October 14th marks my graduation from Chemo. While I am very happy that is all over with it is also very bittersweet, as I had some really great nurses taking care of me and I will miss seeing them on a regular basis!!!
October 15th marked another finale in my life. After almost 20 years of waiting and more than 2 years of pain...I finally have straight teeth!! My braces came of the day after chemo and I couldn't be happier with the results. For those that have known me a long time, you know what an amazing transformation that was!
Right now the biggest obstacle moving forward is the discrepancy with the pathology. The original specimen that was taken during the biopsy came back weakly positive for Estrogen and Progesterone. The tissue that was dissected and tested after the tumor and breasts were removed were tested by a different hospital that I went to for chemotherapy. They are concluding the results were negative. This hospital is trying to make it seem like the original hospital isn't always accurate in their testing protocols. If the results weren't a huge factor in determining what the next course of treatment is, then I would just let it go. But there is a big difference between needing an anti-hormone for 5 years and not. There is a 50% reduction in recurrence with the anti-hormone medication IF in fact the tumor is fed by the hormones. The compromise to this is the hospital I go to for oncology is going to request the original specimen from the original biopsy and run their own tests to determine positivity or negativity.
I am slowly checking everything off the FINALLY FINISHED list of treatment and recovery. December 1st I underwent outpatient surgery to have my permanent (well 15 years permanent) implants put in. The surgery lasted an hour and then another hour in recovery and I was on my way home. I even managed a few phone calls to update my condition while I waited on Brian to fill my antibiotic. I was pretty groggy and it was suggested I take my pain meds for 24 hours, although I didn't really feel any pain, at least not even close to what I felt before. Although by 8 o'clock that night I hadn't eaten much, and what I had eaten wasn't too heavy and so the percocet made me sick to my stomach. Since I wasn't in pain, I went ahead and stopped taking them at that point. I switched to Tylenol Extra Strength in the morning and took those for maybe 24 hours after that. I went back to work a week later to wrap things up for the holiday break. This past Friday I met with the plastic surgeon for a follow up, and at this point in the healing process he said everything looks great. There are still some scabs along the suture line, but you honestly can't tell I just had surgery (again!) 2 weeks ago. However, because he did do some extra work on the inside, he wants me to follow my restrictions for another week and will follow up with him again in 2 months!!
I have an appointment after the beginning of the year to finally have my port removed. I was very okay with it going in, as I knew it was the safest route for my AC to be administered. But now that I've not needed it, I'm VERY anxious to have it removed. That foreign object in my body has been more stressful than all of the breast stuff combined. I've heard horror stories from other cancer patients on their ports flipping over, being knocked out of place, etc and I was soo worried I'd do something to it!
At one point this fall I was juggling appointments with 7 different health care professionals... I have my dentist and orthodontist, my primary care physician, my surgeon, my plastic surgeon, my oncologist and my ob/gyn. I am looking forward to the new year when my follow up appointments go from every few weeks to every few months.
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| A Few Months Hair Growth! |
I'm so happy to finally be able to start putting my cancer in my "past" file and this is clearing room for me to start planning my future. And what better way to look to the future, than to plan a wedding with my best friend? After waiting for a long time, Brian finally proposed last night and I of course said Yes! I look forward to spending the rest of my healthy life with him!
