PRAISE GOD IT IS OVER

Well, believe it or not it is noon on Sat. and I am home!! PRAISE GOD!!


It all went very well and I can't express to you all how grateful I am. I am VERY tired, VERY SORE, and all the usual things that follow surgery. Mel has just fixed my lunch (yay, the first I have I have really eaten) and brought me over my lap top so I could catch you all up. It won't be too long (though I've lots I could tell you) as it does kind of hurt my arms to type.

I was VERY scared the morning of the surgery I won't lie, but I did REALLY well for me no doubt do to all the prayer. I was sooo nauseous coming out of the anesthesia it was almost unbearable. I don't usually get that but I sure did this time. The pain was pretty bad (at first) and my mouth is STILL dry. I didn't really fall asleep until after 1:00 am this morning and then it was a constant interruption for blood pressure readings, medications etc. But it is all BEHIND me now.

Now here is some good news. I have been reading WAY up on my particular type of cancer. MOST doctors do indeed consider it cancer, and not pre-cancer, but my oncologist considers it pre like I said. However of course she too admitted that there was a very small chance that there might be a little invasive cancer somewhere do to the fact that what I had was soo extensive. The first big hurdle to get through was the testing of the nodes. They were only going to check the main node that empties the breast and if they were both clear that was all they were going to check. This would also make recovery MUCH MUCH easier. Well, praise God they were clear as far as their testing went in the operating room. He said they appeared perfectly normal and small and hard. All good signs. He said he really shouldn’t say it but that he knows they will be benign. They do of course still have to send everything to pathology and I will know for sure on Tues. He said my other breast "appeared" to be perfectly normal. Soo if this is all the case, I will be considered completely cancer free and my chances that I might ever develop a breast cancer of any sort are 99% I won't. A very good percentage I am thinking. This whole thing has been VERY difficult and yet I feel soo fortunate and soo blessed. There was another much younger woman (late 30's) who was there to have her port put in for chemo. Her cancer was quite advanced and aggressive. Another young girl was in for a double mastectomy and she is only 28! A 87 year old woman also there for a lumpectomy whose cancer was returning for second time. My heart broke for them all. Cancer is a frightening thing and yet everyone of our lives belong to Him and we never know the day and time He might call us home. We must be ready.

THANK YOU ALL for your prayers, flowers, cards and thoughts. I will wait for tues to hear the official word before I will consider myself completely out of the woods. I still have to face life with a double mastectomy. I have to work drains and no shower for a week, maybe two! Nobody told me that. But it all pales in comparison to what could have been. I probably won’t be able to visit for a while, but know you are all in my thoughts and prayers. I am going to nap now. = )