3 weeks post op

Surgery was 3 weeks ago tomorrow. The surgery “fog” feels like it has finally lifted! And I must say - I can’t remember 80% of what happened the first 2 weeks. 

We met with my plastic surgeon today. Before we started this process he had put in my mind that 2 weeks after surgery we would most likely remove one drain and then 3 weeks we would remove the second drain. Well, last week my drains were no where near ready to come out - most of that due to the fact that I had had a major bleed while in the hospital. So I was pretty disappointed and hoped that this week we would loose a drain. My drains need to be collecting less than 30 mls a day. Drain one is still between 50-65 mls a day and drain two is between 30-40 mls a day and is STILL draining old blood. Because of some of the places I have bruising and soreness he really thinks I pulled a stitch all the way through the muscle - ouch! Even though I was disappointed, we all came to the conclusion that removing the drains early and risking an infection that would push radiation further down the road, would be very bad. So we are on to week 4 of drains! I still have to sleep inclined, no driving, and still limited use of my arm. It’s moving slowly but we are making progress! 

Next steps are 

1. Meeting with my radiation oncologist- please pray that when I start radiation I can have the very last appointment of the day. This will allow me to work and go to radiation in the afternoon. 
2. Physical therapy- both for my lymphadema that I could possibly have and for my shoulder since I haven’t moved my arm in 3 weeks. We were hoping we could do PT here in town but no one does lymphadema therapy. 
3. Getting my drains out so I can do steps 1 & 2! 

One more thing to pray for. I have had some intense pain in the back of my arm. It hurts to touch, it hurts for clothes to touch it, it hurts when I slightly move my arm. I talked to my plastic surgeon about this pain and he told me that there is a major nerve that runs through my armpit area. Removing the lymph nodes my surgeon either - nipped the nerve or cut it completely. He said that I could have this pain for the rest of my life...or the nerve could heal and the pain could stop. Obviously that’s what we are praying for. Complete healing! 

Already Won!

Today we had 4 appointments. We met with my surgeon, plastic surgeon, oncologist, and had my port flushed. Meeting with my surgeon we left a little confused and worried about the pathology of my tumors and treatment afterwards - but it was in how she presented the information. Our meeting with the plastic surgeon went well. I still have very limited movement in my arm. I can raise my arm to shoulder height but nothing more and I can lift 5 pounds or less. I still have both drains as they are still draining quite a bit. I am still also having to sleep at a 30° angle or more. 

My port flush went according to plan and it is working perfectly. 

We then met with my oncologist who went back over pathology from surgery. They were able to remove all tumorous tissue from my breast and had 9 mm of clear margin (anything over 2 mm is amazing), they removed the one lymph node that was cancerous and 32 other lymph nodes. Only the one cancerous lymph node showed signs of cancer - the 32 other lymph nodes were negative!!! And then she said the words I have been waiting to hear since August 17th she declared me 

CANCER FREE!!!!

Those words brought tears to my eyes and joy to my heart!! 

So what’s next? Because I had triple negative breast cancer the chances of it coming back are very high over the next 5 years, and it usually comes back as lung or bone cancer. So now we make body to where it doesn’t want to come back. After I heal from my surgery I will do 6 weeks of radiation- 5 days a week for the 6 weeks. Then I will take a pill for 9 months - 2 weeks on and 1 week off. Somewhere in there I will have my reconstruction surgery with the left mastectomy. 

We serve a mighty God. How blessed I am that He decided I would walk this path. The testimony He has written for me is so beautiful and He gets all glory. I am so thankful each thing He has taught me through this walk and for the things He will continue to teach me as we continue to walk this path. Already Won! 

One week post op

I literally can not believe it has been one week since my surgery. Thursday- Sunday felt like one long day and the days home have felt short. Of course it might be because I sleep most of the day. 

We had my one week follow up with my plastic surgeon today. It felt good to be out of the house, however, it wore me out. 

My drains turned really dark red last night. We knew that was not the direction they should be going, but the output stayed the same and we didn’t see any hemotoma’s on me. The doctor said it could be 1 of 2 things. 1) it could be that I have caused another small bleed or 2) I had a blood clot that has been broken up and it is now draining. He didn’t seem alarmed at all. He referred back to my first bleed and how I had lost a lot of blood but this was just slow and steady so we didn’t have to worry. He did say that most likely we wouldn’t be removing any drains next week which pushed all drain removal back to closer to 5 weeks. 

I still have to take it easy. He did not say that I was still on zero use of my arm...but I did need to be careful. 

