Ok, well here we are

Since I last posted, I had a double mastectomy and a chemo port placed near my left collar bone.

I'm doing fine, mostly! There is pain, but it's manageable with Tylenol or Ibuprofen. I wore chest drains for about 2 weeks, and had them removed yesterday, which is great, since they are stitched to your sides and make it hard to sleep.

My arms are very sore, especially on the side where my lymph nodes were removed. But I have exercises to do, which help.

The VERY BEST NEWS is that the pathology report showed no cancer in my other lymph nodes, and none remaining in the right breast. The left breast has a non-cancerous "marker" for future breast cancer, but it's not attached to me any longer, so yay!

Technically, we are calling me Stage 2b cancer in remission, but we are treating for stage 2b cancer, to cover all the bases.

I chose radiation and estrogen blockers as my next step. Chemo is recommended, but would only add about 10% to my survival chances. And chemo is much better these days, but still sort of brutal to your whole body. And i have a port, so i can choose chemo later if the cancer comes back.

Whew. That's a lot. BUT people are amazing, they really are. We have been stocked up with meals (thank you Susan), bombed randomly with lovely flowers, and I  get cards and texts, IMs, FB comments, you name it. We feel loved, and I thank you so much. I feel so much gratitude daily.

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