December 17, 2006 Jen Update - Post Mastectomy

12/17/06


Hi Everyone,

Let me just start out thanking you for the outpouring of warm wishes, prayers, cards and get well gifts, I really appreciate your efforts to keep my spirits high. I just love you all for that. J.R. has been taking such good care of me I think I may be getting spoiled. He has not left my side and has taken care of everything for me. I’m claiming greatest husband on the planet status for him. Honestly I could type up three pages of “above and beyond” stories just in the last two weeks.

I am doing really well these days. Obviously I’d prefer to not have to go through any of this but in the grand scheme of things I couldn’t ask for a better result. J.R. did a great job of getting everyone up to speed on my hospital stay so I won’t bore you with any additional details from that, other than asking if anyone happened to get the license plate number of the truck that mowed me over. Anyone? No? Oh well, it was worth a shot.

I have not been this flat since the 5th grade and oddly enough I am not entirely hating it. The bra thing is over rated so I am not missing that one bit. 12 hours in an under wire bra is about a toss up to this. I am still in a bit of pain, as you can imagine, this does not heal over night, and just when you get used to it, it’s time for a fill up.

So what have I been doing the last two weeks? Well I’ve taken quite a few pain pills, and those who know me well know that I can’t stand pain pills. They make me slobber. That and Starburst candy, I’m a slobbering idiot. But I have to say in this case they have been my best friends. I blew right through the Oxycodone and am now taking Percocet, which is the same thing but with Tylenol. I didn’t know that before. I’m taking one maybe two pills a day now, which is good. God knows I have enough issues without adding drug addiction to the mix. I have been sleeping quite well, which my body really needs. The cats love it because I am an easy target to snuggle with. J.R. likes it too for the same reason. : )

I’ve been eating a lot of soft foods too, again the pain pills make that necessary for me. It coats my stomach and helps with the nausea they cause me. I realize that I will make a really good elderly person because I like soft foods, I don’t mind eating at 4 pm and I can be entertained by game shows and HGTV for hours. So I am not so afraid of getting old now.

This week was pretty interesting, I went in for my first “fill up” on Weds. I was scared at first because they inject the solution through a needle through the chest muscle. Again I really, really, really hate needles. So I walk into the room and on a table is a big syringe with a long tube and a needle on the end. There are some bandages and a device that looked like something from a Harry Potter movie. This device was a stick about 8” long, had two circles on the end and a little moving bobber deal in the middle. So a stick with a circle in a circle and a bobber in the middle, and they swiveled within each other. Can you picture it? Oh, and it was black plastic. Plastic? ???

Anyway, if you remember from my past e-mail that there are magnetic discs in my expanders, then this will make sense. So the Harry Potter dealio gets moved back and forth over my breast and the bobber thing points right to the magnet in the expander. It is the weirdest thing to watch, it’s like the metal detector of breast implants. Once this point is found the Dr. marks me with a Sharpie. Then I close my eyes, squeeze J.R.’s hand and pray it doesn’t hurt. It wasn’t so bad, but it felt really strange. The goal is to add 50 cc’s to each side every 1 ½ - 2 weeks, whatever I can handle. So I got the 50 cc’s in the left side and then she did the right. It was way tighter on the right so she took out 10 cc’s. Again, it felt really strange because I could feel it get less tight.

So for all the smart asses out there, which cover most of you, yes, my boobs are two different sizes right now. Just in case anyone is wondering, expanders are very uncomfortable. They are hard as hell, ride high and are slightly under the arm pit so it feels very unnatural. Ladies, you know when you’re wearing really cute but uncomfortable shoes and you can’t wait to get home and take them off? It feels the same uncomfortable way on my chest but I can’t get them off. So that’s frustrating. And they hurt. It’s like when someone is rubbing your arm while watching t.v. and all of a sudden you realize it doesn’t feel good anymore and your skin feels raw. It feels like that on the underside of the muscle, so there isn’t anything you can do about it.

I’ve been having more issues on the right side than the left which I can’t quite understand. My range of motion on the right is not as good as the left and it’s tighter and more sore on the right. Go figure. I started physical therapy on Friday. Basically I was sent home with a pulley deal which I attach to a door and raise and lower my arms. It has helped and my range is getting better. My P.T., Jason, told me to cut my self a break, I guess people don’t go in for P.T. for several more weeks or months after a mastectomy. I don’t think the medical staff quite appreciates how limited my patience level for this kind of thing is. I want to heal faster and get my range of motion back.

After the physical therapy session we went to visit my oncologist and I saw where I will be taking chemo. There were so many women in there it was heart breaking. Oddly enough everyone seemed to be in a good mood. I guess we looked like the new kids at school because I had two women give me their numbers and told me to call them with questions. I start chemo on Tuesday and am scheduled for 4 cycles so far. They will each be two weeks apart. I am not sure what to expect from chemo but don’t worry, you will find out as soon as I do what it’s like.

I am going back to work tomorrow, Monday the 18th and am really excited to get 2007 business rolling. 2006 has gone by so quickly that I can not believe it. We have started a blog but it’s still a work in progress so when we are ready to publish, we’ll get you the info. In the meantime, my e-mail account is the best way to communicate with me.

Well that’s it for now, thank you again for everyone’s support, I am so lucky to have you all in my life.

Love to you all!
Jen