Good Bye 2008!

Thanks to all of you that inquired about my sister’s surgery. Everything went well and she came through it all with flying colors. The first day after surgery was rough, but after that she managed very well. She was a real trooper. Her fitness level is amazing and we even went on a two mile walk the second day after her surgery – drains and all! Can you believe that? When they got into surgery, the doc realized that the implant from her first mastectomy 18 years ago had ruptured and had to be replaced, so she essentially had a double mastectomy. And remember – she also had a full hysterectomy at the same time. Good grief! And even though I am having a very different type of surgery than she did, it gives me hope that my own surgery will be just as tolerable. Go Janet!

The main difference between her breast surgery and mine is the fact that her implants were placed on top of the muscle – no expanders were needed and she is done. I am choosing to remove more breast tissue than she did so the skin will be too thin to place an implant directly underneath. My implants will have to go beneath the muscle. They will start by making a small pocket beneath the muscle and put expanders in place. Each week, I will have saline injected into my breasts to slowly expand the pocket behind the muscle. After three or four months of injections, the pocket will be big enough to hold an implant. We will then do a quick exchange surgery to replace the expanders with permanent implants.

Most people aren’t aware of how long a process this will be. The doctor won’t start filling the expanders until 4 week after the initial surgery and then it will take approximately 3 - 4 months to get back to the size I am now. It will be May or June when the exchange surgery occurs. I understand the “fill up” each week is not painful, but definitely uncomfortable – kinda like having your braces tightened, I suppose. I made it through 4 years of braces, rubber bands, and head gears – guess I will make it through this as well. Ugh – May or June?? That seems like an eternity from now! Will I ever get my life back from cancer?

On another note, our Christmas was just fine and Eli got the one and only thing he really wanted – a cell phone! It is so fun to see his joy as he explores this new toy. I hope some of the excitement will wear off after a month or two because I’ve already gotten more phone calls and text messages this past four days than I normally get in a month! Eli woke me up at 5:30 this morning to say the neighbor boy across the street – who also got a new phone for Christmas – had just called and wanted to know if Eli could come out and play! 5:30 a.m. is earlier than we get up for school!!! So much for sleeping late during vacation! Looks like we will have to have a talk about boundaries and manners, about when it’s appropriate to call and when it’s not. Although he’s only ten, I thinking we are inching into the adolescent years already.

I’m looking forward to kicking 2008 out the door and getting on with 2009! 2008 is not a year I would care to repeat! And although I have 3 surgeries facing me, it all seems better than having cancer and chemo treatments. This may sound weird, but I feel like I have more control over my recovery after surgery than I did from chemo. I may be fooling myself, but that’s how I feel. Incisions and sore muscles seem much easier than the general malaise that comes with chemo.

So, Happy New Year to all! I hope 2009 is full of peace, health and happiness for everyone.