Finally. Something positive. Something spectacular.

10/6/2022 Update

Last week we met with the plastic surgeon who would be performing my reconstructive surgery.  Dr. Ng was great, she was super informative and very thoughtful in how she explained things to us.  I have 2 surgeons, 1 to perform my bi-lateral mastectomy (Dr. Guerra) and the other to do the reconstructive surgery (Dr. Ng).  They work together during my mastectomy to prepare me for the reconstructive surgery that I will have 4 months later.  Once the breast tissue is removed in my first surgery, Dr. Ng comes in and places temporary ‘deflated bags’ into my chest to allow scar tissue to grow where future implants will be.  During the course of the 4 months post my mastectomy, Dr. Ng will ‘inflate’ the bags every few weeks to allow my skin to heal around what will be my new boobies.  Once everything is in place, she will go back in and place the implants in, removing the bags that were there for temporary support.  

 

NOW FOR THIS WEEK….FINALLY SOME AMAZING NEWS!

 

Monday we went to Dr. Vandermolen and I was very very anxious.  I was starting to feel depressed with how things were moving so slowly, I’ve never felt like that before – weighed down like you couldn’t get up, it was becoming extremely hard to see the end of the journey.  After writing down questions for Monday’s appointment, Dr. Vandermolen comes in, he asks how things are going; I thought I was going to be strong enough to ask him my questions, but all I could do was hand him the paper and let him read it himself while I cried.  After reading my first question of if there was any chance at this point to be done with treatment considering how my body has been responding and also considering how I’ve been feeling, he says ‘I think that is definitely an option.’  He says about 25% of patients do not complete treatment for various reasons and considering how I’ve been doing and how close we are to being done and the treatments have done what they needed that we could be DONE with chemotherapy!!!!  I broke down crying, smiling, and just could feel my body relax for the first time in months.  

 

So now that treatment is over, I can start to work on recovery, slowly.  I know it’s going to take time.  It’s been 11 days post a treatment and I still feel exhausted and am still vomiting 4-5 times a day.  Its going to take time, but I’m ok with this time because this is the time to get back to being me instead of never feeling myself and never knowing when treatments would be over.  I still have to go in for hydration and blood work and doctors visits and tests which is almost daily at this point, but it’s all for good reasons like checking my progress, keeping my body hydrated from all the vomiting, and to get me feeling better. 

 

Now yesterday, was also great news.  I had a mammogram and ultrasound scheduled per Dr. Vandermolen.  I went in, slightly nervous, but not so much because I knew in the back of my head after 5 months of chemotherapy it had worked and taken care of the tumor based on all of the feedback the doctors had given me.  I went back, did both tests and the doctor gave me the results immediately – he says, we do not detect any cancer!!  I cried again, just hearing the confirmation based on the actual imaging vs touch and assumptions was so relieving.  I walked out of the testing, my mom had taken me, I told her the good news and we both started to cry, called Chris and you could hear in his voice how happy he was, it was so heartwarming to know that after all of these months of going through this we had finally come to a great place, that the chemo did its job and that we could start to move forward.  

 

I met with the GI doctor today, she is wanting to do a H. Pylori test on me in the coming weeks to make sure I have no infection in my gut.  But, we have to wait a week or two because of a medication I have now stopped that could create a false positive.  I’ve also scheduled myself to meet with a hypnotherapist to see if he can help with the vomiting.  Trying anything I can to get this to vomiting to stop, it’s been a little over 6 weeks and it’s taking a toll on my weight, my health and my appetite.  

 

So all in all, a really really great week with lots of progress made.  I had hydration today, with an added dose of potassium (my potassium numbers had dipped for the first time – all due to the vomiting) and have it again tomorrow.  Today I felt pretty decent and know that each day, little by little, I’ll start to feel like myself again.