After the Surgery, an Update

 The following was originally posted on Facebook, however, I thought I should put it here as well, especially after the "downer" tone of my last post - people might be wondering what the heck happened to me! :~)

Here is a little {long} update for everyone, I guess I should just put it on the ol' blog, but the effort just isn't there right now, so pre-applause for you if you make it to the end. Just wanted you all to know that I am doing well. We are staying at my in-laws for a while so that Matt can have help with the boys while he needs to tend to me at times {people are in and out of our house all day though, so no thieving people, haha!}. I am feeling pretty good. I decided Monday that I was going to stop taking the oxy {because I hate it and it gives me headaches}, then I decided that I didn't want the morphine anymore {for some TMI reasons I won't mention here}, then I decided I only need the valium at bed time {because lets be realistic, valium is awesome!}. So basically, I am taking ibuprofen, an antibiotic and then valium for sleep as well as my regular vitamins and stuff like that. I went out to lunch and for a pedicure with Stacie which was SO NICE since I couldn't get them during chemo! So yes Darin, it was definitely a necessary expense.

The breast surgeon {Dr Mc} was really pleased with how the surgery went, she was able to feel one firm node {which we knew about} when she did the axillary dissection, she said that there were no surprises, but like I have said before we won't know of the status of the other nodes/ tumor until path comes back. She also said that the OR was really quiet and calm, that she was able to give Matthew the most accurate time frame she has ever given and that she listened to classical music as per my request {she loves it as well and it's supposed to aide healing}. Have I mentioned how much I love her? She even told me that she loved the fact that I have a little stuffed animal as a "good luck charm" and that she has a soft spot in her heart for stuffed animals. Now you all probably think I am a dork, but oh well. She's just the sweetest, smartest, most competent surgeon I could have asked for. I felt very well cared for. The plastic surgeon {Dr. B} was SUPER excited that she was able to fill my expanders up quite a bit {she's quite a hoot as well - dropping f-bombs and everything - and she has EIGHT rescue dogs!}, in fact she ran out to the waiting room and told everyone that she "filled me up and I was going to wake up with boobs!" I can't imagine how uncomfortable that conversation made my dad, haha!

So now, we are waiting on the pathology report, which we will receive on Thursday. So we hope and pray that there are no surprises in there. The cancer is out of my body regardless, which is the point of surgery, and the chemo's job was to mop up anything the escaped, but I still don't want to hear that there was more evil in there than we thought. It's just hard to wrap my head around the fact that I am now considered "cancer free" ~ at least that's what everyone says after you have surgery! Even though those words are nice, I feel like it's important for me to add that we will ALWAYS {as will anyone with this diagnosis} have to be aware of checking for recurrence as it is a possibility until I am super old, surrounded by grandkids, and die of something else. It's just the nature of this stupid dumb disease. For now though, we celebrate the fact that surgery removed that beast and we hope that chemo mopped up the rest and we remember that there is a full arsenal of tools in our warrior bank.

So anyway, that's that for now. OH! And the boys are being great, Owen looks SO proud of himself every time he gives me a "gentle hug". Emmett is having some strong emotions, but that's to be expected. He seems to be getting his feelings hurt pretty easily, but we are dealing. There have been a few more time-outs than normal, but we need to stick to our rules and routine.

So, please hope/ pray/ chant/ burn sage/ dance naked under the moon for us that the pathology report comes back with no bad surprises and that we can go forward with the next phases of treatment with ease {likely radiation, herceptin, tamoxifen and then reconstruction of my bionic breasts}.

Thank you all so much for your thoughts and prayers and for checking in with my loved ones throughout what was a VERY long day as I didn't get into a room until NINE PM because there wasn't one open {we got to the hospital at 6am}!! And, yes, they did eat, I guess I was a little bit annoyingly obsessed with that one, sorry. :~)