Surgery week

That was a fast month... the longest stretch I've gone without a doctor visit since August 2014 when I had pneumonia... knee stuff began September 2014 and it's been a whirlwind ever since.

Back to the grind... on Tuesday (10/20) I have my 6th month sarcoma follow-up (plus chest X-ray) and fibroid surgery pre-op (plus blood work).

Wednesday, I get to relax...

Thursday (10/22) is surgery day. It will be my 4th surgery in 2015... 5th in the span of a year. Like I've said before, the recovery from a myomectomy is a lot like a c-section and I expect to feel like myself in a month. Why am I having this fibroid removed when it's a benign condition that is causing me zero side effects? A few reasons...

1) It's growing. Rapidly. It increased from 4cm to 7cm over the summer.
2) Because I have a history of sarcoma, they MUST rule out uterine sarcoma (an extremely RARE cancer BTW). The only way to do that is through surgical pathology.
3) It would impede fertility.

Once I'm healed up, I will restart Tamoxifen.

All done

I'm done with breast cancer radiation! I am a little pink... but it will fade over the next few weeks. It's time to resume normal life!

Dressing room selfie on my last day! 

One final dose!

A couple of my amazing radiation therapists.

Oh and here's a little peek at how my leg is healing up. Looks a lot better... if you can believe it! 

Epic battle wound.

Next steps...

Sarcoma 3 month surveillance / chest X-ray: October 20th

Fibroid pre-op visit: October 20th

Fibroid removal surgery: October 22nd (recovery is similar to a c-section)

Breast cancer surveillance / re-start Tamoxifen: TBD after fibroid surgery

Dermatology: December 7th

Mammogram: March 2016

As you can see... I am only being seen for follow-ups and prevention going forward! I have completed all active treatment and there is no known cancer in my body. Woohoo!

Day 25

I'm currently sitting in the waiting room before my 25th and final whole breast radiation treatment. No, I'm not done... I still have those 8 boosts. But today is my last "breath hold" and the last time my raw, peeling armpit will have to endure the blast. My side effects are still relatively minimal. A bit of fatigue & a lot of redness (my armpit is the worst). Not a whole lot more to report, as treatment is very tedious. As they say... same shit, different day.

I would be more excited about radiation ending soon if I didn't have major abdominal surgery on the horizon. My next appt w/ gyn onc is on 9/8.

Still going to PT for the leg... it's going fine. Only improving.

Had the re-excision on my neck last week (and another biopsy on my back). Stitches come out 9/8.

Womp, womp...

A few pics

I have received 12 doses of radiation therapy. Side effects are still minimal... just some redness like a sunburn. No major fatigue.

Once I reach 25 doses, I'll be having an additional 8 radiation "boosts"... so, 33 total treatments. I was originally only having 5 boosts, but they increased it a couple of days ago.

My doctors took me off Tamoxifen because it was causing too many pelvic symptoms. I will resume the medication after my fibroid surgery.

Step inside the "High Radiation Area"...

External beam radiation machine

They told me to smile!

Getting prepped.

This is the position I hold during rads, only the gown comes off.

Mutilated

Lately I've been feeling a lot of vain sadness over my battle scars. I've had over 50 punch or shave mole biopsies and there are quite a few larger re-excisions on my back, chest & stomach from atypical moles... then there is my 4 inch stomach scar from melanoma, lymph node removal scars under each armpit, part of my left boob is gone, I have a myomectomy/c-section scar, two ugly scars on my face from bad cosmetic mole removals, and don't forget the 9 inch disaster down my left leg. And I am literally probably forgetting some because there are too many to keep track of. I FEEL HIDEOUS. Even the seediest of strip clubs wouldn't hire me. Not that I would ever DO THAT, but that's totally not the point!! I just feel BUTCHERED. So, I was really upset last week when my dermatologist told me I would need yet another re-excision on my neck. The three biopsies I had recently came back normal, mildly atypical (which they ignore), and moderately atypical (which they re-excise to clear margins). I have no choice but to re-excise the third one because it could recur as melanoma. It will just be a 90 minute office procedure, but I just feel like... UGH...... why do I constantly need stuff cut out of me?! Why am I such a defective human being?

Radiation is going fine. I am 3 treatments in and have some mild redness and my nipple feels burned, but no fatigue or systemic side effects have occurred yet. Taking tamoxifen has been uneventful thus far, too. I have been on it for 7 days and still feel normal. I had some tummy discomfort after the first couple of doses, but it didn't last. Onward...