Bandage is off, thank God!

Today was my follow-up appointment with Dr. Wilde.  I was dying to have the bandage off as it was itching so bad and Tylenol doesn’t do anything for itching.

When she came in, she said we had more good news.  The pathology from the lumpectomy showed that the cancer was non-invasive so it was verified Stage 0.  Funny, I didn’t even realize there was a chance it could be anything different.  They took out 2.5 cm of tissue so I’m wondering how distorted my breast will turn out.

I did find out that the cancer is ER positive which means I will have to go on Tamoxifen or something similar to stop it from coming back or appearing in my other breast.  In two weeks I’ll see Dr. Wilde again, make arrangements to see Dr. Bernstein (medical oncologists) and Dr. Shimizu (radiology oncologist) and begin the treatments.

I’m just glad I get to finally take a shower and get this orange glow off of me.  The one thing I was looking forward to was not having to wear a bra this whole time but apparently I have to wear an extra supportive one.  Yippee.  😦

The Worst Part is now over

Let me preface this that I might have some spelling errors or might be incoherent.

We got to the surgery center at 9am and were taken to the back.  We waited there for 2 hours before they took me over to the Breast Center to get a stereotactic wire insertion.  This time it didn’t hurt much at all.  Took another mammogram and headed back to the surgery center.

I came back to the surgery center and met with Anesthesiologist, Dr. Wilde and the operating room nurse that all asked the same questions.

The operating room was freezing so they wrapped me in blankets with heater.  The inserted the IV and that’s the last I remember until I woke up in recovery.

We got home and I was finally able to eat a sandwich thin with peanut butter and some Cheetos.  Mom left and got her suitcase and brought back some chicken tenders.

I’m still very groggy but not much pain yet.

Isn’t the photo of me in my shower cap and with the compression stockings attractive? 🙂

It just hit me……

I was sitting here relaxing this afternoon and I realized in 3 days I’m having surgery.  It’s been almost 34 years since I’ve been under general anesthesia.  Then, I had morphine (ahhh!) to deal with the pain.  I don’t know what I’ll be able to take after this.  Unfortunately, Vicodin makes me ill.  I haven’t been able to take Aleeve since Tuesday and nothing with aspirin.  It was fun the other day having a migraine and not being able to take anything.

I’ve been busy at work for the past two weeks, so I haven’t really had a chance to dwell on the surgery, but now I realize that it’s happening.  Now I’m nervous and anxious.  I’m resorting to alcohol  at night since I can’t take my sleeping pills and my hot chocolate isn’t working.  😦

I feel bad for my mom.  We have to get there at 9am and my surgery isn’t until 11:30.  It’s too far for her to go home and come back.  She doesn’t use a computer or a smart phone.  I just hope they have something on the TV for her to watch to keep her occupied.  We’re not sure if she’ll be spending the night with me on Tuesday.  Both nurses I’ve spoken to have said I need to have someone stay with me for 24 hours.  I guess we’ll have to wait and see how I feel.

One more day at work then time off for a couple of months.  This is going to be weird.  I haven’t gone this long without working ever!  I’ve got a lot of movies saved up on the DVR.

I will try to post on Tuesday after the surgery but I’m not sure how I’ll feel or if I’ll be coherent.  🙂

Surgery is scheduled

I finally heard from the doctor’s office today.  My surgery is scheduled for 11:30 am on Tuesday, April 9th.  I will then have a follow up appointment on the 11th see hear about the pathology report.  I believe this is when I will find out if my particular cancer is an estrogen receptor cancer, meaning it needs estrogen to grow.  Now since I’ve already been through menopause, I don’t know how much I have left.  If it is this kind, then I’ll see Dr. Bernstein afterwards to see about going on a non-hormone medication so the cancer won’t come back.  He did say that side effects are hot flashes.  Great, just when I thought I was over those.

If everything is on schedule then I should be starting radiation on or about April 30th for 5-7 weeks.  That should give me about 2 months to get my strength back for my trip (which by the way is in 154 days.  🙂 )

 

Answers and Tears of Relief

I’m starting this while I’m waiting in the doctors office. They said they would squeeze me in today and judging by the crowd here in the waiting room, that’s true.

My biggest concern is what they found out on the biopsies from Friday. I’m so bruised, they girls look like they’ve been through quite a beating.

As I’m writing this, tears of relief are pouring out of me.  The three biopsies from Friday all came back negative.  The knot in my stomach is finally gone.  When Dr. Wilde came into the room, the first thing she said was, “We have really good news from your biopsies”.  As soon as she said that I started crying.  So now we schedule the lumpectomy and go with radiation to treat the cancer we know about.  Because I was the last patient of the day, Renee will have to call me tomorrow to schedule surgery.  I never thought I would be happy about a surgery.

I can’t thank you all enough for your prayers and thoughts these past few days.  They have helped me tremendously and God was listening.  I still have a bit of a battle to go but now I know what I’m fighting.

I’m now going to take off my bra and give the girls some freedom.

More to come…..