Surgery scheduled

Happy New Year! We are happy to report that Glen is feeling much better after his nasal surgery. He did not experience a lot of pain but we did have a difficult time controlling his bleeding for a couple of days after the procedure. We saw the doctor last Wednesday and we were able to slow things down with some additional medication and packing. The cysts that were removed from his nose were biopsied and found to be benign, and he can breathe so much better! He's still limited a bit in what he can do, but he's been able to work from home since Tuesday. I was so happy to be able to take care of him for a change while he recovered. 😀

I received another Keytruda treatment on Jan. 4th and was happy to see my blood count numbers had gone up. I am getting stronger every day and no longer feel nauseous. I'm still very tired and continue to have hot flashes induced by the chemo. Those keep me from sleeping well but overall I feel so much better. 

We were happy to be able to coordinate our doctors' schedules and my surgery is set for Jan. 28th at 1pm MST. I will have a single mastectomy of my left breast and a lymph node dissection by the breast surgeon, Dr. Brenda Moorthy. Then my plastic surgeon, Dr. Tim Matatov, will come in to place an expander under the skin, on top of the pectoral muscle. This will prevent the skin from adhering back to the chest wall while I heal and during radiation treatments. 

My sweet sister Sondra will come from Utah for about a week to help as I recover. Radiation will begin 2-4 weeks after surgery, depending on how quickly I heal, and will last for about six weeks, every day Monday through Friday. Then 3-6 months following radiation, I will have my breast reconstruction. I have chosen to use my own abdominal tissue for reconstruction rather that use an implant. The procedure is called a DIEP flap reconstruction and involves microsurgery where the tissue is cut from my abdomen and reattached with blood vessels from my stomach. It's a meticulous surgery but we feel very confident in Dr. Matatov, who is the only doctor that does this in AZ and has a very high success rate. 

We are grateful and happy to be alive! Thank you for your continued prayers in these next steps of my treatment. 

Love,

Di