Every Day I'm Shuffling......

Just kidding, I am not quite there yet. I am not shuffling every day. Yet. I plan to get there sooner than later though. Sing that song and think of me, wondering if that's what I am doing in the days, weeks and months to come 😂 Perhaps that'll come in a future update. The day where I say, every day I'm shuffling......

Today marks 7 weeks since my surgery. Yahoo! Not doing cartwheels yet either, but feel free to ask me sometime, I will be doing those too!

Healing is going well. I am finally sleeping more comfortably, but admittedly so, sleeping on my side. I just couldn't sleep on my back anymore. It was so uncomfortable. I was so uncomfortable and my sleep was so broken, I said fuck this. It's just more natural for me by far. Since I have been able to get comfortable, I am sleeping so much better and I am glad. I slept good in the weeks immediately following my reconstructive surgery no thanks to the pain meds, but those are long gone. 

Would you believe that I still have to pack my belly button every day?  Like holy shit. I thought this would be long over by now, but no such luck. I had to send a picture of my belly button to my PS the other day for them to see how it's healing. I think it's doing great. No longer bleeding every day when I pull the gauze out, woohoo. No more crime scene in my master bath. When I talked to the doctors office about this a week or two ago, they said I will have to do this for a few months following surgery. Christ. Didn't expect that. 

So it's summer time as we all know. It's been over 100 here in Texas every day for I don't know how long to be honest. It's fucking hot. Really hot. Not that I spend a lot of time outside, but even still, when I go out, I think nope, not today satan. Sometimes it feels like what I imagine hell is like. Lol. With the heat, the pool sounds refreshing. I asked my doctor about this, and it seems like this summer will come and go and I will not be getting in the pool. I have to wait until 3 weeks after I am done packing my belly button when it is fully healed to be able to be submerged in water, whether it be swimming or taking a bath. Well shit. That sucks. It is what it is though.

The best news to come about aside from me feeling better every day is my final surgery is currently scheduled for September. Fantastic! I am almost there, less than 2 months away now. Wow! I cannot wait. My doctors are working jointly on me so this will be it. Dang. How awesome. Healing from both won't be bad either from what I'm told which makes me even more enthusiastic. Getting there, slowly.......I am a year and a half into this journey and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! 😚

Every Day Things Are Getting Better

Every day things really are getting better. Between the way I feel physically and how I am healing from my surgery, the things in the months to come, my hair growing and growing...........it just keeps getting better.

I went today to meet with my OB oncologist. He is the one who will be removing my ovaries. He sent me for an ultrasound after the last time I was in his office. I got the results of that today. He told me how big each one was and said they look great, are in place, and there are no cysts or anything else. Great, cancer can't even try to attack them. Nope. Fuck you cancer.

I also discussed with him wanting to do my surgery and my next and final surgery with my PS with them working together. Yep. He said that his office has already been in contact with my PS office and they will try and get it scheduled for mid September. How fucking fantastic! I am so glad these doctors are as great as they are, willing to work side by side or whatever you want to call it. That means one and done. Fucking phenomenal!

So today is my one year hair anniversary. What does that mean? It was one year ago today that my hair started growing back. I straightened it today too. Best part is I don't have those whispies or fly aways anymore. My hair is finally long enough that it just lays down. Wow! Cool. It looks weird to me because it is so damn curly all the time, and I haven't straightened it or attempted to in months.

I was finally finished with my antibiotic last night. Yahoo! Those god damn horse pills that tasted horrible are a thing of the past! I am elated. They did their job and took care of the infection I had which is super. Finally back on track. I still have a few (maybe 4?!?) open wounds, and in due time they will heal. I am looking forward to that because once they are healed I can go back to the pool and get some relief in this ridiculously HOT weather. This shit has really been off the charts this year. I've just been chilling in the AC resting anyways, so it's not that it matters much to me.

What else? I was able to have a cocktail today! Nice! I haven't had one since before my surgery. Not that I drink a lot, but sometimes, it's just nice, refreshing, and the adult thing to do. It was one and done for me, for today anyways.

