Surgery #3

I realize it's been quite awhile since my last post. Over two months, in fact--by far the longest I've gone since starting this blog. That, in itself, is a sign of how far I've come. :)

I went two months between visits with Dr. Shah (And it'll be 3 months before I see her again. More baby steps.). My repeat hormone tests solidified the fact that I'm in menopause, so I've switched from tamoxifen to Arimidex. So far, so good, though it's only been 11 days. :)  The reason for the switch is better severe potential side effects (tamoxifen --> endometrial cancer; Arimidex only--> osteoporosis), although anecdotally I've heard that the more-likely side effects are much worse with Arimidex (bone aches). What I've noticed so far is that I'm having very different hot flashes. On tamoxifen, I'd turn beet red and my heart would race. With Arimidex I just start sweating like crazy. (Oh, joy--and if you see me and go to hug me, you might want to remember that tidbit ;))

I also had my first booster shots for the clinical trial (which will be every 6 months for 2 years).  They take blood at each appointment, too.  So I got to make good use of my port.  As my friend Katie says, I ran into a vampire.

I'm psyching myself up for my third breast surgery. (If you want to re-live the others, my double mastectomy with ancillary lymph node dissection on 1/8/15 is chronicled here, and my surgical debridement and re-suturing on 2//15 here.)  This third surgery removes my expanders and replaces them with my permanent gel implants.   I decided 18 months ago to go with shaped silicone implants (called "gummy bears"), so that determined the type of expander I got.  If you want to see the difference between the implants I'm getting, regular silicone,  and saline, here's a photo:

I know I posted about it before, but the expanders that I have look like this.

They're uncomfortable not only because I can feel the metal valve used to add saline, but also due to their size.  I feel them under my arms, and they make things like bike riding difficult. 

Therefore this is the surgery I'd been looking forward to for over a year.  However, now that it's here, I'm a bit nervous.  I keep telling myself that I did just fine with a much more invasive, longer surgery and that this is just cosmetic.  But it's still surgery and as I read over my blog posts (and my private journal) from the first surgery, I may have forgotten just how rough it was!  I'm mostly afraid that I'll exacerbate my TMJ, which has gotten so much better after 6 months of wearing splints.  I don't want to un-do that!  

I'm expected to need two weeks to recover.  I'm hoping it won't take that long, but I've stocked up on reading material (our first 3 book club books now that we've re-formed):

And picked a knitting project:

I'm hoping I'll be up to visiting, and be able to resume walking quickly.

At any rate, all of you have been so wonderful with all the other crap I've had to go through. If you have a chance, send me some positive, successful-surgery-without-needing-a-platelet-transfusion thoughts on Tuesday.  Surgery is scheduled to begin at 7:30 am and last 4 hours.  Greg has said he'll post updates on Facebook.

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Other good stuff is happening.  I have enough real hair to have something done with it, so I did--got it highlighted and cut and then we had family photos taken, including some fun ones:

Travis turned 18 and graduated from high school. The time goes so fast.  I still wonder how this baby:

Became this accomplished man:

And finally, our remodeling project is done!  Photos (before and after) are on unpinkening.blogspot.com.  

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Happy summer, everyone.  Here's to speedy healing so we can still get some Festivals, Bier Garten visits, and beach trips in.