Picture 1. First infusion - March 7, 2013...typing away on a blog entry.
Picture 2. Last infusion - April 21, 2014 - shorter hair, 25 pounds heavier, but feeling much lighter knowing that a HUGE part of my treatment is over!!
When I came into work the day following my treatment, this is what I found in the faculty room! I cannot say it enough, I love where I work and the people I work with. THANK YOU for all you have done for me over the past several years.
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April 23 marked my third wedding anniversary so I figured that would be the perfect date to have my next surgery (I hope you sense the sarcasm in that statement). It was either that date or wait another three weeks. My husband Frank and I discussed this and we both agreed the sooner the surgery, the sooner the radiation and the sooner this would be over. We will have more anniversaries. We can celebrate properly then. We did stop by at our wedding church and ate dinner at the same restaurant we had our rehearsal dinner a few days before our actual anniversary. Here are a few pictures we took. The magnolia tree was in many of our wedding photos. Sadly it got a little damaged during this past winter's ice storms, but it is still beautiful. The surgery I had was to remove the lymph nodes from my right armpit that had previously been infected with the breast cancer. The nodes did not light up during my last PETscan so doctors were hopeful that removing them would just be to reassure everyone that the cancer was indeed dead. I won't keep you waited anymore....my lymph nodes were just calcification and scar tissue. The cancer was DEAD! The chemo worked. This also helps put my doctors and me at ease about my back as well. Since the chemo alone killed the cancer in my armpit, then most likely the tumor in my back (which had chemo and radiation) is dead as well! All of my doctors are happy and so am I!
The surgery, and preparations and my recuperation all went smoothly. (Keep in mind that I have had countless procedures and doctors appointments over the past five years, so my view on all this may be skewed, but I was happy considering everything).
Step 1. Pre-op testing - I needed an EKG, chest X-ray and blood work. All standard before any surgery. The EKG literally took less than two minutes. It took longer to hook up the wires than do the test. The x-ray was quick too. The lobby was packed so I thought for sure I would be waiting a while. Thankfully they called my name before everyone else and the x-ray was a five minute thing. The blood work was painless because they were able to draw it right through my port before my infusion. It also saved my vein from another prick (or 3).
The morning of my surgery my in-laws came over early so we could leave. They took care of getting Hudson to daycare
We arrived at the hospital around 8am and everything went very smoothly.
First perk to the day...the other surgeon who was scheduled before my surgery had a cancellation. My surgery was moved up by several hours!
The normal IV nurse was out sick. That may not seem like a perk, but it was. It meant that I had to get my IV put in at anesthesia. They use lidocaine before actually inserting the giant needle needed for administering surgical drugs. I did NOT feel a thing! PERK!
They rolled me back to the ER around 9:15am. Only an hour and fifteen minutes after I checked in!!! In hospital time that is like 5 minutes. Another pleasant surprise.
The surgery took about 2 hours. My surgeon was able to easily locate the lymph nodes and remove them with no trouble (after they found a way to hold my lat-flap out of the way, haha). I was originally told I would wake up with a drain to help prevent fluid build-up and that I would have to stay over night. Thankfully, NEITHER thing happened. The area affected by the surgery was much smaller than expected so I did not have a drain. Since everything else went smoothly and I had time in the afternoon in recovery, my doctor felt comfortable sending me home to sleep in my own bed! I did not have to spend the night away from Hudson :) I was one happy mommy.
The first two nights following the surgery were a little rough. I had a tough time sleeping more than two hours at a time. Thank God for DVR and On Demand. I caught up on all my shows in the middle of the night and then spent the next two days acclimating to a normal person's schedule. Frank slept in the guest room and took the monitor with him so that Huddy would not wake me up in the middle of the night. I also needed space and lots of pillows to make sure my armpit was comfortably padded.
I went for my first follow-up a week after surgery and my doctor was very happy with how things were healing. A few weeks later I went back and everything looked great. I was cleared to continue back to my normal PT plan and I am back there regaining my strength.
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Many weeks have passed since I started this entry. Life has been crazy busy but much more normal again. It has been more than 6 weeks since my last infusion and my body is just started to feel like the one I used to know. My joints hurt less, my back is not as tight and I feel that my energy level is climbing back up closer to normal!
Caity,
ReplyDeleteThis is all such great news!
Look back at your list for 2014 and continue to knock things off - for starters that vacation! ! You earned it and then some.
Love,
Dee & Adam