So what was the best part of my day? Going back ot the beginning of talking about my doctors appointment today.........I asked him what my expected recovery time is from this oopherctomyr is. I fully expected 4 weeks; similar to a hysterectomy since they are working in the same area, blah blah. Nope. I couldn't have been more wrong in my thought process. It is one week. WOW! Great news again. Not only that, but he is using the newest robot on my for this procedure (because although it is a surgery, it sure isn't being sold like one), and he will be able to completely avoid the areas where my most recent and invasive surgery was. Well holy shit, sign me up and let's do this!

So I'm grabbing this these cancer titties by the nipple and ripping them off (hey, I am already missing them). It's time for me to get my life back. I cannot wait. All good things coming in the future!

Here's my straight hair. Not bad. In person, it looks like my ends are frosted blonde. Ha. I bet it's the white, the color of what my hair was when it first grew back. For now, I'm leaving it as is!

Bye! Bye! Bye!

Bye, bye, bye..........this last drain is gone as of today! Woohoo! I am so glad! No more inconveniences. It is going to be so much easier to shower, get dressed, go to the bathroom, just everything. And no more emptying the nasty ass body fluids out of the drain bulb. What a win! 

So obviously I was at my plastic surgeons office today. All in all he said I look great and I'm healing nice. Awesome. I did point out the quarter sized opening on my left breast (it came about with the infection I had a few weeks ago); he said not to worry, it looks good and when I do my touch up he will remove it and make the scar one. I thought that's what would happen and I was reassured hearing that from him.

He also mentioned that my belly button is looking great and healing up nice. He said I will notice a substantial difference over the next 2 weeks and it will look fantastic when it's all said and done. Nice! I went from thinking I wouldn't have a belly button to having one that'll look great. Perfect. I still have to stuff it with gauze daily after my shower, probably for the next few weeks. I think it will be self explanatory when I can stop doing that. But if I have questions, I know I can call. 

I had to ask about sleeping on my back and when I can go to my side, because I am 100% positive right now that sleeping on my stomach is NOT an option. It's even uncomfortable when I lay slightly on my side, but more on my back. He said a firm and solid 3 months; no negotiating on that. Well Shit. I am one day shy of 4 weeks out right now; so another 2 months to go. Fuck me. It is going to be rough. He said I will heal up really nice as long as I continue to sleep on my back. Ok, well then that's what it is.

I had lots of questions today. Another one I asked was about the swelling. How long will it last? I can certainly tell I have "shrunk" so to speak, but I can also see that I am still swollen, especially my breasts. My stomach shows signs too, but I figured in part that was due to the drain. Anyways, get this. I will be swollen for 3-6 months. Holy Shit. That's a long time. I didn't expect to hear that. It is what it is now. So no clothes shopping any time soon which is fine. This way I can continue to lose weight and get down to whatever I end up weight wise and body shape, and then it'll be easier to find things that fit instead of my weight perhaps changing over the next several months.

And last but not least in terms of questions. My PS is completely fine with doing side by side surgery with my OB oncologist so I can have both my final surgeries done at the same time! Wonderful. I was so glad to hear that. So instead of two more to go, now it's one. They just have to get their schedules to align, and I have no doubt they will. It's looking like early October right now. Cool.

I forgot about one more question I asked, which I almost didn't. It seems stupid when you think about all the questions I asked today that I felt were super important. I asked if I was able to drink alcohol. Much to my surprise, he said I can (but I am going to wait until after I finish my antibiotic, of course). He said within reason. Basically don't get black out drunk and fall or do stupid shit. Yes, of course. I am not 21 anymore and I don't do that shit. It's not worth the potential hangover the next day. That and I need to heal so doing stupid shit is just dumb. Not worth it.

To close this up, I finally weighed myself last week. First time in I don't really know how long. I don't normally weigh myself here at home since my oncologist was weighing me every visit, but great news! I have lost somewhere between 15-20 pounds, WOW! I was so glad to see that on the scale. I feel good in terms of weight loss and hope it continues. All those fucking steroids over all those months and my oncologist wanting me to put on weight for chemo treatment (I get it, and I know it was all for the greater good), but now I am on the other side of it, waiting for the weight to now come off. I guess all good things come to those who wait.............so I'm waiting 😁