2 Weeks Post Surgery

 Hola friends! Let me bring you up to date!

This surgery was a breeze!  I woke up without nausea—shout out to our friend, David Seal, who worked my surgery and hooked me up with some awesome Drugs. Anesthesia made me nauseous last time so we wanted to be sure we were prepared this time….it worked! If you remember, he was in my last surgery and he chose to be in my surgery again this time.  I guess I didn’t scare him off! Thanks David! I’m sure I’ll see you again!

When I woke up in recovery, the only thing I could feel was my leg incision. Soooo 2 weeks prior to surgery, I visited my dermatologist. I asked to have a spot on my left thigh removed because it bothered me.  It didn’t hurt; it was just annoying. I’ve had the spot for a few years now but it grew in size over the last year. My dermatologist saw it last year and said it was nothing; and then again this year said it was probably just something benign. BUT, given my genetic issue, she agreed to remove it and send it to pathology.  I was not worried about it at all. Well, fast-forward to the Thursday before my surgery and my dermatologist calls me and said surprisingly that the path had come back and they were calling it an atypical smooth muscle tumor.  Ugh, what the heck it that!? Is that muscle cancer….is it skin cancer…..is it cancer at all?! My derm did not know. Basically she said it could be on the cusp of smooth muscle cancer and the only treatment needed was to remove more tissue. We hung up the phone and she called my surgeon at Moffitt to discuss my pathology report and see if she would do the procedure while I was in surgery on the following Monday. Dr. Lee agreed, so that’s why I woke up from surgery feeling my leg throbbing a bit.

There goes my chances of being a Leg model

The week that followed surgery just consisted of me resting. My surgeon told me the less I did, the sooner the drains would come out. I wasn’t about to take that chance….I wanted them out! By Friday, I got out of the house and went to lunch with Ross and my brother in law. It took me about 15 minutes to decide what to wear in public that hid my drains and hid my flat chest. That was a difficult task but I managed. However, after that, I limited my outings because getting dressed was quite stressful.

My best friend, Mindi, came down from NY and relieved Ross of his nursing duties on Monday…. a week after my surgery. I cannot tell her enough how grateful we were to have her here. Mindi is so nurturing and caring. My dear friend was willing to do anything to help us out, even give me a foot rub! Now that’s what I call a TRUE friend! Nursing was definitely her calling. 

Just livin the dream

I’m so thankful for our lifelong friendship. Ross, Judd and I love you, Mindi! Thank you for the belly laughs you supplied, the inappropriate conversations we had, giving Juddy baths and making his lunch, being a couch potato with me, letting me listen to Linda (lol), thank you for driving me to Moffitt and cleaning up around the house. You made our life easier the days you were here. You are a jack-of-all-trades and a true gem to be around!

Sorry for the rant but I needed to give credit where credit was due!

Back to my story…

Last Wednesday, we went to Moffitt for my follow up with my surgeon. I got my drains out…YAY! What a relief that was. The final pathology wasn’t completely finished…..but my surgeon called the pathologist and got the needed info to share with me. My leg was all clear! There wasn’t anything left of the tumor in the tissue that was removed. So I guess we’ll never know what it was exactly. My breast margins were also clear. From a surgery standpoint…there is nothing else that would need to be removed. However, she said it was a little closer to the chest wall than she would have liked. It would have warranted a discussion about radiation, but given my genetic pre disposition, we have to avoid radiation. So not exactly perfect news, but it will have to be good enough! Also, my lymph nodes were CLEAR too! They removed a total of 3 nodes in surgery and none were cancerous! Praise God!

After I saw the surgeon, we saw my oncologist. Dr. Khan told me she was disappointed that the chemotherapy didn’t do more with my tumors. Usually you will see necrotic tissue around the tumors and I still had active cancerous lesions that could be seen during surgery. This tells her that my tumors rely more on estrogen.  I will begin taking the pill Tamoxifin now for potentially 10 years. My oncologist’s mission is to stop my estrogen supply and put me into menopause. That’s never what you want to hear as a young 29 year old who would love to have another child.  Dr. Khan told me that I am her patient and MY health is her main focus. I was not shocked by this news because it had been mentioned before, but it still stung just the same. Before we were told maybe 5 years down the road we could try again, but this time, she was more concrete that it would not be a wise health decision to become pregnant again and have that surge in hormones. Ross and I would have loved to make Judd a big brother, but God has other plans for us. Who knows what the future will hold, but at this moment, Ross and I are SO VERY THANKFUL God gave us our son before all of this happened…..we’re Content. He brings more joy to our lives then we would have ever prayed for, so why dwell on anything else?! We are blessed beyond measure!

This Friday I’ll head into my local oncology office and receive my 6^th round of Herceptin. I will have 11 more rounds to go which should end around next June. The reconstruction process will most likely start in January. I will not have another scan for about 6 months or so; but I will be seen every 3 months by my surgeon and Moffitt oncologist. 

Please trusty followers, keep my family in your prayers. We are ready for our big break and to continue the journey of being cancer free.  Pray for a cure!

THANK YOU!

Love,

Abby