Surgery update......

It's been two weeks since my reconstruction surgery. I am doing really well. It was very tough for the first 3-4 days. A lot of pain. The pain pills were making me sick. It was just no fun. Dan went and picked up some new prescriptions for me on Wednesday and that seemed to be my turnaround day. My mom also came and stayed with us for a few days and that was so nice. I wasn't able to get my self up or lay myself down. It is amazing all of the things you use your chest muscle for. Just yesterday I was able to put my shoes on by myself. Now I just need to continue healing. It seems that most everyday I feel better. Some mornings I am sorer than others. My stupid shoulder continues to give me a hard time. Some nights my shoulder aches more than my surgery site. My surgery site looks pretty good. The flap they placed looks like a football. It is a big diamond shape piece of tissue. The radiated tissue around the flap is real firm, leather like. The new tissue from my back is like baby skin. So soft. This tissue is the tissue that will stretch to allow my implant to be placed in 4-6 months. I had my surgery check up last week and Dr. Isik felt everything looked great! Yay! I see him again next Wednesday for my first expansion appointment. They will add fluid to the breast and we will do this every other week allowing the tissue to stretch. Once the tissue has stretched to the size of breast I want we will then do a lift and an implant on my left side :). Then a couple months later we will remove the expander on my right side and put the implant in that side. Then I hope I am done with this darn cancer surgery stuff :). Of coarse I will continue to see my oncologist for several years every three months and I will have my mammograms and MRI'S every six months.

UPDATE ON KIMBERLY.....

HI EVERYONE!!!  
I am doing really good.....woohoo!!!  So I have a lot to catch all of you up on. Lets just get right to it. In mid November I started having some lymphadema in my right arm :( it's not to bad, but it has came. Lymphadema is fluid collection in the arm that the lymph nodes were removed in. It is very normal for this to accure at any time after you have surgery. Of coarse, I was hoping that I wouldn't get it. I have to wear a sleeve and a glove on my right hand. You can actually get some pretty cool sleeves if you choose. I just got a skin color one and a black one. I don't wear it all the time, but I have noticed I am needing to wear it more and more. It is more of a nuisance than anything.

Remember the clinical study that I told you all about? Well....the people that are suppose to get you on the study at certain times of your treatment missed the critical timing for me to start the study. Needless to say, I was very upset when I found this out. I had called several times asking when do I start and they just kept telling me they would let me know. That was real disappointing to me. But oh well it is what it is.

I just saw Dr. Kaplan, my oncologist, on the 28th of December. I love it when I get to go see him. It feels good to know that everything is looking okay. He checks my blood. Looking for tumor markers, checks to see that my estrogen is good and checking to see that the medication (arimidex) is doing its job. He also does a physical exam to check for any lumps or bumps. I check for those regularly :) I hope you all do too.

Tomorrow is a pretty big day for me. I have my reconstruction surgery. I am having a "Latissimus dorsi Flap Breast Reconstruction" by Dr. Frank Isik. I have learned that this is a much bigger surgery than my mastectomy :( I will have surgery on my back (latissimus dorsi muscle) also on the front. They will put the dorsi muscle from my back to my breast area and also they will place an expander to start the expansion process of my breast. I will just be in the hospital over night as long as everything goes as planned. I will be pretty sore for several weeks. I will be off work for six weeks. I am really excited to get this surgery over. This should be my last big surgery. Next I will have an implant and a lift on my left side, then several months later my expander removed and an implant placed on my right side. We just have to hope and pray that my radiated tissue expands okay. My tissue really looks good. You just don't know for sure how well radiated tissue will respond.

Dan and I are doing very well. We pray for continued health, strength and healing.