Cancer Eviction (Surgery was a success!)

I haven't written for awhile because:
1.  School started.  Super busy.
2.  Terrified silence regarding upcoming surgery.

Good news.  Surgery is over.  And I made it through the trauma of those stupid nipple injections for the sentinel lymph node biopsy.   Let's be honest.  They were horrible.  But enough about that.  Let's get to the good part.

The tumor was removed with nice big clean margins!!!  And the 3 lymph nodes removed were clean from cancer!!!  Which means the possibility that the cancer spread beyond its original site is very very slim.  I am still waiting for the official pathology report.  The pathologist analyzes the lymph nodes right there during surgery so they can decide if they need to take more.  Its just a quick analysis, so there is still a chance that there are micro-bits of cancer when they go and do the real thorough analysis.  But even then, it will be fine because I'll be doing radiation (for 6 wks) and hormone therapy (for 5 years. a pill) after this.

I considered myself the lucky one out of my crew gathered at the hospital.  All I had to do was go to sleep and let them operate on me, with immediate answers as soon as I woke up.  My superman, mom, dad, and sister, had to sit and wait for two hours for answers.  haha.

I went home almost immediately after waking up.  Had some apple sauce, water, narcotics, then got dressed and went home.  Pretty awesome.  At least, I think that's what happened.  I was really out of it.  I do know that my largest side-effect from anesthesia is crying my eyes out upon waking.  I'm such a weirdo.  I had a little bit of an upset stomach later in the day. I think it was due to the narcotic instead of the anesthesia.  I took some of my chemo nausea medicine and that helped settle things.  I didn't really eat until late in the evening though.

After coming home from the hospital, my super-parents and super-sister sat with me for hours on the couch while I laid down and couldn't keep my eyes open.   They must have been bored, but not sure because I was not awake.  They were sitting with me while superman helped super-daughter who was moving into her FIRST APARTMENT yesterday.  Meanwhile, super-son was at band camp.  A busy time in the Reynolds household.  And to think we almost bought a house, and could've been moving at this exact time too.  whew!  Things work out the way they are supposed to...

I'm feeling pretty good.  I haven't taken any more of the narcotics and have stuck to IBprofen.  My throat is sore from the breathing tube during surgery, and that's bothering me more than anything right now.  I'm sure things will get more painful when I actually start healing.  I remember from my port scar, when it was put in, that there were bouts of occasional shooting pain when it was starting to heal.  I touched my armpit near the lymph node scar, and it was NUMB!  That was creepy.  I had read that some people experience that because there's no way to avoid severing some of the nerves during the biopsy.  But many people regain most of their feeling back as it heals.

So far today, I've been laying on the couch, drinking water, made an avocado-banana smoothie.  Superman went to the farmers market and came back with blackberries.  So he made blackberry-stuffed french toast.  #theyummiest!!!!!
I colored in my Disney Princess coloring book for awhile, and I'm currently watching Bachelor-In-Paradise.  Not my proudest choice in viewing entertainment, but its like a car wreck.  These bachelor shows, I can't stop watching them.

So, the next step, like I mentioned before:
1.  Radiation therapy for 6 weeks.  This consists of a 15 minute appt everyday.
2.  Hormone therapy.  Tamoxifan pill for the next 5 years.

And most importantly, working on increasing my healthy choices, adopting food as thy medicine, living a more active lifestyle, and maintaining physical, mental, and emotional balance.  I saw this the other day, and thought it was very fitting.