Many will be surprised to hear me say 2015 has not been a bad year. If I think back, I have had really shitty years where I felt depressed and lost, and by all rights 2015 could have been one of those years. This year my body failed me and allowed a cancer to grow. But I will not say good riddance to 2015! This year was a “wake up call year,” I was in a rut, I had no direction and was just going through the motions of living. I entered 2015 a little lost and depressed, but I will leave 2015 having learned a lot about myself, feeling grateful, hopeful and happy. Continue reading Farewell 2015 – I will remember you.
Category Archives: breast cancer
My breast cancer journey
Stage 2 Reconstruction and Recovery (the next day).
During the preparation for my Stage two breast reconstructive surgery (removal of tissue expanders and addition of silicone implants), I was asked a lot of questions about my health. I admitted I felt I wasn’t as healthy as I was when I went in for my double mastectomy 4 months earlier. The double mastectomy had knocked my socks off…and not in a good way. I was foggy for weeks after the surgery, I lost my vocabulary and had mild (but worrying) short term memory. The worst thing was my sleep pattern, I went from 7 and a half hours to 3 hours sleep a night. If I took some natural sleep aids like magnesium calm, 5-HTP or Ashwaganda I could squeak out 4 and a half hours. If I went to bed at 8 pm I could sometimes get over 5 hours before 6 am. Lack of sleep is sucky, everything was an effort, I’d crash at 3 pm. I spent 4 months desperately looking for a solution. Melatonin or Ambien didn’t do anything to help.
Continue reading Stage 2 Reconstruction and Recovery (the next day).
Remember, Remember the 16th of November!
My second surgery is scheduled for Monday November 16, 2015, it’s called Stage 2. I am ready!!!! So far no one has told me how many stages there are.
On November Friday the 13th I had blood taken, an EKG, I peed in a cup and talked to 3 different people about my allergies, my family history and how I felt.
Two weeks ago I stopped drinking alcohol, green tea, stopped taking all supplements including natural sleep aid and tried to eat healthy balanced meals. “Healthy” to me means something different than conventional medicine, but I don’t care, I will viciously defend my Paleo, non-processed food diet. The night be for surgery I must stop all food and fluid by midnight. I check-in to the hospital at 9am for an 11am surgery. A snow storm is predicted, so I have to hope that the Hubs and I can get to the hospital, and the doctors and nurses have 4-wheel drive transportation too!
6 week follow-up – October 8, 2015
Today I had a follow up meeting with the Plastic Surgeon and I almost left in tears. It was my first since August 27. My understanding was they would take photos and discuss surgery. The conversation was a little strained.
They took photos and then I waited for the doctor. He looked at the photos and talked about removing the hard tissue expanders and what he may have to do; a little bit of alloderm here, an little bit of fat or liposuction there to balance things up. He then started talking about size. I really don’t want to be bigger or smaller than I was, but answering his questions was difficult. Continue reading 6 week follow-up – October 8, 2015