Surgery, and recovery...

So apparently, when the plan is chemo, then surgery... surgery doesn't take place for at least 4 weeks after the last chemo treatment. My surgery was May 17... 4 weeks to the day!

In a nutshell, I underwent a bilateral mastectomy, removal of 9 lymph nodes on one side, and reconstruction on the other side. I have to delay reconstruction on the ‘lymph node’ because of the upcoming step 3, radiation. This was definitely major surgery, the most major surgery I've ever been through. I'm doing ok though.

the day before surgery, almost matching hairdo's... lol

So let’s back up to May 16… I had to be at City of Hope in Duarte by noon for my COVID test… a requirement before surgery. (Oh, side note in case you’re wondering… the reason for this taking place in Duarte is because of my plastic surgeon… she came with a very high recommendation so why choose less than the best when given the option?) Anyway this was my first COVID test and wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. But because of this test and the fact that we live so far away, they put us up for the night in one of their apartments just down the street… it was a perfect, quiet, clean as a whistle, little one-bedroom. For dinner that night we got ‘to-go’ from The Old Spaghetti Factory… a favorite restaurant from long ago and it was delicious! We had a relaxing afternoon, evening, (as relaxed as one can be before surgery) but the biggest benefit of staying the night was so that we didn’t have the stress of the commute with crazy Monday morning traffic on the 14 and the 210.

May 17… They still have the no-visitor policy, so once again I went in alone... this one was definitely the hardest on us both. Anyway, I had to be at the hospital by 8:30 a.m., but my surgery wasn’t scheduled until 11:00 a.m. Once I got checked in everything went smoothly. There was a little glitch when they discovered I was sent to the wrong department, but after that all was good. Once in my room, I met the team, and there must’ve been about 10 of them and it was one thing after another, including being taken to nuclear medicine for 4 dye injections (it’s a lymph node thing). Around 10:30 I met with my two surgeons for one last review then rolled into the surgery room right at 11:00!

I don’t remember going under, nor waking up! Weird.

But I’m told that 4 hours later I was done and everything went well!

What I am truly thankful for is that my procedure was actually supposed to take 6 hours, however my two surgeons worked simultaneously for a portion of the procedure, so I wasn’t ‘under’ as long. Thank you Dr. Player and Dr. Wai-Yee Li... teamwork!

Back in my room (and a nice room it was), I got lots of visits from my team… checking on my status every 5 minutes (or so it seemed), but a top-notch, caring team. It’s all a little fuzzy but this is what I remember…

• the bathroom was just across the hall, so very convenient

• the blanket with warm air blowing through it is genius

• I had compressions on my legs that massaged them like every 30 seconds

• they made me walk the floor every time I got up

• the ice chips were amazing

• I watched a lot of TV

• I was on oxygen for the night, but my level kept dropping which would sound the alarm, which would wake me up. Needless to say I didn’t get a lot of sleep. It was a very quiet floor, except for my alarm!

Morning arrived and I got to order breakfast anything and as much as I wanted! It was really good, or maybe I was just really hungry. The team visits continued, but now they were more geared to preparing my exit… unhooking me from all my attachments, reviewing my at-home procedures, and meeting with my OT. I checked out early afternoon, and the ride home was a little rough… you tend to feel every little bump in the road when you have fresh incisions.

My first follow-up with my plastic surgeon was one week after surgery, and 2 of my 4 drains were removed. Then I had another follow-up 4 days after that and the last 2 drains were removed… Yay! It was great to finally be drain-free! Why? Because drains have to be stripped and emptied 3 times a day! Not fun… but a task that was taken very seriously by my wonderful at-home caregiver/husband… he took his assignment very seriously and felt totally qualified since he worked in a vet’s office like 40 years ago!! lol

So recovery is just that… time to recover. It’s a little slow in my opinion, but possibly I’m just getting impatient. I have exercises to do, I have pain pills (that I only take when absolutely necessary), and I have lots of restrictions. The first two weeks consisted of bandages, drains, meds, and lots of rest… so thankful to the friends (B,J,J) who got us Netflix!

I met with my oncology surgeon last week and was given permission to drive again… yay! No more bandages, no more drains and I can drive… baby steps but a whole new level of freedom! I’m coming up on three weeks post surgery, so hoping my recovery continues down the right path. I have some significant pain in my arm on the side that the lymph nodes were removed, so hoping that it starts feeling better soon. And I’m still pretty sore from the incisions and internal cutting, scraping, etc. They’re all normal pains so that’s good to know, but I’m ready to be pain free. I’m starting to do ‘little’ things, while making sure I don’t overdo it! I definitely don’t want to undo anything!!

Over the last few weeks, I’ve received so many wonderful, heartfelt notes and gifts… calls and visits. You have no idea how much I appreciate you all and how perfect the gifts have been during my recovery.

Thank you to my dear G and G...

...the yellow long stem roses are absolutely gorgeous.

I love you both so much!

Thank you Esperanza staff for the basket full of wonderful treats and gifts… so much care and fun was packed into this basket! Have a great summer break!!

Thank you J, D, and J for the absolutely beautiful flowers… I can’t wait to see you.

Thank you AV Edge for the gorgeous bouquet of flowers, this was so very sweet of you all.

Thank you RL and the entire L and A families… I love all the purple and E, I really love my personalized cup!

Thank you to my friend BL for the flowers, Starbucks, and for checking in on me… oh and dinner out was awesome!

Thank you B family for the Bee Well Soon flowers… so adorable just like you all!!

Thank you Gregg Anderson staff for the amazing basket of lemony delights and thoughtful gifts… what a nice variety of fun and yumminess! MS... thanks for the visit... it was great seeing you my friend!

Thank you LM for the beautiful flowers and the amazingly delightful cookies... you know me too well!!

Thank you to my friend JG... the visit was wonderful, the puzzles are amazing, especially the 'lego' puzzle! Love you and happy retirement my friend!

And last but not least, thank you Anaverde Hills and Leona Valley staff… the basket is adorable, the gift cards are perfect, but mostly I love all the inspirational flowers. H, you're awesome!

Beyond Grateful!

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As far as my side effects from chemo, most are gone and I’m grateful for that. I can taste again... hurrah!! No more bloody noses, I’m not exhausted like I was, no more mouth sores, no more excessively dry skin, the chemo cough is gone. I still have neuropathy and intermittent swelling, so hoping they go away some day. Neither are painful, just irritating!

I didn’t have many eyelashes left at the end of chemo, but the remaining few decided they didn’t want to hang out with me...rude! Which means I ended up with NO eyelashes and NO eyebrows... NONE... ugh! BUT... here's the best news... they’re starting to make a comeback… just this week I saw new growth (with a 10x mirror... lol) but that’s super exciting!! I repeat… super exciting!!!

AND my hair is not all white anymore… the new growth is much darker. It’s still pretty short, so there’s no styling necessary, but I’ve been complimented on my cut and color multiple times already!! I want to say neither was my choice, but instead I just accept the compliment and just say ‘thank you’! 😊

Next on the to-do list on this journey is radiation. I met with my oncology radiologist last week, and am scheduled to start treatments this month. More on that later.

For now this Greek warrior princess will continue to focus on recovering from surgery.