Today is a good day

The recovery process has been going well, better than I expected.  There have been a few moments in the past week where I am completely amazed at how the body can heal and then humbled when my body reminds me to slow down and rest.    Being 12 days post-op is full of those reminders.  We had the opportunity to celebrate a friends birthday the other night which was so fun and it felt soo good to get out of the house.  I hadn’t realized how stir-crazy I was feeling, but boy did it feel good to see people and just get out of the house!  But then my body reminded me..”Girl! You Just had surgery..settle down and get some rest.”  My body was tired and sore that night. Lesson learned as I spent the next day resting and napping.

Every day though I am trying to complete a few basic tasks so that I can improve my range of motion in my arms and improve my energy/stamina.  I also am trying to add more protein to my diet as this also helps with the healing process. Thank goodness I like yogurt and eggs as this has been helping with getting more protein in my diet.

Last night I received some of the best news I’ve heard in a while

HOORAY!!  Good News Indeed! I needed that!

Today I got to speak to Dr. C and she went on to say that having a bilateral mastectomy (in hindsight) was the best decision we could’ve made for a couple of reasons.

According to the imaging and biopsy prior to surgery, the cancer cells were 3.5 cm.  During surgery though it was discovered the cells had actually spread to 5.5 cm.  She mentioned that if I had chosen the lumpectomy route, she wouldn’t have been able to get clear margins and would’ve recommended a mastectomy at that point! Bullet #1 dodged.

Additionally, she shared my right breast was filled with atypical cells; not cancerous but cells that would need to be watched overtime along with taking Tamoxifen (an Estrogen blocker) to slow the growth of these cells.  As someone who has struggled over the years with the hormones in birth control pills, she stated this would have most likely caused my a lot of side effects as the dosage of the estrogen blocker is typically higher than what is normally found in birth control pills. Bullet #2 dodged!

I’ve always believed in following your gut instinct but this was 100% validated today.  As soon as I received this diagnosis, something inside me told me..Mastectomy so I followed that .  Then it was a matter of deciding if a single or bilateral makes the most sense.  For me, taking care of both breasts just felt like the right thing to do; may as well do it all in full swoop if I can!  As I ended this phone call, I broke out into happy tears.  Now I can really focus more on healing and recovery knowing that this huge weight has been lifted and feel good about what lies ahead for the future.  What I’ve been learning is everyone’s breast cancer journey is very different and what feels right for one may not be the right choice for someone else.  Follow that gut instinct friends and listen to your body.  You might be surprised what you might learn/hear.

Oh..and please say a little prayer for me..I have 2 drains left.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they will both be removed tomorrow when I meet w/Dr. C & Dr. Sadowski.