Baby Steps

My recovery from surgery is progressing, but it's definitely been a much slower process than I initially expected.  Because I sailed so easily through chemo, I think I expected that I would recover from surgery just as quickly.  Two weeks out, I've made a lot of progress but it's definitely taking more time than I expected.  I'm still on pain meds every few hours - my attempts to cut back on them have been difficult due to a great deal of pan in my right arm (the one where I had lymph nodes removed).  I received a stern lecture from my plastic surgery nurse last week when I told her I'd been out walking a few days after I got home from the hospital and asked her if I could go on my treadmill (oops). I've had to learn to take it easy and not exert myself, which is not something that comes naturally to me. But despite all of that, it's still been a nice couple of weeks.  I've spent time with my boys and my mom (who is here for another week, thankfully), had a few outings with friends, rested, and even managed to read a couple of books! I started working from home a couple of hours a day late last week, and intend to do that for the next few weeks rather than attempting to go into the office.

Yesterday was a big day - I had appointments with my surgeon, my oncologist, and my plastic surgeon.  Everything went remarkably well.  My surgeon said that she would officially consider me "disease-free" since there is no longer evidence of any remaining cancer.  We went over my pathology report again, and everything sounded very positive.  I just continue to thank my lucky stars that I discovered the lump and had it checked out when I did.  That 7 cm tumor that managed to find its way to 2 lymph nodes could have been so much worse had I not been diagnosed and put into treatment so quickly.  I made sure to thank my surgeon for all of her help - she led me in the right direction for treatment from the first day I met with her.  I also saw my oncologist, who said that my PET scan from a few weeks ago was great and that it had been the topic of discussion at one of their recent tumor board meetings because the change since my first one was so drastic.  He also agreed that my pathology report was very positive.  I also had another Herceptin treatment yesterday, which I will continue to receive every three weeks for the rest of the year.  Finally, I had a plastic surgeon appointment where my incisions were checked and my final two drains were removed.  Hooray! I was so happy to get rid of those pesky drains.  I have an appointment for my first fill next week, where they will inject fluid into my tissue expanders and gradually increase my chest size (I know....sounds pretty unreal that I will "grow" on a weekly basis for the next few weeks but that's how it goes!). I'll start radiation after I finish my fills in about a month - I'm looking forward to that beginning as soon as possible so that I can get the last major phase of my treatment completed.

I continue to be amazed by the kindness of my family, friends, co-workers (both current and previous) and neighbors.  The volume of cards, messages, meals, gifts, treats, and other acts of kindness that my family and I have received has been astounding.  Last weekend, two of our neighbors even mowed our lawn since they knew Ed was busy watching the boys and didn't have time to get to it! I still have no idea what I did to inspire so much good will, but I am just so thankful for it and know that having such a wonderful support team has helped me pull through all of this so well.  This journey that I've been on over the past several months has made me appreciate each and every day, as well as all of the amazing people in my life. I can't wait to find a way to pay it forward and channel what has been a very difficult situation into something positive.

My arm is starting to ache so I'm going to wrap up this blog post (it's actually taken me 2 days to write this - I was too sore to finish it last night!).  I'll continue to keep all of you posted on my healing process!