finally...almost.

my headlights.
as our best friend, charlie, so diplomatically refers to them.
if you haven’t read any older posts...long story short.
got an implant, didn’t work. who knew?
(I bought a car. It turned out to be an alien robot. Who knew?)
problem around the incision > infection > implant out > grotesque hole in my chest
took FOREVER to heal...even a little...because of the radiation i had 6 years ago.
so, fast forward to monday...when i will be having surgery again.
latissimus dorsi tissue flap breast reconstruction.
in other words...they take skin and muscle from my back and somehow move it to my front.
they’ll put an expander in...which will eventually be filled to the point where ill have the next surgery. whew.
but my mantra...it’s not cancer...and it doesn’t hurt...has worked.
bri is, and has been, with me every step of the way...and the kids are totally ready to help out (olivia even went with me to the grocery store this morning to help pick out stuff she wants to make)
ill keep you posted...until then...shine on.
(see what i did there...headlight, shine on. where are you, jenny, when i need you!)

:)

no lymph node involvement! i meet with my oncologist next week so i can’t say for 100% certain that i won’t have additional treatment...but its still a good sign. i also found out that there was a pre-cancerous growth in the right breast that nothing picked up except this biopsy. so just more reassurance for us that we did the right thing. so, have a toast for me. i’ll join you as soon as i get off all these pain killers! xoxo

and ps. i will just never be able to thank everyone enough for all their prayers and help. we are just so blessed to have so many loving families. brace yourself, i think this will be an ongoing theme for lot of the next posts!

vacuum

so, it would appear that my luck with cancer is about as good as my luck in vacuums. which is to say...it sucks. (see what i did there?) having gone through 3 vacuums in about 2 months...i could hardly believe it was happening. but with those vacuums...it was so crazy that all i could do was laugh. the cancer...not so much. right at my five year mark...my routine mri showed a shadow that wasn’t there last year. when they say shadow, it kind of makes it not sound so ominous. but when they say invasive lobular cancer...not so good. anyway, i am having a double mastectomy with reconstruction on march 2nd. i am really ok with it. i didn’t start this blog to really reveal all sorts or personal stuff, but right now it seems like a good way to keep everyone in the loop. we won’t know till the day of the surgery if it has spread to my lymph nodes, but my thinking is that if they only saw a “shadow”...it’s small. so all my positive energy is going in that bucket.

(my next appointment is for pre-op next monday. nothing scary. just blood work...which i was due for anyway.)