This is my port!

So I got home yesterday.  The pain has been improving.  I stopped taking vicodin (at least for now) and switched to advil.  The girls seem to be not bothered by the whole ordeal at all, I guess we have been through this before.  And this time it seems better, probably because I do not have all those unknowns and knows of last time.  The pathology report came back clean - that is what we were expecting/hoping but still it is good to know.  Now it is just a matter of healing and getting back to normal life.  It is a huge relief that the classes are over, now I can focus on other things such as research and next semester's classes :)
I will post a picture of my port, which was also removed during the surgery on Monday.  I put my hand next to it so you get an idea of how big it is.  I know I owe you all a picture of me with my short and curly hair, as soon as I have a good one I will post that also.  Now that my mother is here she is taking a lot of pictures of me :).

I hope everyone's May is going well..

I am out of surgery

The surgery went well. I am in my room. Have some pain and feel a little tired. Will rest some. Then maybe tonight Dan and I can watch a movie and call it a date :)
My mom has been home with Ada, I guess her fever is down. I so hope that it is/was one of those 24 hr high fever mystery viral infectiond.
Ok I will take a nap now. Cheers!

Tomorrow - second mastectomy

I think Ada feels that her mommy is about to give up a boob and to prevent it from happening she runs 105F (40.6C) fever. No kidding we spent the morning of Mother's day at the ER. She tested negative for strep and flu so they sent us home - lots of fluid, alternating tylenol/ibuprofen to keep the fever from getting too high. Last year she had flu. We all had to use Tamiflu so we would not get it and it had worked. So far Ada is the only one that is sick. I hope noone else gets it. I washed my hands a 100 times today probably- they are bleeding from dryness.
About the surgery.. I am stressed. Last time there wasn't time to think about it, it had to be done and it had to be fast. This one is just to be on the safe side, so I won't have to worry about getting cancer on this side also. The good side of the surgery is that I will be "balanced" now. I will have the option of not wearing bras- especially when I exercise. They will also remove my port, that will be nice (although part of the anxiety is due to the port removal, it seemed like my security blanket while I had it, but it does get in the way, seat belts, purse straps, bra straps all seem to land right on top of it and is not that comfortable.
Anyway I better sleep now. We have to be at the hospital at 9 am. Surgery is scheduled for 10:30am. I probably won't be able to update till later in the evening.
Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers tomorrow..

out of menopause

Yuppie,  I am no longer in chemo induced menopause!!! :) It had been almost a whole year to the day.  I am glad that my body is recovering from all the chemical insult / help it has received.

looks good :)

this post will have to be brief. We have Dan's boss coming over for dinner, most of the food is ready but I still have to vacuum :)

Dan and I met at the Cancer Center this morning. The nurse took us back, weighed me, and walked us to the examination room. When she put my folder on the countertop to take my blood pressure, I could see that a report was at the very top and with big letters it said "looks good". yaaay!

That was a great feeling.

Then the doctor came and basically read the report. The lesion is still there, but it hasn't grown and even maybe looks a little smaller or less prominent than it did in January. The fact that it is stable and the fact that my liver enzymes were all within normal range were all great news. The doctor was very relieved, when I asked her when I should have my port flushed, she said that instead of having it flushed I should have it removed!!! yaaay! so I will make an appointment with the surgeon and schedule my mastectomy and with it the port removal.

I am so relieved, so happy and so thankful.

Actually last week or so I have been feeling that my body is well! instead of being worried that there may be something wrong with this part or another.

Cheers everybody!

Toenails, toenails

I got the MRI scan yesterday. It wasn't bad, the worst part was getting the IV in for the contrast. Because they cannot use my left arm (due to lymph node removal), they always use my right arm, and all my veins on the right arm have been hiding. There is one decent vein that they like to use, but it turns out that one got a lot of scar tissue, so the nurse yesterday worked for a long time to get the needle in, so here is my wining: it hurt a lot...

Then the MRI part wasn't bad, I know the drill now, bunch of breath holding, lots of noise from the machine, beautiful Vivaldi - 4 seasons playing in the background.

I am going to the Dr. tomorrow to get the results and also have my 2 month check up.

If you have been following the blog, you probably know that I lost my two big toe nails during chemo -- well they didn't totally fall off, but I would say the Podiatrist had to cut off so much that I had only about 1/4 of the nail there. Further more I got fungal infections so I have been using topical fungal medication to get rid of that. I have been very excited because they are almost full grown now. But a few weeks ago it seemed that they were growing into my flesh, so I started occasionally soaking them in warm water and then pushing the skin off the nail's path. Well, yesterday night the nail caught up and the pain woke me up from my sleep at 2:30 am. I had to take an Advil to go back to sleep. Thankfully I could get an appointment with the podiatrist and he cut off the edges of the nails, that took off the immediate pressure. Now we have to make sure that it doesn't get infected.

OK, I better go and get the dinner ready so we can get the girls in bed by 8:30 pm. It is getting harder to get them to bed on time with the days getting longer, but hey I am not complaining, I love coming home and still have it light for a while.

Wishing you all a beautiful spring time!

Another MRI scan tomorrow

Tomorrow morning I will have another MRI scan of the liver. I am hoping/praying that the scan will show that the lesion is resolved and that I can relax a little. On Thursday I have an appointment with the Dr. to get the results and also have my 2 month check up. I am happy that I did not see my oncologist for a total of 2 months!! I think this is a first for over a year now! yaay!
My anxiety levels are up, but today I had an acupuncture session and it did calm me down. I will post an update on Thursday to let you all know.