Surgery update

Just a quick post to share my latest news. I had the quickest and least painful surgery yesterday afternoon. They replaced my expander implants with my official permanent implants and cleaned things up a bit, took out extra skin and evened everything up. I am very happy with the results. It took about 2 hours and I am feeling great. I don't need to layer pain meds and didn't need any drains!
Hope everyone had a happy Christmas!

Expanders implants are almost done!

Expander implants were inserted during my last surgery and the doctor has been injecting saline into them about once a week. The muscles are stretched out to make room for my permanent implants. It is a sore and very long process. One that I am happy to say will be over soon! I will have the expanders switched out on Dec 29th. One last surgery before the end of the year to take advantage of meeting my out of pocket deductible! My New Year's Eve will be spent recovering from surgery but it's totally worth it!
In other news.... my hair is growing crazier and curlier every day! I would love to chemically straighten it and get extensions, but that seems soooo high maintenance :) I even thought about shaving it again, but last winter was so cold with no hair. So I will wait it out and enjoy a new look for a while. It's really not that bad, kind of cute on some days. People seem to like it too, which leads me to the next issue with the hair. What I do not enjoy is the constant need for other people to just walk up and run their hands through my hair. Not only is it rude to just go straight up to people and rub them, but it frizzes out my hair, it is terrible and I am very over it. Once attacked I have to go the rest of the day with a half fro where all of the gel was broken up and then flakes, gross!!! So if you see me and have an overwhelming desire to feel my hair, just ask, I understand I am hard to resist! he he he! I will let you feel the back, where it won't turn into the biggest fro I have ever seen! And in return, I promise not to punch you in the nose, I think its a fair trade.

Reconstruction Recovery

Wow! this surgery has really knocked me down. It was a long time before I could go without pain meds. I still sleep a lot but don't need the pain meds. Getting up and around is still a little slow and some days are really good while others aren't. I saw a big difference this week in my range of motion and a significant decrease in pain. Every Monday I go to the Dr saline injections for my expanding implants. I'm not sure how big I will go, everybody asks, so funny! It really depends on how much my body can take but I doubt I will be the same size I was before.
I go back to work on Thursday and hope I have the energy, I go back during the busiest week of the year, but I am not on any of the committees so I will just go with the flow and try to get some work done!

One year mark, back to work, and reconstruction! So exciting!

Tomorrow will be one year since I was diagnosed. It's more than a little bittersweet. I don't want to celebrate or even bring attention to this date, but it was such a huge event and unfortunately my life still has traces of the experience. Everyday I move further and further away from the life as a cancer patient and feel stronger everyday. My hair is getting longer and is super curly! I have been back to work for three weeks and finally don't feel like a foreigner. It took about two weeks to feel like I belonged there. Everything looked familiar and I knew everyone, but nothing was the same. I have been there for so long that it was really weird to come in and not know everything that's going on. But now I am really caught up! I was able to fully participate in management meetings, submit variance reports, and review the 2010 budgets. I know I am a cheese ball, but it feels great! And while completing these tasks I can piece together what has happened since I was gone. It is clear that people pulled together to fill in the gaps and it makes me feel good to see that I wasn't forgotten or looked over as the company continued to grow and move forward. Tomorrow is our annual staff retreat and I am looking forward to spending time with everyone.

As my new life falls into place I no longer find myself wishing for my old life back. I will start the reconstruction surgeries next week on Oct. 30th. The first surgery will be the longest, 5-6 hours. I will have the lat flap surgery on the left side with a skin sparing mastectomy on the right side. They will insert expander implants that will be filled with saline over time to stretch tissue making room for my permanent implants. After that I will have a few more surgeries to tidy everything up, then I will be done! So excited!!

And, I still have the lingering effects of chemo brain! I just walked into the garage and was surprised to find that I had already moved clothes from the washer to the drier. I was genuinely surprised! My mom says this year I can hide my own Easter eggs! Most days aren't this bad, but at the end of the week, it's pretty sad!

Back to work!

I go back to work on Monday and I can not wait!!! My life is returning to normal more and more everyday. I have been cleared to go to the gym and have worked out a few times. I did a heart stress test the other day and it wasn't great, so I have to work at building it back up. They will do another heart stress test in a few months to see how much progress I have made.
Also, today is exactly one year from my first doctors appointment. I wasn't scared at all, too young for cancer and had a million lumps before, I only went to rule it out, ya know just in case. I had found the lump 3 months earlier and it wasn't going away, if anything it was getting bigger and a little more painful. Needless to say, I failed the doctors self exam and she rushed a mammogram and ultra sound. The mammogram was clean, the ultra sound wasn't. Now a year later and a whole lot of life lived and learned, I am ready to pick up where I left off. Back to work, the gym, school, and maybe even the dating world! How exciting, I can not wait to see what happens!!!!

Plastic Surgeon Consultation #1

I met with a surgeon in Fresno today and absolutely loved her! She answered all of my questions, explained everything to me and met all of my expectations! The best news was that I won't have to wait 6 months! Yippee!!!!! I asked her what she was doing tomorrow? I am still reeling from all of the info and have a lot to look up and insurance to deal with. My out of pocket increased Oct 1. I think that is crazy! And I am not convinced that it is correct! So I have that process started, but what a pain.... Anyway, I go to Stanford in October for another consultation, but if I had to decide today, I would pick today's doctor!

Remission, one month follow up and reconstruction, oh my!

Yep folks I am in remission! I love it! No more cancer treatments for me! I get more and more energy back everyday and I am loving it! I get to start working out again next week after a heart stress test. I had some blood tests today that cam back very good!

My one month radiation follow up appointment was today and I get to stop being over gentle with my skin! Bring on the chlorine, perfumey soaps & lotions, shower brushes, and whatever else I want!

Reconstruction still needs to happen, the soonest I can have surgery is 6 months from my end date (august 27th) so I am guessing February. I am going to start interviewing plastic surgeons on Monday and am so excited to see what type of reconstruction would be best for me. I have an appointment at Stanford as well. Currently I am leaning towards Stanford because reconstruction is the only thing this doctor does. The other Dr. does a little of everything. However the other doctor is closer and reconstruction usually includes numerous trips to the doctor, some appointments lasting less than 20 min. Driving all day to Stanford for a 20 min face to face with a doc sounds frustrating to say the least. So my official view on the location of the doctor is that my old breasts lasted 33 years, the next set will get about the same, hopefully more with a little maintenance. So a bunch of trips in the car, all day, is worth having the best set I can get.

Oh and watch for a magazine called Tulare County Magazine coming out mid October published by Visalia Times Delta. They sent a photographer and a writer to talk about Beauty and Cancer. Wigs, prosthetics, etc.... should be fun and I should be in it.