The Road Ahead

      Yesterday we traveled once more to Froederdt and met with a couple nurses to explain EVERYTHING that will happen next Wednesday and beyond. Had voices coming at us seemingly from every direction explaining the timeline, restrictions after, what to do before and something about flying but it's not important and that's why they don't explain the problems with flying anymore. (?) All I know right now is that she has 3 days before she has to be a good girl. So anything she wants to do or have before Tuesday night I'm making it happen.
      Wednesday morning at 5 am we will be getting up and ready. Her bag will already be packed with her essentials (Kindle, charger, phone etc ;)) along with the fashionable camisole they provided for comfort and to hold the drains. We have to be there at 7 so Becca can get the sentinel nodes identified through mapping using a radioactive dye and the surgery is at 12:25. Should take about 3-4 hours. During the surgery the surgical oncologist will locate the sentinel nodes and remove 2-3. These will be sent to pathology while the mastectomy is done. Once the lab results come back hopefully negative that will be that and the plastic surgeon will step in and place the tissue expander. If the results come back positive the axillary nodes will be removed. This would increase her chances of getting lymphedema.
      Plenty of restrictions after her hospital stay of 1-2 nights. Pain management is a big part of her coming home. She's the kind of person who won't speak up about pain so I've been reinforcing the fact that she will need to VERY honest about her pain. No playing the tough chic. The drains (2-3 of them) will be in for a few weeks and I get to drain and record the volume 4 times a day. FUN! It's actually quite easy so no worries. The reconstruction won't be till some time after radiation after she is fully healed from it's effects. This could be a year or more. Until then she will have the expander in place to hold the shape of the breast. A couple weeks after surgery we'll go back and the plastic surgeon will inject saline into it to get the right size. We'll go and do this a few times because they can't inflate it all at once.
      Oh yeah she can't drive for the first few weeks and has lifting and arm restrictions. I am the cook for awhile so I hope they can get used to take out lol. In other family news I am happy to report that Xander has received about 65 or so cards for the card shower! He still has no idea what is going on and we have only given him about 15 over the course of the last week. We're saving the bulk for his birthday. Everyone who has sent one has been so wonderful and have written so many nice comments about him and the type of man he's becoming. Thank you to everyone who has sent one and if you know someone who hasn't please question them about it lol. It's not too late to be apart of this!
      I'll be providing updates on FB the day of surgery but probably won't be making another blog post for about a week after. Let you all in on how things are going with Becca and her road to recovery. Keep thinking NEGATIVE thoughts (you know what I mean) and keep her in your thoughts. Thanks again for reading and keeping up with us. Much love to all of you! Until next time my little gumdrops...

13 Days Till The Great Boob-Off!

      I shouldn't say boob-off as she will still have it. I guess they take like a larger version of a classic ice cream scoop and just scoop out all the tissue. The expander will go in and she will have to go back every week or so and have it filled more until it's the size she wants (no not bigger unfortunately ;) ). She will be in the hospital 1-2 nights depending on how she feels. I told her take the extra day if she wants to but of course she's thinking about Xander and doesn't want to come home ON his birthday. Isn't she a peach? Much like her head I guess but the hair is a bit longer and darker now.
      Radiation will take place probably the end of August or first week in September. After that, well, not too sure but what we do now know thanks to her wonderful plastic surgeon is that the actual reconstruction will be a year to a year and a half from now. This news SUCKED!! I felt so bad for her. All we knew before this was her oncologist saying she should be all done by thanksgiving. We assumed all done ment ALL DONE. Talk about a bummer. She'll get used to the idea in time, just like her head and the hair loss.
      Now it's a sit and wait kinda thing. We are going to try and do some stuff the next couple weekends to make up for her losing the rest of the summer. Chicago this weekend and next weekend we're still deciding on. We are throwing Xander a card shower for his birthday since she won't be up to celebrate. 18 cards so far! We are excited to be doing this for him. He's been amazing throughout this whole year. If you haven't heard about this and would like to send him a birthday card the address is 1706 Birchwood st. #6 Delavan WI 53115.
      Sorry for not getting a post in for awhile. I'm sure with all the new things happening with the surgery and her being home for a month I will have more material to work with. Thinking I might get her a bell to ring when she needs something. That experience could be a post on it's own! Be well and stay safe! Until next time America. (Points to whomever can name who coined that phrase)