I got an unexpected call today! My plastic surgeon (who Dr D was going to contact to keep in the loop of what I was doing) called and was in his office in town, he's from Sioux Falls. I'm going to get my new boobies sooner than I thought!
There's lots of different options of ways to get the reconstruction done- WOW, I had no idea. I'm chosing the fastest, least painful procedure :)
Apparently I can't get the expanders after radiation because the skin on the radiated area will be too tight and would press against my ribs- SO I have to get them in before radiation then will have another surgery after the radiation to wrap things up. It could happen as soon as next week! Yay! Not so sure I want to have another surgery again, but he said the recovery would be similar to the mastectomy- which I'm still trying to get my arm to extend and taking pain pills!
He was going to contact my oncologist about possibly doing this next week, which would push back my chemo OR I could do it after chemo, before radiation but that could extend the radiation out longer because of the recovery.
Mom doesn't think I need big ones, I think I do! I told her she has boobs so she doesn't get a say in it! Will know more tomorrow! YAY!

Today I saw my surgeon again, the petscan showed the 13 cm seroma, my oncologist thought might be able to be sucked out. He did a ultrasound and thought something might be able to come out- but first stick and second stick with the long, scarey needle brought out nothing. I didn't feel the first stick but the second I sure did! I asked if he'd put me out before we did this but he said if he has to stay awake I do too. So, sounds like I'll have an A-cup of swelling for quite a while since it won't suck out.
On Monday, all my lady co-workers wore their Theresa's Troops tshirts. I kept it together till about 10 am when dear Ranae came in and hugged me and asked me how I was doing, for real-and I just started crying...that tends to happen a lot! :)
All for now...

Clean Petscan/CT...but...

Still gotta have chemo. I'm having 4 rounds of adria (the stuff all horror stories are about) two weeks apart for a total of 8 weeks. Then I will have radiation for 6 weeks, then I should be able to start reconstruction and get my new boobies! One thing to look forward to!
He said I will definitely lose my hair, but I can use a fashionable scarf he said. I'll need to take extra precautions because my white blood cell count will drop and that it makes most people very sick. I'm a little concerned what to do about work and Amanda's wedding!
He asked when I wanted to start, I said definitely not next week, I have too much going on. I'll have another mugascan of my heart just to be sure everything is ok to start more chemo, after the last chemo I had.
The scan did show I have a 12 cm seroma on the left side; he was gonna call my surgeon about possibly sucking it out.

Back to work

I went back to work on Tuesday 2-2-10. I had a lot of appointments this week and needed Friday off for my petscan so I thought that would be a good transition to ease in to working full days.
Tuesday I worked a full day. Tiffney picked me up because I'm not driving yet. I tried to make a quiet entrance in the back door, until I saw my hallway had been decorated with a WELCOME BACK THERESA banner and about 60 balloons!
Wednesday morning I had physical therapy. Much easier this week- she mainly did a lot of massaging my muscles and stretched them for me. Feels like there's tight little rubber bands in there, they stretch just a little and want to snap back! My physical therapist is going to start coming to my house on days other than Wednesdays just because she can't do private practice more than one day a week in her office and she thinks (and I do too) that I could benefit from seeing her more than just once per week. So next Friday she's coming here at 8 am to stretch me.
Wednesday I had an eye appt, 2 year follow up on my lasik eye surgery- what a waste, I will not be attending my 3 year follow up.
Friday I had my petscan. Got there before 830 for my labs, was supposed to have a nurse eval and then check in for my petscan at 945. Well, 945 came before my nurse eval did and they ended up doing my petscan before my nurse eval- I don't know what the problem was. So while I was sitting in the supply closet again 'resting' I could hear who they were paiging for medical oncology and I never did hear my name. When I got out of the petscan after noon, I still had to sit and wait for my nurse eval, i was less than thrilled- pretty honked off.
When I got in for my nurse eval, it was a nurse I'd never had before. I was reading the computer screen as she was going thru my meds and my labs and saw "Adria" listed as a med under my previous chemo drugs. I instantly thought I was going to start balling but was able to choke back the tears until I got to the car. This is the drug that all horror stories of chemotherapy are about- knock down, drag out, nasty side effects. I told my mom what I had seen and couldn't stop crying- I'm horrified to go through any of it again, let alone that. It's my mom's birthday so I felt bad ruining her day, but I couldn't help it!
I was exhausted tired when we got home so took a nice long nap...

I've been trying to sleep in my own bed instead of the recliner, it's not going well. My right arm isn't hurting hardly at all, but I still can't sleep on it. Laying on my left arm is out of the question. I went into my bed last night around midnight and did more tossing and turning, propping pillows here and there to try and get comfortable.
I'm getting ready to go back to work tomorrow, a bit nervous about that. I feel like the last time saw everyone I was 'bragging' that I was done with chemo and now the cancer is back, and it's bigger and badder than it originally was.
I still have a lot of swelling in my left side- the burning under my arm isn't going away, it's been a week on Lyrica for it but it doesn't seem to be doing anything.

Retail Therapy

Did a little shopping today with Amy. I've been looking through my closet to find clothes that are comfortable and still fit right. The idea being to find things that distract from the point that I don't have boobs. Got a couple shirts and pants. We stopped and picked up dinner and took it home to Chris and the boys before coming home and took a long hot bath.
Dr put me on steroids for 2 days to help with the pain I still have- I don't know what that's going to do but whatever. As soon as they said steroids I imagined I'll be gaining another 20 pounds. I just got off those stupid things! They keep me up all night and my skin is bright read and I run a low fever. I hate how I feel when I have to take them. Good night!

Big Day!

So today was a big day! I had two appointments; one with the radiologist dr and one with physical therapist.
Morning started out rough- I usually take my pain pills a while before I ever attempt to get out of the recliner I've been sleeping in, but this morning there was no time for that. I was hard enough to even wake up! I've been sleeping 12-14 hours each night and then napping again in the afternoon.
First stop of the day was to the cancer center, to the radiation Dr- he said again that he was shocked that the MRI turned out to be cancer again. Nothing really changed on what he plans to do concerning radiation, except for that he will be radiating my neck/shoulder area to get the lymphnode area, given the cancer was so extensive although the lymph nodes were clear. Holding off on any actual plans until the results of the PETscan are back, which won't be for another few weeks.
This afternoon I met with my physical therapist for the first time. Apparently my surgeon thinks its bad that I refuse to use my left arm and just sit in the recliner packed with pillows all day long. She had me in tears within minutes of doing any treatment on me. She did a lot of measuring of how far I could move my arms in several different directions, then followed with a massage to the surgical sight, my armpit and the entire shoulder area- that killed! It was horrible!
She sent me home with homework since she only is at the office one day a week, I have a lot of healing to do on my own. She sent me to a home medical supply store to get a pully thing that goes into the top of a closed door and I pull one arm up and then pull the other up. I do that as well as the massage and also lay flat on my back in my bed, all for 5 minutes three times a day.
I'm really itching to get back to work. I'm so bored sitting here all day, I need some human contact! Hopefully if this weekend goes well, I can get back there on Monday, might start doing half days, we'll see when the time comes, day by day.
Mentally, I'm doing a lot better than I thought I would considering the initial shock of the news. Before surgery I had researched the surgery online to know what I was getting into. I saw pictures and read all the advice those who have blazed this trail before me had to give. I think that helped the shock factor- every once in a while it gets me, but right now I need to concentrate on getting better!
I hope this clears up some questions those of you who received an email from my mom! I'm fine! Nothing new today! :)