I know I've been out of touch for a while, but it's definitely not due to bad news. I had my surgery last Tuesday, an exact week from today. My nurse said the results came back quite quickly and that no other cancer was found! She congratulated me on being officially cancer free! So guess I can't use that whole "I have Cancer" excuse anymore...
Surgery...well it's surgery. I was in for about 7 hours, having a bilateral mastectomy with expanders put in. I am actually more sore today than I was the day after surgery due to the lack of high quality drugs...don't get me wrong, I still have Oxycontin, vicodine, Valium, diazepam, lorazepam, and a handful of others to take, but I sometimes miss the push button morphine!
On top of the surgery I decided it would be fun to get a bit of poison ivy as well, so the itchiness of the ivy has really drowned out the pain of the boob-loss. My dad has been by my side to help with the little things that used to be easy-sitting up, pouring juice, etc. Though he has a problem with the gross stuff, so my mom gets to empty my drains and re-apply my bandages. The true surgery Nazi is Kari-if she wasn't a teacher she would've (and should have) been a nurse! If I fart the wrong way, Kari is on her feet to see if I'm okay. She threatened once to tie socks on my hands so that I'd stop itching my poison ivy, which scared me enough to call the doc for some steroids-the girl seriously has eyes in the back of her head! Kari probably would've been upset to hear that about 20 minutes after she left the lake, I did get hit pretty hard in the chest (doing something Kari definitely would not have approved of); I was pretty scared, thank goodness Don, my calm and collected fireman brother-in-law was here, he checked me all out and everything still looks good (well as good as it can look)! Honestly, my whole family has been the best! We were all down at the lake this Memorial Day and even though I spent most of it on the recliner, it was great!
I am hoping to get back to work soon, as soon as I can drive that is. I have been doing some exercises trying to stretch out the muscles. I have a couple more appointments this week so will keep you updated! I don't know when the "expanding" actually begins or when I'm going to have surgery again to replace the expanders for implants. Right now it's just a lot of deformity and scarring, it looks like a surgery site! So while I'll be under construction for a while, that is fine, because I am done with this cancer shit. No more mammograms, or worrying, or chemo...done. In less than 7 months my life has been turned upside down, in less than 7 months I learned the selflessness of everyone that surrounds me.
Thank you all for all the support. More to come! I promise to quit slacking on the updates! XOXO
P.S. For those of you not on facebook, wanted to share the following link, I'm famous! ;)
Yay!!!! I've been waiting to be able to say 'Nope, Kelly doesn't have cancer. She HAD cancer, but she scared it off!' Woo hoo! We will be making multiple toasts to 'cancer free' when you're up to it. In the meantime, heal well, rest lots and call upon me when you just want my energy!! Love you!!!! xoxo
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