Feeling Better!

Hi Everyone! It has now been 5 weeks since my surgery and I am feeling much better. I am still soar and tight, but not as bad as it used to be. I can pretty much do whatever right now, I just have to be careful. Unfortunately I am able to clean the house now. I had my first fill, and it wasn't too bad. I was more soar for a couple of days, but not too bad. The doctor thinks I will need around 9 fills (once a week) and then I will have surgery for the exchange 3-4 weeks after that. So probably have the surgery around middle of August or September. I am so glad I am feeling better because today is Cody's last day of school and starting next week he will be saying, "I'm bored!" Thanks again for all your prayers! God is so good to us!

Recovering

I had three doctor appointments this week! The doctor said everything looks good. I do have some fluid build up, but he said when they start the expansion process, they can extract the fluid. I was able to go to small group last night, so that was good! I am going to church tomorrow for Mother's Day. It's been two and a half weeks since my surgery. My chest is still very soar and hurts. I'm just taking Tylenol right now. I will start the fills for expansion next week on Friday. The nurse said it should take 4-8 weeks and then a month after that I will have surgery to put in the implants. I know I have already said it, but thank you all again for all of your love, prayers, cards, notes and meals you have sent! You all have truly shown what the body of Christ is suppose to be like! Love you all so much!

Expanders

Expanders are the big round things I have in my chest that are used for streching my skin. Whoever said expanders don't hurt (like my doctor) has never had expanders! Yes they do hurt! I am getting tired of hurting and being uncomfortable all the time! Sometimes I wish I could just rip out these expanders!!! Sorry about the complaining. I just had to vent for a while! Having to go through this makes me stop and think about other people who suffer everyday...much more than I am! Take some time today and ask God to put on your heart people who are suffering today and take some time to pray for them.

Drains out!

The doctor took the drains out yesterday because he felt like it was too risky to keep them in. Holy cow did that hurt when he pulled them out!!! I'm going back tomorrow and he will talk to me about how I can take a shower. I still can't lift my arms up, but it might feel good to be in the shower! My chest is still very tight and uncomfortable. I'm trying to take my pain med every five hours instead of every four hours. It has been such a blessing for people to bring over meals! Thank you! Even reading posts or emails has really helped me! Even though this has been hard at times, God has been with me every step of the way, and I know that there are lessons He is teaching me that I wouldn't be able to learn any other way. He is also showing me how much He loves me through each of you!

Need prayer!

Hi everyone! I'm needing some prayer on a few issues. First, thank you for everyone who made comments about my pain medication! That really helped me. I am needing prayer on how to start lowering the amount of narcotic I'm taking without being in too much pain. Also, my drains are going to need to come out soon, but I am still having alot of drainage. Pray that the doctor knows the perfect time for when they should come out. I have also broken out into a bad, itchy rash down my arms and legs. We thought it might be from the antibiotic, so I quit taking that. So please pray I don't get an infection, that the rash will go away and that we figure out what is causing it...the antibiotic, the narcotic, the older recliner I'm in, or something else. Please pray that Craig gets the rest he needs and that be is able to catch up on his work since he has been trying to work from home. Also thanks very much to craig's sister for coming and helping out and cleaning out my very dirty refrigerator! Love you all! Thank you so much for going through this with me!

It's Me!

Hi everyone! Thank you again for praying for me! Also thank you to those who have left posts, it really encourages
me when I read them! I am doing a little better. I haven't been able to cut down yet on my medication. Today I tried to just go 10 minutes longer and it felt like someone was trying to crush my chest! I can't do anything except sit in this recliner all day. It is really sore where my drains are, so I am hoping that those can come out soon! I go to see my doctor tomorrow. Craig's sister is coming in tonight to help out for a couple of days, so that will be nice! It was very nice of her to fly in and help out! Craig's Dad has had some health problems, so please pray for him also. Also for my Dad. It was very rough those first two days in the hospital! I am so thankful that God was with me and brought me through and that my Mom was able to stay with me! Craig has been working so hard taking care of the kids, the animals and cleaning the house! I don't know what I would do without him! He is trully the best husband anyone could ever have! I thank God for him everyday!

