Surgery and Recovery

Sorry it has taken me so long to write.  The week of my surgery was also my birthday and we celebrated by having a  home cooked dinner with Nita, Mother, Kelsey and Evie in Midland.  Then when we shipped out (Libby and I) we had a wonderful dinner with her nephew Sam (we will be talking about this meal for a long time - can you say white chocolate bread pudding - yummy) on Sunday and a great Italian dinner with Sherry and Barry on Monday night.  It was great to have Sherry and Barry come down to root me on thru surgery.  On Tuesday, my breast removal went well.  The staff at MDAnderson is the best!  Where else in the world can you go in for surgery and have peace and quite to sleep..

The drainage tubes were a bitch to deal will.  Was able to have one removed after 3 weeks but the last tube  stayed in until just a few days before thanksgiving.  Working on getting my range of motion back.  Kelsey and Evie were waiting for me when I arrived home from Surgery (once again, Libby traveled with me for the ordeal and stayed with me in Houston for 4-5 days).  It was amazing how good I felt after surgery. Oh, maybe that was the pain meds ;-).  But I do believe that the block that they used in surgery had a good 10 day effect to minimize the pain.  It was so funny, one minute I am sitting on the side of the bed talking to the anesthesiologist while she marks my neck, a nurse walks around in front of me-smiles and says "I'm just going to place my hands on your shoulders to balance you." the next thing I know I am waking up from surgery.  Now that's the way to do it!  Good meds thereafter made the first week bearable.  Not too many could or would stand around to help with the daily work on the tubes but I managed just fine.  Thank God I do not have a queasy stomach. ;-)  Nita had made me a whole batch of different sized pillows for my birthday and they really helped me and gave Evie something to play with. (See the photo below for one of the pillows Nita made for me.)  Evie and Kelsey are my best Medicine any time of day or night.  I sat in he floor with Evie my first week of recovery and played and played until we both took naps. Kelsey continues to text me and send pictures of Evie and the effect of viewing those photos is marvelous.

About 10 days after surgery, I was called with the results of the pathology report.  Although I had great margins at the time of surgery, the pathology report came back bad.  Now the radiation therapy is more important than ever and will begin shortly.  Gotta heal up first.  Radiation will be twice a day, Monday thru Friday, for about 5 weeks.  Can you say happy holidays... ;-(  Oh well, we will "make it work!"

Keep praying for me!  I will have to go thru more chemo after radiation and some of it will include some experimental treatment.  Dang old IBC is a tough nut to crack and to stop.  My ornery side is wearing thin, but the battle continues.  With your help, prayers and support I will fight and claw my way back!

Day after Surgery!