Status of Sheila!

An update from Sheila~

It’s been a week since surgery and I am feeling great. I came home less than 24 hours after surgery and have been pretty comfortable since then. Aside from several walks, I have basically been laying low. I’ve gotten out a few times – I watched a parade at Oliver’s school Friday and went downtown with Jason Saturday. It’s actually quite surprising how little pain I’ve had. The most uncomfortable part is the pulling of the stitches, which seems to bother me toward the end of each day.

The surgeon removed the right breast as well as a “handful” of tissue from underneath the right arm. This tissue included a cluster of lymph nodes – the doctor couldn’t even say how many. They will be counted by the pathologists, and we should have a report sometime this week. They’ll dissect the nodes and be able to tell how many are cancerous. They’ll also be able to determine the exact size of the tumor now that it’s out, instead of looking at images on a computer screen. If the tumor measures less than five centimeters and fewer than four lymph nodes are cancerous, I have been told I won’t have to follow up the chemotherapy with radiation. If the tumor is larger than five centimeters and more than four nodes are affected, I expect I’ll have several weeks of radiation at the end of all this. From what I have heard, radiation treatments are done five days a week for about 20 minutes at a time for about six weeks. The treatments don’t typically made people nauseous, but people do get tired and the skin becomes scarred and sore.

The right breast is completely gone. It’s very strange to look at my chest and see nothing there on the right side. Much of the skin around the incision, as well as under my right arm and down the inside of my arm, is numb. The surgeon placed a gauze pad and waterproof surgical tape over the scar. I have kept it on all week, but it started peeling off today so we were able to remove the tape and gauze. There are still some surgical strips over the stitches, and those will dissolve on their own eventually. I have two long tubes stitched into my side that are draining fluids from the breast area and the under-arm area. Each tube ends in a compressed plastic bulb that I keep tucked into a pouch in a special camisole I am wearing. I have to empty these bulbs of the fluid that collects in them three times a day. Once the fluid in each bulb reaches less than 30 ccs a day, I can go into the surgeon’s office and have the tubes removed. I expect by Monday or Tuesday they’ll be ready to come out.

I see my oncologist on Wednesday to go over the pathology report, and then my surgeon on Thursday to check out the incision. I made an appointment with a naturopath on Monday. I am hoping to get a plan put together that includes healthy eating, supplements and self-care including meditation and possibly acupuncture. My plan is to get my body in tip-top shape so I can better handle the chemotherapy and – more importantly – be able to fight against the cancer cells we all have in our bodies in the future. Jason’s completely on board with this new eating plan – we’ve both been reading a lot about eliminating refined sugar and boosting intake of antioxidant foods. I have not had refined sugar for a week now. It’s tough, but manageable!

We’ve been so lucky to have some amazing meals brought to us this week! We’ve been so spoiled. Since the range of motion in my arm is coming back, I think we are set for meals – at least until chemo starts. Hopefully chemotherapy will be as easy as the surgery was – fingers crossed!