We're Home!

Laura was discharged this morning. Dr. Zucker visited her this morning and removed two of her chest drains, and that of course caused her some discomfort. However, he said she looked like she was ready to go home. Her pain is still pretty severe, but other than that she seems to be doing fine. I am sure she will be writing her own post soon. While I have tried to be as detailed and accurate as possible in my post, you will soon have her much more detailed insight which I am sure you look forward to. Thanks for all of you prayers.

It's Getting Better

Well Laura seems to be doing a little better as long as we can get the nurses to listen to us. After all of the problems yesterday, we (doctors, nurses, Laura, Laura's Mom, and myself) finally figured out a combination of medication that seemed to be working. Well this morning a new nurse came in to give Laura some pain medication, and ask Laura to rate her pain. Laura rated her pain at a 7, but followed up by saying "but they only give me 2 units of that medicine because it makes me sick". The nurse, however, decided that since Laura's pain was at a 7 it would be best for Laura to have 5 units of the pain medication, so she proceeded to give Laura 5 units without telling her. Of course Laura got sick again. However once, but thankfully the nausea only lasted about an hour. After that, she was up in a chair most of the day, and her pain was decreasing to around 6, and she seemed to be in better spirits. Dr. Zucker made his rounds this morning and said she appeared to be doing better and that there should be no reason she wouldn't be able to go home tomorrow. So today, we were educated on how to take care of the chest drains (she currently has four, but will hopefully come home with only two), along with some other home care topics. The kids got to see Laura again today, and I think that Cody was relieved to see mommy looking and acting better. Cody gave mommy some yellow roses, and Kylie gave mommy a balloon. Laura has a long road to full recovery, but it now appears that she is headed in the right direction.

Another Tough Day

Today was a tough day for Laura. She was nauseated most of the day, but was able to vomit around 2:00 PM which seemed to bring her some relief. The pain medication doesn't seem to be helping much, she has said all day that her pain hovers around an 8 or 9 on a scale of 10. Around mid-afternoon the nurse came in a said we have thrown the best stuff that we have (referring to pain meds) it's not touching the pain, so I'm putting in a call to the pain management team to have them do an assessment on you. Based on the assessment and subsequent discussion with Dr. Zucker (plastic surgeon), they came up with a combination of meds that they can rotate so she gets something for pain about every hour. They are also giving her most of the stuff in smaller doses which appears to be helping her nausea. Her anti-nausea medicine was changed as well. These changes seem to be making some difference in the nausea, and although she still complains about the pain, she seems to be resting ever so slightly better. Dr. Zucker told her that she will not be going home until at least Friday. In addition for the prayers for Laura, please be praying for Cody and Kylie, they are both missing Mommy very much. They did get to see her for a couple minutes today which was hard on them, but Cody really needed the opportunity to check on Mommy for himself. Although it was tough to see Mommy, it really helped Cody to be able to talk to her, and give her a home made "Git well soon" card.

Bad Night

Laura needs your prayers this morning. They had trouble finding a pain medication last night that wouldn't make her sick. She was in quite a bit of pain last night and did vomit which caused more discomfort. The doctor says she should start feeling some better today, so pray that she does.

D-Day (as Laura would say)

Laura is out of surgery and everything went according to plan. She was in surgery for a total of 6 hours, and then she spent 2 hours in recovery. Both surgeons said that everything went well and that they were faced with no surprises. The sentinel node biopsy was negative, Praise the Lord. The pain medication that she was given after surgery caused her respiratory rate to drop too low, so they weren't able to give her a second dose when she began asking for it. At around 6:00 PM, Dr. Zucker (Plastic Surgeon) made his rounds and changed her pain medication. This seemed to help, at about 7:00 the pain was subsiding and she was able to begin resting again without any respiratory problems. Dr. Zucker thinks that he should be able to discharge her on Thursday. While Laura was in the holding room for surgery, all of the doctors were with her together and they were picking on her for being a frequent flyer, the anesthesiologist even remembered her, which he said was a sure sign of her spending too much time in the operating room. Thanks for all your prayers, and please continue to pray for a speedy and uneventful recovery.