5 days post op

We were discharged from the hospital Sunday mid morning. I was given pretty strict orders to not use my right arm and to keep my walking somewhat minimal - from the bathroom to the bed, from the bed to the recliner and that’s about all. Enough movement to keep blood clots from forming but not enough to loose a clip or open up a stitch. (If this happens, we will go back into surgery to repair the artery or vein that’s bleeding, we would basically start over with the drains.) My hemoglobin levels had finally stabilized Sunday morning, they had not started to go up yet but they weren’t dropping like before. 

So I’ve been taking it very easy and sleeping a lot. Without nurses coming in to poke and prod I’m getting long stretches of sleep which is good. I’m also having to sleep at a 30° to 90° angle which is not that comfortable. We’ve moved a recliner into the bedroom and that gave me the best sleep last night. 

I’m sore and tired but doing good. We see my plastic surgeon on Thursday and my oncologist as well. We feel everything looks good but having them tell us will be a huge blessing. 

How to pray

That all of my veins and arteries remain closed. We do not want a second surgery.

That my hemoglobin levels are back to normal. 

That I would have good rest and low pain. 

For Michael - that he would get good rest and be able to focus on work. 

For the kids - that they would continue to handle everything that’s thrown at them with grace. 

Surgery update

It’s hard to know where to start as so much has happened over the past 3 days. Thursday we got all checked in at 10:00 for a 12 o’clock surgery. Once I got back into pre-op things went fairly fast. They injected me with a radioactive isotope that would mad any cancerous tissue (one of the most painful things I’ve had done). My 2 doctors came in to mark me up and then at noon they were wheeling me back to the OR. The last thing I remember is them telling me to take some deep deep breaths. Dr. Fitzsullivan went first and started working on the lymph nodes. She was able to locate the lymph node that had cancer in it and take the 2 lymph surrounding it. The good news/bad news about the lymph node - only the initial lymph showed signs of cancer but because of that she had to take my 1st and 2nd lines of lymph nodes. We are thinking she took about 30 but we won’t know until pathology returns on them. We are still praying that none of them show any signs of cancer. Fitzsullivan had told us her part would take 2 1/2 to 3 hours to complete and it ended up taking the full 3 hours maybe a little more. Dr. Albright then came in and cleaned up everything, placed the tissue expander and my drain tubes.

 Over all the surgery lasted almost 6 hours. I had had a bad experience during a past surgery where I woke up at the beginning...I told the anesthesiologist this and so he made sure I was really out...so it took almost 2 hours for me to wake up afterwards. The rest of that night was a blur. 

Friday morning both surgeons came in and set me up to be discharged Friday afternoon. They gave me some goals to work towards so I could go home one of which was walking. 

Around noon Michael and I took a stroll around the 5th floor along with my nurse. We saw about half way done that my drains were super full. We came in to drain them and they had a very large clot inside - so large we had to get a new bulb. A little while later I started having a huge amount of pain that sent me into tears, I also used my right arm for something and that caused even more pain. The nurse and doctor decided to give me a very low dose of morphine to see if we could make my muscles calm down and the pain to stop. Immediately after giving it to me I began to sweat, I couldn’t hear, my blood pressure dropped to 60/40, my heart was racing, and my oxygen levels dropped way low. This lasted for about 5 minutes and then I began to perk back up. Because of this I landed another night in the hospital. My drain output was also concerning and Dr. Albright was worried that I might have knocked a clip loose on a vein. So we got me ready for a possible 2nd surgery Saturday morning. Saturday things looked better but my hemoglobin was pretty low so they gave me a unit of blood and another night in the hospital. We are again prepping me for a second surgery- however, my drain output looks great and we are almost positive we will be going home this morning. Yesterday we also found the perfect combo of pain meds to keep me in as little pain as possible. We are trying to rest and let me heal and we are looking forward to going home soon. 

Thank you so much for your prayers. We have felt them and can see God moving. 

This week

We are now entering the week of my surgery. We have so much that has to get done before Thursday morning. 

• Pre-op with oncologist 
• Pre-op with surgeon 
• Bloodwork, chest x-ray, and echocardiogram 
• Chiropractor appointment 
• Getting our house in order (ha ha) - really we just want laundry done and our bedroom and bathroom cleaned. 
• Not to mention all of Michael’s normal work and Wednesday night kickstart of the new year

We have been told we could be in the hospital 1-3 nights. That’s a big difference for  all of our planning but we are trying to get all bases covered and think that as of today we do. 

Prayer Requests 

1. That my lymph nodes show no signs of cancer
2. That I am not sick after surgery
3. For the kids as their routine is changed again and the worry they might have for me
4. For Michael as he cares for me and takes care of our family and household 
5. For Dr. Fitzsullivan as she operates on me to remove my cancer and dissects my lymph nodes
6. For Dr. Albright as he operates and prepares my body for future surgeries 

Thank you so much for praying for us as we continue on this path! 

#alreadywon