Well, it’s DONE, and I am Officially…
!!!!!55378008
And even more importantly, I am cancer-free!
:D
I had my right mastectomy in NOLA on Friday, March 26th. With immediate reconstruction, so I know I’m not truly 55378008; it’s just so fun to write. 
But as for cancer-threatening 58008, they are gone and so is my risk. I can’t believe after 8.5 years of worry and fear, it’s gone, and I’m done with breast cancer risk. The most amazing part is that both the sentinel nodes she took (she removed 3) AND all the breast tissue came back with a completely benign pathology report. NO CANCER, not even an atypical cell found. Praise God! And it truly is a miracle with his hand all over it. With my history, and the very suspicious mammogram, the fact that everything was 100% benign has GOD written all over it!
We got the results last Thursday, the day before Good Friday. What an Easter gift this was. I saw Dr S that day, too, had a drain removed from my new breast, and was cleared to travel home. I came home to my boys on Good Friday. TEN DAYS away from my husband and sons…the hardest thing I’ve ever done. But I did it for them. And I’m so glad I did, and I’m so glad it’s over!
I have at least two & a half more weeks of strict recovery here at home. No lifting more than 10lbs, no housework, not even driving for now. I have a 7-inch incision on my right butt where the fat was harvested for my beautiful new breast, with one drain left. That drain can be pulled here at home once the 3-week mark gets here AND the output is below a certain amount of cc’s. I cannot wait—it’s painful and uncomfortable to have a tube coming out of my hip, not to mention a pain to empty it twice a day and record the amount of fluid. I have to wear this compression girdle for one week AFTER the drain comes out, whenever that is. So this part, it’s not fun. But it’s worth it for the end result. I went through all this before, 8.5 years ago, when I had my left-side mastectomy & reconstruction. It really is worth it.
Speaking of my left side, Dr. S did some lipo on my thighs during the surgery, and transferred that fat to my left-side reconstruction, to make it fuller and give it better projection. It looks amazing now. During the stage 2 surgery I’ll have in 3 months, he will finalize both breasts, making them match in size & shape and constructing a nipple for my new right breast. To do this, he has to take a skin graft from my lower abdomen. When he does this, he will lipo any extra tummy fat for me (and deposit the fat into the left breast to make it even fuller), and after the skin graft is taken, he tightens the tummy skin completely, resulting in a mini-tummy tuck. All of this is just freebie-stuff he does to make women as happy as possible with their bodies after mastectomy. I LOVE IT!! I can’t wait. In just over 3 months, I’ll have a lifted, tightened butt, a tightened, flat tummy, and two new breasts that will be forever perky, and, most of all, forever free of the risk of cancer.
But for now, I recover. And it’s hard work. But worth it? Yes, it is so worth it. And the benign diagnosis? Words can’t express my relief. I am so glad to finally have this burden off my chest (literally! lol), this worry that’s shadowed every. Single. Day. since my diagnosis in September 2001. God is so good.
