path report from the excised tissue. Today we got the news... NO EVIDENCE OF MALIGNANCY!
Finally, even though we were positive about the prospects since her nodes were free of cancer, this news allows Melissa to rest assured that she has put breast cancer behind her.
YES!
Finally, even though we were positive about the prospects since her nodes were free of cancer, this news allows Melissa to rest assured that she has put breast cancer behind her.
YES!
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