I am home

My doctor gave me the GREAT news before I was discharged this morning... it was just a fibroid!!!

Post-op in 6 weeks. 

Woohoo!!!

Hospital life

This has been one of the toughest weeks of my entire year. I know that is saying a lot. But I'm about to spend my 6th night in the hospital after a routine open myomectomy that should have seen me home days ago. I've had some complications throughout my recovery that has kept my team of doctors on their toes.  I won't go into detail, but I think we've got things nearly resolved... as long as I am presenting well clinically, we will probably head home in the morning. The surgical part of my recovery is going well... the incision looks great and the fibroid was removed w/o issue. It was 10cm!!! It grew another 3cm since September... damn! The pathology should be available by Friday.

Sarcoma follow up was great, too. Clear scan.

Time for healing...

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...