Won't you dance with me? It's called the Happy Dance and that's what is going on at the Cooper House.
I had a double mastectomy and total reconstruction done on December 26th. It's been a tough few weeks but it really wasn't as bad as what I had figured it would be. Or maybe I just had really good drugs that made me forget. Either way, it wasn't that bad. The worst part was that I have been sleeping and living in our recliner, which was moved into our bedroom. Craig and LuAnn were gracious enough to loan us another recliner for the living room until ours was available again. It was just hard to get comfortable anywhere I sat and I definitely could not lie in bed, even with a bunch of pillows propping me up. Someone should of told me that I needed to do a whole lot of ab exercises before I had surgery. (Not that I had the energy to do that during chemo.) I was unable to use my arms after surgery and could not use them at all to move or to get myself up and down. It was all up to my abs and my legs. I needed a six pack and had a zero pack. Jason has been off work to help me the last few weeks and my Mom has helped a bunch too. Jason has been the best caregiver ever. I couldn't ask for better care. My hospital stay was only one day so he had to deal with a very drugged-up and sore Beth and had to do some yucky medical care when I got home. Who knew he was such a pro?
I had two surgeons - my regular surgeon, Dr. Schuh, and my plastic surgeon, Dr. Curtis. My surgery was done at the Breast Institute where my chemo and everything else had been done. They were able to do everything at once and I won't need to have any other surgeries. So basically, I got new boobs. Out with the old, in with the new. Some people give up fattening foods for the new year or make other big changes for the new year. Not me though. For me, it's boobs. And eyelashes. And eyebrows. And a new blondish/brown pixie-cut hairdo of sorts. A new year, a new me. A cancer free me.
So today, I went back for my follow-up appointment with my oncologist and one of my surgeons. The nurse had previously read the pathology report to me on the phone a week ago but today I got to go over it with the doctors. Everything looked fabulous! They found 1 centimeter of chemo-soaked cancer left in there. (They took it out of course because they took all of both breasts out.) The rest of the tumor was gone. They also took 7 lymph nodes out, all of which tested negative for cancer. All of the perimeters around the breast tested negative for cancer and that means that I am D-O-N-E! The doctors don't want to see me again for 3 months. They will keep a close eye on me but my oncologist believes that I won't have any more problems and should stay cancer free. Praise God!!! I give Him all the glory for getting me through this. It's been a long journey. Thank you all for the many prayers, the meals, the cards, gas money for our trips to St. Louis, and other gifts from our friends and family. You have all been such a blessing to us. You have no idea how much and I have no idea how I could have gotten through this without you. I am very very blessed and I am very very thankful to be that blessed.
It was a really good day. On the way home from St. Louis, Jason and I stopped to eat lunch. In honor of the new boobs, we ate at Hooter's. Just kidding. We didn't do that. But we did have a nice lunch at Long Horn and then we ended up buying a scratch-off lottery ticket at the gas station (we rarely do that) and we won $50.00! I loved today.
S(NO!)W!
5 years ago
