The lump has left the building

I’m writing this blog post while sitting at a restaurant bar, sipping on some rose at 2pm on a Tuesday. Being on leave from work is pretty great :) I’m making cancer sound fun, aren’t I? Let’s go back a couple weeks and talk about why I’m on leave … this will be a better description of my reality.

I finished my last round of chemo on Wednesday, July 8 and the next step in my treatment was surgery. I’ve talked about this in previous posts so many of you know that I had my lumpectomy on Thursday, August 6. My doctor prescribed two weeks of time off work after surgery so here I am with nothing to do in the middle of the day on a Tuesday afternoon. The downtime has been amazing and it’s given me time to recharge and reflect on everything that I’ve been through over the past several months.

All in all, surgery was not too bad. It was the first semi major surgery I’ve ever had so I was a bit anxious the morning of as Matt and I drove to the hospital. It was an outpatient surgery which meant I got to go home the same day. We got to the hospital at 6am and surgery was scheduled to begin at 7:30am. The nice thing about being the first surgery of the day is that they tend to start on time. The anesthesiologist came in to talk about the combo of drugs he would be giving me and then my surgeon came to check in before I headed into the OR.

As I walked into the OR, the following conversation happened between the anesthesiologist and myself:

Him: Welcome to my spa!

Me: This doesn’t look like any spa I’ve ever been to.

Him: Well, you’re just in time for happy hour so it’s your lucky day!

Me: This also doesn’t look like any happy hour I’ve ever been to.

Him: Trust me, this will be the best happy hour you’ve ever experienced.

I got settled on the table at this point and he started talking again.

Him: So, where are you going to go in your dreams today?

Me: I think I’ll go to Thailand, it’s where my husband and I went on our honeymoon.

Him: Oh, Thailand is gorgeous … those beaches are amazing. Ok, here comes the good stuff.

Me: Is this going to just make me a little sleepy or is this the stuff that’s going to knock me out.

Him: Well, when I was getting my degree at that online school, they told me this would knock you out. Fingers crossed.

Whole operating room starts laughing

Me: Is this really a time to be making jokes with me? Oh yeah, I’m getting dizzy. ZZZZZ

And the next thing I remember, I’m opening my eyes to see my mom and Matt sitting in the recovery room across from me.  I hung out there for a little while, until I could eat some food, speak coherently, as well as stand up and get dressed. We were headed home by around 10:30am. Apparently I told the nurses I felt like I drank four bottles of wine as I came out of surgery and I also told my mom and Matt the same story about 5 times. Those must have been some amazing drugs :P

Dr. Grissom (my surgeon) called the Monday after surgery with the pathology results. She had taken two sentinel nodes to biopsy as well as the whole tumor & some surrounding tissue. Pathology confirmed that there was no cancer present in my lymph nodes at all & that all the surrounding tissue was clear! This was the news we were hoping for … success! My cancer is stage 2, simply because of the size of the tumor, not because any had spread to the nodes. She called it a, “less exciting stage 2.” I’m ok with that, the less exciting the better! The cancer was slow growing, which we already knew and the chemo had shrunk the tumor by about half.

My recovery has been fairly easy, easier than I expected it to be. I had a huge ace bandage wrapped around my chest when I came out of surgery that I had to keep on for 48 hours but now I’m just stuck with the steri strips over the incisions. I’m still sore but the pain was never terrible. I’ve had headaches that hurt worse. The most annoying part about all this is that, for the most part, I feel great! Then I try walking up a hill or just walking too far and I’m reminded that my energy sure isn’t what it used to be. My iron is still pretty low and until those levels get back to normal, my fatigue will be a persistent nag. Dr. Jeske told me it will likely take a few months to get to that point.

It’s now Wednesday afternoon and I just got done with my post op appointment with Dr. Grissom as well as a Herceptin treatment with Dr. Jeske. My incision is healing nicely and I don’t have to see Dr. Grissom for another 6 months. Hooray! I’ll have check up appts with her every 6 months for a few years as well as yearly mammograms & breast MRIs. The mammograms and MRIs will offset each other so that I’ll have one of those done every 6 months. We’re keeping a close eye on these boobs!

Dr. Jeske and I talked about next steps for my hormone therapy and have decided that I’ll stay on the Lupron and add in an aromatase inhibitor. It’s shown to be a very effective hormone therapy for my type of cancer so here goes nothing. I was hoping to get off of the Lupron soon because the side effects aren’t exactly a party, but if this is going to be the best option to make sure this cancer doesn’t come back, I’ll deal with the hot flashes and night sweats. Basically, these meds put me in menopause. At the ripe age of 33.

Because I’m in menopause, this also means my bones can become more brittle. Oh, yippee! I’m in the process of making an appointment to get a bone density test done so my doctors can have a baseline to compare future tests with. I have to add in calcium and vitamin D to my list of supplements and Dr. Jeske assured me there are calcium supplements that taste like candy. Silver lining!

I’m meeting with my radiation oncologist in about an hour and it will be really nice to have next steps in place for radiation. As far as I know, radiation will be about 6 weeks total and I’ll have the treatments done every day, Monday-Friday. I’m going to get to know the people in that office VERY well. The appointments don’t take nearly as long as chemo and the side effects should pale in comparison. There will probably be some pain toward the end and I’ve been told it feels like the very worst sunburn you’ve ever had. I’ll update with more info as soon as I meet with Dr. Fowble this afternoon. Matt is coming with me to be my trusty note taker again. He’s been the absolute best ever through all this.

Sorry for the long post, I guess I had a lot to say! Will write again soon.

Xo,

Al