I am a breast cancer survivor!

It is Monday, third day after surgery, and I am well! I am cancer free, lymph nodes are clear, so it looks like I won't need any radiation or chemo treatments. Praise the Lord!

Before the surgery I had to have radioactive material pumped into my left breast's lymph nodes and after wards I was cat-scanned. I will not lie and say getting the radioactive material was a piece of cake. Actually it was quite painful. I've read different reactions from many different women that have had to have this procedure. I would say mine was somewhere in the middle. There were four shots given around the nipple. Each shot felt like I was getting stung by 1,000 bees. But once the needle came out, no pain. I just did my childbirth breathing, as recommended by the radiologist, and I did fine.

The surgery went well. They gave me valium before they wheeled me to OR so by the time I got to OR I was feeling really fine. I don't remember the trip to the OR at all. Next thing I knew I was on my way into my regular room. The surgery lasted about 8 hours - but it seemed like 5 minutes or less to me. I left the hospital on Saturday evening and went home via my sister Kathi's vehicle.

I will not say that having this surgery was easy. It was very hard. The hardest part was the anticipation before the surgery worrying about the lymph nodes, how the anethstesia would affect me, how much pain I would wake up to. But I'm glad that I did it - I really believe it saved my life and I thanked God and each doctor for doing just that. I have the best team of doctors. They were very patient with me and answered all my questions. I felt very safe in their hands.

There is pain and I'm pretty groggy from the pain meds. The surgeons all said I did remarkably well. God had a lot to do with that - and all those that prayed to Him on my behalf. Prayer works!

The pain is not as bad as I thought it would be. The oophorectomy pain is almost nill - so I can walk about and use my legs to push me into bed, etc. My chest is very sore and if I go too long without a pain pill I can really feel it. But each day there is more time between pain pills - so I am definitely healing.

I am carrying around 4 drainage tubes with little plastic bulbs at the end that suctions out the wound gunk to help me heal quicker. I also carry around a pain pump that pumps pain meds into me on a predefined schedule. I just carry it - don't have to do anything with it. My sisters and husband have all helped me at different shifts with the draining of the tubes and recording of how much gunk is removed. My sisters bathed me and washed my hair (that made me feel 1000% better - can't stand dirty hair). They are all taking good care of me.




This part of my journey has not been easy on anyone. We've had our little tiffs over how to best take care of me, etc. We are all human and make mistakes. And seeing a loved one look how I look (pretty weird and in pain) it is hard. I will admit I HATE asking for help. I am trying to remember that it's more than me that this journey is affecting. I am learning to be patient and ask for help. I think this is the hardest part so far in my journey.

One of my scrub nurses for the surgery was a breast cancer survivor and a Christian. I was so overjoyed when she told me about being a survivor. I told her that my Faith in God was getting me through it all Her face lit up with a huge smile and told me there was no way she could have gotten through hers without God. That took my fears away and I told her how much better she made me feel. She prayed for me through the surgery. I knew God was with me then because I had asked God for someone to pray for me in the surgery room - God is Awesome! I had three surgical teams working on me. One for the mastectomy, one for the reconstruction, and last for oophorectomy (removal of ovaries). Each member of the team met with me and were very nice and open about any questions.

I woke up from the anathstesia with no nasea or vomiting. In fact I was experience hunger pains. But I was only allowed ice chips for the rest of the night. I had  nystagmus (eyes involuntarily moving back and forth - 8 hours worth of anesthesia) when JIm, JJ and Kathi came in to see me. I kept telling Kathi that my eyes felt shaky. She told me to close them, which helped alleviate that feeling. It must have looked really weird to see my eyes doing that.

I had to have pressure cuffs around my calves to ward off blood clots (due to long surgery) - which ended up giving me light purple bruises in three places on my calves. I had the mastectomy surgeon check them when he visited me on Saturday morning because I wasn't sure if it was purple ink or bruises - apparently the cuffs were on too tight but I couldn't tell - I liked the massage they gave me.

I ate three full meals on Saturday before going home. I sat in bed during the morning and in a chair the rest of the day until I went home. I was up going to the restroom on my own after the plastic surgeon came into see me. He let them remove the oxygen, the cuffs, and the catheter so I could go the restroom on my own. By early afternoon I was walking the hallway.

The nursing staff took great care of me and were extremely nice. The ladies that delivered my food were really quick. I was shocked to find out that I could order my food from what looked like a restaurant menu and they brought it to my room within 10 minutes of ordering by phone.

Saturday evening it took a few minutes to get me safely to my bedroom. The dogs had to be let out and a pathway made to my room (kids aren't best housekeepers) Once I shuffled my way to my bedroom, I had the fun job of getting myself into our high 4 poster bed. When I finally got in it - AHHHHH - relief at last - my own bed.

Sunday I did pretty well - spent all day in my bed. Got a sponge bath, had tubes drained, watched TV, ate a great dessert dish made by my Kathi's friend Cynthia. My son helped out a lot. Jess got home in the afternoon - she was taken care of by my friend, Karen - to keep her mind off of me as she went to school on Friday and so should could attend a wedding with her best friend Chelsea (Karen's daughter). They had a really great time.

Today I am out in the living room sitting in the recliner. I'm not feeling as good today as I had been - but that is due gas and constipation. I was running A fever early this morning but was able to kick it with Tylenol. Bad thing about the pain meds - I itch and itch. But when I go to scratch, the itch stops, so I don't dig and cause wounds. I will be glad when I can be off the meds.

And apparently my menopause has kicked in already - I am having hot flashes. I hope I can find something to alleviate them as I am not allowed hormone treatments due to the type of cancer I had (love that word, had).

My dogs have not jumped on me once - my sisters and husband have been good about watching out for that. I'm really pleased with how the animals are behaving. I'm wondering if they just sense something is up and are taking it easy around me.

I walk fine - but can't stand up too straight yet. There was a lot of cutting of muscles during the reconstruction surgery, which is where most of the pain comes from. I can't take off the bandages until Wednesday. I'm hoping the pressure I'm feeling will lesson once they come off. Some of that is caused by the expanders being under the pectoral muscles - which are the muscles being stretched. The surgeon was able to expand me to half the size I was during the surgery. I will have to go on weekly visits to his offiice until I complete the expansion. Then I will have the outpatient surgery where my permament implants will replace the expanders.

I look pretty goofy at the moment, but that will change as time and healing take place. I'm looking forward to the day when I can get back to regular exercise and riding my horse.

Praise God I made it through and should have a speedy recovery!