Next reconstruction surgery is August 17th

I am just about 6-7 weeks from getting my new boobs! Dr. Gill wants me to have an appt with Dr. Avendano for cardiac clearance and once I pass that I should be good to go for his part of the transformation. I will not know how big he can go until he gets in there and sees how the skin will stretch without cutting off blood supply. He said he can make my breasts "sisters, not twins." Probably my favorite quote so far from all my docs. I don't expect them to look like 18 year old boobs but I hope they will look normal someday, maybe after the nipple reconstruction surgery down the road. He is going to use a lat flap where they take the muscle from my back and create a pouch for the implant on the left side. This incision will be about 6-8 inches long from what I have seen on another breast patient and photos. That part I am dreading. Painful to say the least. My mom will be coming for a week to stay with me and my family and take care of the mom things I can't take care of. I expect to be in the hospital over night x 1 night only and come home with drains like last time. I am anticipating feeling better by a month out because I booked a flight to Chicago for Erik and I to get away for a quick weekend without kids. I look forward to being one step closer to this journey's end. 

First of many Pet scans post treatment

So I passed my PET scan without "lighting" up anywhere so that means no cancer detected! But on the down side I do have a pesky 7cm ovarian cyst on the left side that will have to come out if it doesn't shrink on its own in the next four weeks. July 16th I will have a follow up ultrasound and then meet with Dr. Boyd to see if I need my ovaries removed. Yet another surgery I really don't want to have done but may need. The upside would be by taking them out it drastically reduces the estrogen production in my body and since my cancer is estrogen positive (it feeds on estrogen) this is a good thing. The down side would be instant menapause with no hormone treatment to relieve symptoms like hot flashes. Usually if you go thru menapause you at least can have a hormone patch to help with the flashes but again that hormone is estrogen and not good for my body. So for now we pray the cyst shrinks or miraculously goes away. Hey, I can pray for that! 

Radiation and Post Treatment Plans

Radiation went off without too much of a hitch. I only had 33 treatments but around treatment #25 my left armpit got really burnt and we had to change to localized radiation or my "burst" for a week to give my armpit a break. I was using silvadene cream multiple times a day and to this day it only looks like I had a tan in that area. There is a spot on my left breast from the localized treatment that is permanently reddened in the shape of a circle. It was right in the area where they found the original tumors though so I'm glad they were focused on that spot. When I completed my treatments, my radiation doctor turned to me and said, "So, it looks like you are cancer-free!" What wonderful words to hear! No longer did I have to wake up every day and goto treatments at 8:15. No longer did I have to be reminded daily that I was a cancer patient. This new life post cancer was one I will live with no regrets. I am now working night shifts and loving the extra money and easier workload. I am seeing the oncologist every month right now because I started tamoxifen. Having no side effects from that medication at all. I was having hot flashes throughout the first part of radiation treatments because of the chemo putting me through menapause. But that's even improved and I think I'm back to normal again. I have a follow up PET scan on June 15th and I am scheduled for my reconstruction surgery on August 17th. My mom is coming to stay with us for a week while I recover. I should be in the hospital for just a day after surgery. But they will take the back muscle on the left side of my back and wrap it around, using it as a pouch so to say for the implant. Sounds painful to me but necessary to truly put this behind me.