Bye Bye Chemo....Hello Surgery!

My last chemo on October 21 went pretty much like the one before it. It takes about 7-10 days to get past feeling mediocre. It seems each time I am more fatigued and regular everyday tasks take more energy than they should. Overall, side effects have stayed about the same the last few treatments. The newest minor side effect is that my nail beds are very tender and sensitive, and my eyes water throughout the day when I get about 1 1/2 - 2 weeks past my chemo treatment. These are inconvenient, but on the scope of things I will take that vs. not feeling well or lacking energy to keep moving throughout the day. But, the good news is that I almost have this part behind me! Tomorrow morning I will endure my last chemo treatment and I can't even explain how excited I am to be this close to the "chemo finish line"!

This past week or so, we have met with a couple of plastic surgeons to discuss pros and cons of various procedures. I cannot have any reconstruction done until probably fall of next year since I will have radiation. The body needs a certain amount of time to heal after the radiation process so that it can have the best results possible for reconstruction. Both plastic surgeons that we met with were very informative and we felt very comfortable with them. They both have worked with my surgeon, Dr. Richmond, before. Originally, I was looking at a DIEP flap procedure, which is a very specialized surgery where they take excess from your abdominal area and use it to form new breasts. In talking with the one plastic surgeon that does this procedure however, I ultimately decided against it. Because of how detailed it is, the surgery takes approximately 14 hours followed by 3 - 4 days in ICU. After all our family has been through this year, it just didn't make sense to me to do a procedure that lengthy, followed by an even lengthier recovery time next year. While risks are low of complications, I just felt under our family's circumstances that involving any other unnecessary parts of the body for reconstruction was just more risk than I was willing to take. The other drawback, which may seem silly to anyone else but my Mom and I, was that the procedure would take place at St. Vincent's which is where we lost my Dad. I couldn't imagine having my Mom go through sitting in a waiting area during my 14 hour surgery that we spent so much time in during my Dad's stay in May, followed by an ICU stay in the very same area where we lost my Dad. So, ultimately I have decided to go with implants. I will have tissue expanders put in during my double mastectomy, and then they will do a faster expansion approach with them over the course of the 4-6 weeks following my surgery in December. Usually the expanders get close to 3 months to gradually increase, but since radiation limits how much your tissue will stretch, they have to do a faster version so that things are where they need to be before radiation starts. With a lot of work and coordination, my breast surgeon and my plastic surgeon were able to schedule this procedure for Thursday, December 8. It is an outpatient surgery, so after my small recovery time at the surgery center in Hillsboro, I will get to be home for the rest of the recovery process, which should be 2-3 weeks. I will be very happy to get what is left of the tumor out before the holidays. It will complicate the holiday season as far as how much I can do, etc but it is worth it to me in the end to know that the tumor is gone and I can begin the next phase of treatment and ultimately get that much closer to the finish line of being cancer free!

Thank you for all of your continued prayers, emails, and cards. Those constant words of encouragement continue to help me get through the days that I don't feel as positive.