Surgery Bound

The Calm Before the Storm

Prepping for Surgery and Radiation

Monday, September 19th- Friday, September 23rd

I had no doctors appointments this week.  Let me say that again.  No doctors appointments this week.  Now, that has happened before, but this one just felt better.  Knowing there was no chemo on the horizon, and the "rough week" was the week before.  I felt good, had a good week at work, and even got to enjoy a Friday lunch the two of my favorite co-workers of the past!  The Cheesecake Factory did not disapoint and the Lemon Meringue Cheesecake was to die for!  Great food, awesome conversation and just a good time all around.


All that followed by a very low-key weekend.  Was able to work in the craft room almost all weekend.  Check out one of my creations:


On Tuesday, I had an appointment to meet Dr. O'Leary.  He will be my radiation oncologist.  The first thing I will say is, he is EXTREMELY thorough.  We met for over an hour and a half.  He went through every detail in my medical history and every scan I have had since I was diagnosed in March.  

At this point, we are still working off of the original plan set in place by Dr. Huq.  This could change after surgery, but hopefully it stays on track.  We will plan to start radiation about a month after surgery so I am all healed up.

On Friday, I went in to Big Mercy (AKA St. John's) for pre-surgery planning.  We went over everythig that would happen on the day of surgery and what to expect.  All my labs and everything looked good, so we continued moving forward.  We followed the appointments with a lunch date to Applebee's.



Saturday, October 1st - Wednesday, October 12th

Yes, that is a long time span, but we didn't do a lot over the next week and a half.  On Saturday we went to Duckfest with our friends Greg and Angie.  It was a really neat fundraiser at the St. Charles County Smartt Airport in Portage Des Sioux.  Check it out at duckfestmo.org.  It was a great time and Superjam is a great band for anyone our age.



On Friday, the 4th, we were able to check out Halloween Nights at Grants Farm.  Izzy and Kameron both work at the farm, so we were able to get tickets and a trip through before it opened to the general public the next weekend.  It was a fun tram ride through the farm and deerpark, then a magic show and a walk through the goat lots to see any of the animals that were out on display for the evening.  We ended the night with a trip to TGI Fridays.



Surgery Day - October 12th


We arrived at the surgery center at 8:30ish.  Josie rode up with me and Robert and Izzy met us in the waiting room.  We didn't wait to long before they called me back.  Robert was able to come back with me, but the girls had to stay in the waiting room.  I will admit, the day was a little blurry to me.  I know I was rolled all over that hospital and that was long before surgery.  The first thing they did was put wires in my breast and in the lymph node, then I went to nuclear medicine for more scans to make sure everything was inserted into the right place.  We finally made it back to the room about an hour before the 1:00 surgery.  I was absolutely starving, but I knew I could eat after the upcoming nap.




All went well.  Robert and the girls kept everyone up to date on the procedure and how I was doing at any given time.  Usually, I love being put to sleep, but this time I was really nauseous when I woke up.  The kept the Zofran and pain meds going.  It took me a minute, but then I realized it was like 5:00pm.  I had one more nap in the room with Robert and the girls watching me sleep, but once I woke up again, I was determined to get out of there. It took me a minute, but then I realized it was like 5:00pm. We all headed for home even though I was still fairly nauseous. We hit the Arby's drive through and headed home to eat and get even more sleep.

I stayed pretty lazy for the next couple of days.  Robert was able to take off work and stay home to take care of me.  My pain level wasn't excruciating, but it was nice to have someone close by to bring me pain meds and food.  He stayed close by until Sunday when he finally decided to go visit his dad and hunt for a bit.  

I stayed home from work for the following week.  I am actually typing this on Sunday night before I head back to work in the morning.  UGH!  I still have soreness, but it isn't bad.  I definitely won't push it, but I should be good to go for the week.

Results

ALL IS GOOD!!!  The pathology results came back all clear!  Everything is still going according to plan!  Can you tell how happy I am????

I met with Dr. Huq on Wednesday, the 19th.  He reiterated everything that was in the pathology report.  I will still more forward with radiation.  I will also have to continue coming in once everything weeks for a Keytruda infusion.  It isn't going to be any chemotherapy medication, so I won't have any side effects and will only be there for about an hour at a time.  This will go on for 6 months just to keep my immune system in check.

I am going to stop there for now.  I have a couple of follow-up appointments this week.  I will post again when I have anything to share.



As always, thank you for coming on this journey with me!  The next couple of months will be fairly busy with appointments and craft fairs, so I will probably be quiet for awhile.

Love to all,
Ricki


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