I headed to Vancouver last week to see my PSurg. I needed to get my stitches out and also get my first “fill-up”. I was eligible to fly there through this non-profit organization called Hope Air. They fly people to and from medical appointments as needed. It’s a great organization so if you hear of a fundraiser for them or simply feel like donating to a worthy cause, please consider this group.
My PSurg was really happy with how I was healing. She said that everything looked great. She removed my bandages and then started to take out my stitches. I had a dissolvable stitch running underneath each breast and then a set of stitches surrounding my right areola and up my left chest. Not the most pleasant thing to remove, but again, my pain scale just remembers to when I woke up from surgery and nothing really seems that bad anymore.
My PSurg then went and got some saline to fill up my expander. The syringe was nearly a foot long and the needle was about 2 inches long…yikes! All I kept thinking of was that scene from Pulp Fiction where Uma gets stabbed in the heart with a shot of adrenaline. I decided to look the other way.
The first 100cc went in really easily, so the PSurg got another 50cc. She wanted to be aggressive on my fill-ups to ensure I have a decent size before my radiation. After looking at the new size with the 150cc, she figured I could get filled-up once per week in Kelowna, and maybe be done before the new year!
She then put paper tape on my incisions to minimize scarring. Vitamin E is thought to widen scars so she said wearing this tape is the best thing for helping with healing.
Turns out, my pathology report had come in as well so my PSurg called over to my Surgeon to see if there was any time she could see me before I left for home. Luckily she could squeeze me in before her first surgery of the next morning! My PSurg handed me a copy of the report and told me to bring it with me. While I could understand most of the words on the report, making sense of what it meant was a whole new ball game. Good thing the Surgeon could see me to explain!
My Aunt and I then headed over to meet my uncles and my cousin for dinner. It was really awesome to see everyone and have what felt like a normal dinner conversation. We caught up with what was going on and only minimally talked about my health – sometimes it’s really nice to not talk about what is happening with me and instead focus on what is happening with other people.
The next morning we were up super early to head in to see my Surgeon. My Aunt was a trooper and kindly took me to the hospital during early morning Vancouver rush-hour. We arrived early and it was lucky we did – my Surgeon’s first operation of the day was moved up!
My Surgeon came around the corner with a big smile and told me I was looking really great – I guess compared to the last time I saw her (630am the day after my surgery) anything would have been a little better ! She took me into a room to examine me and said that things looked really great. She was happy with how everything turned out and told me I’d be a “work of art” when everything was finished.
She then went over the pathology report with me. The tissue they removed had two remaining tumors. This is not surprising as sometimes masses start ‘in-situ’ (in the ducts) and the ducts protect the tumor from a lot of the chemo.
When they remove tumors, they look to get a ring of healthy tissue surrounding the mass, to ensure they got it all. Protocol calls for .2cm. They were able to get 1.1cm with my mastectomy! This is great news as it means the tumors likely had no chance to spread into the surrounding tissue in my chest wall.
The report also highlighted that there was no cancer involvement in the skin or the nipple. Again, great news! My tumors were analyzed and downgraded to a grade 1. Again, great news! (In the cancer-world, the lower the numbers, the better).
Finally the report highlighted the lymph nodes that were removed during my surgery. Out of the 4 that the Surgeon took out, zero showed cancerous infection. That’s right, ZERO. My cancer did not get a chance to spread!
My Surgeon told me to talk to my Radiation Oncologist and see how he wanted to proceed with treatment, given my pathology report. She suggested that radiation is still likely in the cards for me, but to ask to be sure.
She also talked to me about potentially going back to school in May. She said that she thought it was definitely possible – I could always wait to have the final implant surgery. Some people have tissue expanders in for quite some time, so I don’t need to worry about that. I need to wait and see a little bit, but things are looking okay on the school front!
I went out to see my Aunt in the waiting room and I couldn’t even talk. She looked at me with a sort of excited curiosity and all I could do was nod my head. She had this huge smile on her face and gave me a big hug and I started crying (of course….seriously, can I go one blog post without shedding some tears??? Haha). I told her the news and we both were so smiley after that.
I really didn’t realize how much the results were weighing on me, until I heard the news. It honestly felt like20lbs had been lifted from my shoulders and chest. I felt better than I had in months!
So there you have it - Great results from the great team of people who have been taking care of me. One more treatment type to go!
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