Post-surgery update

It has been about a week and a half since my surgery on the 28th, and I am healing and recovering well! We were pleasantly surprised that I was able to come home that evening with a lineup of prescribed medication, including pain killers, an antibiotic, an anti-inflammatory drug, and something for nerve pain. I feel like the pain has been manageable with limited narcotics and I'm so grateful I didn't experience any nausea or constipation from the meds. 

I certainly have felt the discomfort and pressure of the expander, which was placed after the mastectomy. It sits right against my sternum and ribs, and can cause a lot of pain at night when I'm lying down or trying to breathe deeply. Two drains were also placed to eliminate the blood and lymph fluid that build up in the removal areas, one under my armpit where the lymph nodes were taken out and one in my chest where the breast tissue was removed. These drains can cause some pain at the area where they're inserted and can be quite cumbersome in the shower and under clothing but we've figured out a pretty good system for our daily routines. :) 

I had a follow-up appointment last Wednesday with Dr. Matatov, our plastic surgeon, and the drain leading to my lymph nodes had slowed down enough that it was removed but I still have the second drain for another week or so, until the drainage is less than 30 ml in a 24-hour period. At that visit, he also deflated the expander of the air that it had when it was placed and he refilled it with a saline solution that would mimic the weight and size of my breast. He may fill a little more next week but overall, he was happy with how I am healing and did not see any signs of necrosis.

We received our pathology results from the breast surgeon, Dr. Moorthy, last week. While in surgery she did a frozen section biopsy of the sentinel lymph node, which tested positive for cancer so she had to remove additional lymph nodes in that area. They ended up removing four lymph nodes in total, all that I had in the affected area. The three additional nodes did not contain any other indications of cancer, thankfully. The biopsy of the breast tissue also had evidence of cancer, so it was not the complete pathologic response that we were hoping for with our oncologist, but the surgeon was able to remove all of the cancer there and got clear margins. This means that everywhere that she cut the cancerous sections from the breast tissue it was free of cancer by at least 1-2 millimeters. We met with Dr. Moorthy on Friday and she said that because of the cancer that was still present, we would definitely need to do radiation, which we were planning on already, but it may not need to be more than we expected. We will meet with our radiation oncologist, Dr. Coral Quiet, on Tuesday and set up a treatment plan for when and where radiation will begin. We are ever grateful for the medical expertise of those doctors and nurses that we are working with and pray for their inspiration in my care.

It was a joy to feel well enough this past Friday to escort Ryan in with Glen for his senior night of basketball. They won their game against North Pointe Prep 64-31 and Ryan played a great game! We were cheering our hearts out with a bleacher full of fake fans 😂.

My sister returned home to Utah yesterday and she kept us well-fed, clean, and laughing for the week. Thank you sis and Childs family, for sharing your mom with us!

All our love, 

Di