So all has been good...I have not been wasting my days or weekends so again sorry about not posting I just have been busy!
I had my exchange surgery Tuesday, Sept 20th. Out patient surgery. Check in at 9:30, surgery at 11:30, out by 3:00 and home. So what did they do? I had my breast expanders taken out and replaced with the saline implant. I also had my port taken out......yea that means I AM DONE OFFICIALLY WITH CHEMO. I think it was more overwhelming knowing that port was coming out then doing the exchange surgery.
So, getting back to the subject. Saline implants are in. The incision that was made to get the implant in was a slice across the front of my breast, no upside down T. I have the clear plastic that covers the incision area. Coming straight out of surgery I had the clear surgical tape that covers the incision (2" by 2" plasticon each breast), the big gauze pads, my athletic bra, and then an ace bandage wrapped around me like a mummy snug. I called on Friday asking to change bras since this one was digging into my shoulders. Luckily the Dr. removed the outside ace bandage and the lose gauze pads. Still had to keep another compression bra on. Very little swelling or so it appears. On Friday they seemed slightly lopsided but by Monday, the size was even again. He filled me to 550cc...little bigger then what I want, actually alot bigger then what I want. His explanation is, radiation is coming. It creates scare tissue that contracts. The extra space that he creates with a larger implant now makes it easier to shape for the final implant I will get in about 6 months, silicone implants. I also know from experience last time, the saline implant went through radiation very well. I don't know if a silicone implant would do the same.
I'm a week and half out from surgery and doing really well. I have to remind myself not to lift heavy things, or pull stubborn weeds in the garden and just keep my arms and chest area "resting" for the healing process. I am still on antibiotics but I finish them in the next couple days. I will have the radiation mapping in a couple days and start radiation in a couple weeks. My goal is to get as healthy as I can before I head into radiation. Diet, exercise, rest.
I know I haven't written for a long time in my blog and who knows how current I will keep it. I just have moved beyond the very difficult part of my journey and I'm living again. I just don't have time to blog. I know when I was searching for women like me I would come across blogs that just ended. I always thought, oh my I hope they didn't have something horrible happen to them and they weren't allowed to continue blogging. I think now I know what happened, they discovered life again and like me, did not have alot of time to blog. They were getting on with life.
Believe me there are still so many thoughts that float through my head about various topics, the biggest is the fear of the cancer coming back somewhere in my body. Quite honestly, when I do think this, somewhere deep down inside me there is assurance, it's not. It's a sense of calm in my inner self that I know.
What I do know is coming back is my hair! August 11 was my last chemo and my head is covered with white baby hair. Still able to see the scalp but I think in about a week or two I might go without my cap in public, finally. I'm still losing eyebrows and my eyelashes are sparse. I used the latisse but all it did was make my existing eyelashes longer but didn't really help with the filling in.
So here I am 1/2 way time wise through the process but 3/4's of the way with the worst behind me. I'm happy other then dealing with 4 teenagers which would cause anyone grief. I have a major fundraising project that I head up for our local high school that I'm working on. It keeps me busy but luckily I have a co-chair who will be taking this over. After this event, I'm home free. What do I plan on doing? I plan on unpacking boxes from 3 1/2 years ago when we moved into this house, right after my 1st breast cancer diagnosis. It has taken me this long to do so because I held onto things I thought were important. I know now these things are not important and there's going to be alot of trips to the local Hospice thrift shop. It's time to declutter my life and focus on enjoying my life more because you never know what will happen tomorrow.
Keep me company as I travel thru my journey facing breast cancer again.
Why would anyone want to read about someone else's problem when you have plenty of your own? Maybe one day a loved one, a friend, or you will be diagnosed with breast cancer. My blog might offer insite into cancer resources, thoughts, questions to ask, or guidance in helping you deal with this disease. These are my experiences and suggestions. Every breast cancer is different. If you are touched by breast cancer, be sure to consult your Dr. for direction in treatment.
I equate my blog to the emergency evacuation instruction the flight attendants do before you take off on an airplane. Nobody pays attention to them but when your plane is about to crash you think, "sh*t, why didn't I pay more attention to them? Which color cord do I pull first again?" We have so many things going on in our lives that one more thing to dwell on that doesn't apply to us right now may not be important but when it does, we wish we would have paid attention.
My blog is something you might read a couple times or maybe follow. Hopefully you gain some knowledge about breast cancer, in particular, Invasive Lobular Carcinoma (ILC). It is the 2nd most common type of invasive breast cancer however it only accounts for approx. 10% of all invasive breast cancers. It is the silent breast cancer. It is generally not detected with a mammo but rather an ultrasound. Invasive Lobular Carcinoma (ILC) is what I have been diagnosed with. My suggestion to every woman who is of mammo age insist on an ultrasound with your mammos.
UPDATE 3/2011
I have had my bilaterial mastectomy and I am recovering. ILC is a sneaky cancer as I said above. My various Dr.'s here and at UCSF confirmed the size of my tumor should be between 2.5cm-3.5cm with possibilty but not most likely, 7cm. After my surgery, my tumor was confirmed to be 11cm. My Dr.'s are very knowledgeable and are on top of things. This is simply the truth about ILC. I had mammos every 6 months, ultra sounds, and MRI's. With all of these, it was not picked up until 1/2011. The good news, if you can call it that, only 1 sentinel node out of 2 has micromastic findings and 5 aux. nodes were negative.
Be sure to start my adventure from the blog history on the right. I have tried to bold points to make it easier to extract the important information. If there is anything you get out of this blog, refer to my Dr.'s listed below if you know someone who has been diagnosed with breast cancer in the East Bay. These Dr.'s; Dr. Gottlieb, Dr. Wotowic, and Dr. Sherman are my 3 musketeers....all for 1 and 1 for all!
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