home sweet home

hello everybody :)

i'm home... not really sure how i feel about that. i really wanted to stay till tomorrow morning. but the more i thought about it and listened to the doctors, the better i felt about coming home. their point was that they really weren't doing anything for me anymore. so, here's how it went...

wednesday morning kj took me to the hospital at 5:30am. the thoracic block team came in to talk to me about their procedure. basically they were giving me an epidural higher in my back - so rather than having my abdomen and legs numb (like when i had my babies) i had a numb band around my chest. they told me that they would be leaving the epidural in over night to help avoid taking narcotics. there is apparently some preliminary research that has shown that avoiding narcotics when your immune system is down (right after surgery) lowers the chance of recurrence. that made me happy, and kj and i decided that the benefit of a lower recurrence rate outweighed the risk of the epidural. and the epidural went really well :)

they took me away from kj (about 7:30am) to give me the epidural which was *really* hard- he's been with me for my past epidurals, and i was really scared. but the block team was really sweet and both of the doctors held my hands and wiped my face and helped me relax, so it was all good. i'd still rather have had my hubby though!

after that i don't really remember much. i know they brought kj back for a little while and then sent him away and wheeled me somewhere, but i think i fell asleep on the way. and then i woke up in the recovery room at 3:10pm. and the nice doctor from the block team was still there holding my hand. he stayed with me for about an hour till they were able to take me to my real room. i think i got there about 4:30pm.

and then they brought my kj in!! and he was so happy... they told him (and the rest of the fam: mom, dad, jill, lindz, and erik) that they had removed the breasts and couldn't even find my tumor! they had also taken out 6 lymph nodes (4 on the cancer side and 2 on the healthy side) and initial pathology on them was clear :)

so, all the news so far is good. i will meet with the plastic surgeon on monday, and the cancer surgeon on tuesday. by tuesday we're hoping to have the final pathology results. right now there is no reason to believe that the cancer has spread at all, so i am a happy camper :)

i have 3 incisions on each side. one large incision (about 3 inches per side) where they scooped out all the bad and put in the expander. then i have 2 smaller incisions on each side- maybe 1-2 inches each. the top incisions are where they took out the lymph nodes and the bottom incision is where my drains and pain pump are attached. i have 2 drains on each side and one pain tube on each side. the pain tube is connected to a little ball filled with medicine that is time released directly into my wound. we think the medicine is kind of like novocaine and will last for about 5 days or so. i'm also taking an antibiotic and oral pain meds. i'm taking 1 oxycodone every 4-5 hours with tylenol in between. the pain is more of an ache than a pain. much like chemo, i was expecting it to be much worse.

thank you soooo much for all of your notes, and happy thoughts, and prayers. i've had some wonderful friends come and visit me already, and it was fabulous to laugh with them. not to mention my parents and lindz and erik and kj all waiting for me during my surgery.

there are so many thank you's this week, i don't know where to start:

julie- thanks for watching the girls during my mapping

lindz- thanks for coming to my mapping with me :)

amy- thank you so much for watching my girls on tuesday and wednesday... i couldn't have done this without you!

shawon, amy/linda/vicki, and lindsey- thank you for my beautiful flowers. i love, love, love them!!

amy- my taffy jar is adorable and yummy, and i devoured my cookie :)

e- thanks for my chocolate cookie :)

tracy, amy, lindsey, shawon, heather, lindsay, mom, dad, jill, erik, gpa, jeff, mona, and kathy- thanks so much for visiting me- you helped the time go by much faster!!

megan- thanks for setting me up with the best nurses and techs! i had amazing nurses taking care of me. they were all so helpful and caring.

mom, dad, and jill- thank you for watching my girls so that kenny and lindz can focus on me. and thank you for taking care of me, when your not taking care of my girls.

i love you all, and can't tell you how happy i am to be able to write this post. i was really scared of surgery, but i've made it through, and am not in nearly as much pain as i expected. it's all easy going from here :)