Chemotherapy is DONE!!

Lord willing, I had my last chemotherapy on Wednesday of last week.  Many of you already know that and have celebrated with me.  HIP!! HIP!!  HOORAY!!  I just wanted to give you an update of things and calendar of when things are scheduled.  This week is full of doctor appointments:  plastic surgeon for lots more details on surgery; cardiologist to make sure my heart handled chemo well and will handle surgery well; another visit with the oncologist (without the chemo); and blood work/pre-op stuff in preparation for surgery.  The surgery is scheduled for Friday, September 2 at Memorial City Memorial Herrmann Hospital.  I have to check in at 6:00 AM with surgery to start at 8:00.  The breast surgeon has told me that her part of the surgery will take approximately 2 hours.  The plastic surgeon is doing what is called a DIEP flap reconstruction.  He will make a cut from hip to hip and remove the area below the waist to use for reconstructing the breasts (in essence, a tummy tuck - a good part to all of this).  He then has to re-tie all the blood vessels together for the new breasts - this, apparently, is a very tedious and difficult process.  The reconstruction part of the surgery will take anywhere from 8-12 hours, depending on how my blood vessels respond.  We, again, are praying believing they will all work well.  After surgery, I will be admitted into ICU for 24 hours or more.  The reason for that is the nurses have to check on me every hour to make sure the blood flow is working correctly.  In ICU, there is a one-to-one patient/nurse ratio (or at least a lower ratio).  The plastic surgeon told me I would be in the hospital for 3-7 days.  I won't know for sure what to expect at home until I have further discussion with the plastic surgeon this week.  I will try to post one more time before surgery.  My care calendar is back up for those of you who would like to help in those areas.  Please continue to pray that the pathology comes back indicating that the cancer is gone.  Thank you for your love and concern for my family through all of this.  It would be much more difficult without incredible friends like each of you.

Surgery Date

I finished #10 out of 12 treatments and now have my surgery scheduled for Friday, September 2 at Memorial Hermann Memorial City Hospital.  I met with the breast surgeon this last week and she explained a bit of what she will be doing during the surgery.  In essence, the first thing they will do is inject a nuclear medicine in order to check the lymph nodes on the side of the tumor.  If any of them are "hot", they will remove them.  If I understand correctly, there are 1-3 sentinel (sp?) lymph nodes they will remove anyway on that side.  They will only remove others if they show up as having cancer in them.  We are praying that none of the lymph nodes are affected.  Thankfully, none of the doctors I have seen, whether it be oncologists or surgeons, have ever suspected the lymph nodes to be involved.  We will pray that is the case.  After the breast surgeon removes the breast with the tumor, she will move to the other side and begin work there.  She told me that at that time, the plastic surgeon can come in and get started if he chooses.  They could both be working at the same time - WOW!!  The plastic surgeon did tell me that  if any of the lymph nodes are affected, he would most likely not do reconstruction on the same day so as to allow me to have further treatments if necessary.  Again, we are praying, believing, that will not be the case. 
I meet with the plastic surgeon on the 23rd of August and will get lots more detail from him about his part.  He is the one that will do most of my follow-up care.  I won't bore you (or disgust you) with the details of his part. Just know that I will need lots of prayer throughout this whole process.  After I meet with him, I will give you a brief synopsis of what I am to expect.  I do know that the breast surgeon told me to follow his instructions to the letter in order to recover properly.  She told me that the biggest problems recovering come from trying to get up and do things too soon.  I intend to do exactly as the doctor says (even though I am extremely stubborn and tend to not follow instructions well).  :) 
Once I have surgery, I will need lots of help with meals and rides for my girls to after school  activities for a while.  I will find out once I meet with the plastic surgeon  more of the details, but I'm guessing I won't be driving for over a month.  If you are willing to be a weekly ride (piano, flute, dance, church, etc.) for my girls,  just let me know and I will sign you up.  The care calendar will go back into full swing once I have my surgery.  I'm blessed to have  such wonderful friends.  Thank You!!