Healing, Humor, and Hiccups
I'm officially two and a half weeks post-surgery and back at work. I've even managed to leave the house for something other than a doctor's appointment—what a concept! I'd be lying if I said it wasn’t tough to be stuck inside while the world kept spinning without me. You never realize how much you miss the mundane until you're on house arrest with Netflix and pain meds as your only companions.
After weeks of doing, well, basically nothing, it feels good to dive back into work. I did sneak in a little here and there during recovery—because let’s be real, I couldn’t just sit around twiddling my thumbs and pretending that a growing to-do list doesn’t stress me out. Sure, I had books, shows, and the Olympics (perfect timing, right?) to keep me entertained, but there’s nothing quite like watching the world’s greatest athletes from the comfort of your recliner while you're struggling to reach the remote.
Now for the big news: I got my pathology results back, and I’m thrilled to announce that I had a complete pathological response to chemo! All of my tissue came back negative for malignancy. Considering that only 30-40% of people with triple-negative breast cancer have this kind of response, I’m feeling pretty victorious. The cherry on top? I’ve agreed to participate in an immunotherapy trial that could potentially change the standard of care for future triple-negative patients. I’m signing up to potentially be part of breast cancer history!
Recovery from surgery has gone better than I expected, but there’s still that part of me waiting for the other shoe to drop. Things have been going almost suspiciously well, and as much as I’d love to believe that I’m the exception to the rule, I’m also a realist. There’s no way I’m going to skate through this entire journey without some hiccup along the way.
This past Monday, I hit a small milestone by getting my last drain out—finally, a taste of freedom! But not everything’s been smooth sailing. I’ve been dealing with necrosis on both nipples (yes, I just said nipples—if you had told me a year ago I’d be casually blogging about them, I’d have laughed in your face). My plastic surgeon was optimistic that they’d bounce back, but after my latest checkup, I’m heading back in on Tuesday to get a portion of my left nipple removed and stitched back together. Fun times, right? I’ll just be over here crossing my fingers that I come out of this with both of them intact.
Apart from that, I'm just generally sore and dealing with some cording in my left arm that’s about as pleasant as it sounds. It’s limiting my mobility, so I’ve got my first PT appointment on Monday to start working through that. Fingers crossed that I can tackle it quickly and get back to full strength.
Now that the initial swelling has gone down, I’m getting a good look at the tissue expanders beneath my skin. These little gems are basically medical-grade water balloons with a port that my plastic surgeon can access to slowly add saline. Because of the necrosis, we haven’t been able to do a fill yet. Once I’m fully healed, I’ll have another surgery to swap out the tissue expanders for permanent implants. When, you ask? That’s a big, fat TBD, largely depending on whether I need radiation. So, stay tuned… I may be cancer-free, but the journey’s far from over!