Surgery fast approaching!

Just four more days till the big surgery! YIKES!! And Cody has just come down with strep!! I am praying that I don't get sick before my surgery! My surgery that was scheduled in January had to be cancelled because I came down with strep that morning! I have been recovering well from my oophorectomy. It seems like I'm getting hot flashes all the time though! It's starting to get really annoying! This morning, I've already broken out into a sweat about three different times! Thank you all for praying for me. My Mom is coming to help me out for a week. I am ready to get all of this over with so I can get it behind me!
Love you all!

Surgery Date

Well, after much prayer and research, I have decided to go ahead with the mastectomy and reconstruction. I have been very anxious and stressed about it. I really don't want to do it, but I feel like that is the direction I am being led. I just have to trust that my God is big enough to get me through this and hold me in His hands each step of the way. My surgery date is April 20th at 8am. The surgery will last for about 4 and a half hours. During that surgery after the mastectomy, the plastic surgeon will put in the expanders. I will be in the hospital for 2-3 nights. I will go home with drains attached to me to drain the extra fluid. You have to empty them twice a day. I will have these for about a week. After I have about 3 weeks of healing at home, I will go in once a week for a few months for them to inject saline into the expanders to start stretching the skin. The expanders can be very uncomfortable or painful for some people, so I am very nervous about that. Pray that they are not too uncomfortable for me! After that process is complete, I will have another surgery to place the implants. There is also a chance I would have to have another surgery after that to correct any problems with the implants. So, by the end of this, I will have had 5-6 surgeries in just one year! That's crazy! Also, implants do not last a life time, so I will have to have at least a couple of additional surgeries in my life to exchange the implants or to correct any problems they might have. I really don't mean to sound like I'm complaining (which I am!:) )
I know that my God is bigger than this cancer, bigger than these surgeries and bigger than anything I will ever have to face! And I know that my God loves me more than I could ever imagine. Thank you God for allowing them to find this cancer early and for saving my life. Thank you for allowing me to find out about this gene mutation so that I could possibly spare myself and my family of even harder times in the future. Thank you for allowing me to live and see my children grow up. Thank you for loving us beyond comprehension. Thank you that when it is my time to go some day, that I get to spend eternity with you. (later than sooner would be great though!)
Amen

Monday after surgery

Hey Everyone! I'm actually sitting at the computer for just a little while. I have been in bed mostly because my stomach has really hurt, probably because of all the endometriosis he had to laser. Also I have been on morphine which makes me tired and dizzy. I'm trying to get off it right now and go to something not as strong, because I don't like how it's affecting me. It has been SO helpful having people bring over meals and people leaving encouraging posts! In the middle of the night I started getting hot and thought, "Oh no! Here comes a hot flash!" I don't think it was one, I think I'm just paranoid! Craig has been able to stay home with me to take care of me and the kids. It has been such a blessing! I know Craig really wishes now that he would have not bought a two story house! Poor Craig has had to go up, down, up and down again! Well, I'm going back up to bed! I am feeling alot better, so thank you all again for all your prayers!

Slapingo Oophorechtomy...Check.

It is 10 minutes after Midnight and I have just gotten Laura settled in. Her Doctor was running late and didn't start her surgery until 4 O'clock so he didn't finish up until about 6 O'clock. After 4 hours in recovery, a trip to the pharmacy, and picking up the kids, we are home and Laura is resting.

Her surgery went well, and they were able to do everything laproscopically. The doctor said he didn't see anything of concern while he was in there, although she did have a great deal of endometriosis. He said he had to "laser like crazy" to get the endometriosis, but that he feels like he cleaned things up pretty nicely.

She doesn't seem to be too uncomfortable at this point, and so far the pain seems to be under control...let's hope we can keep it that way.

One funny story before I go. We (the nurse and I) had gotten Laura up to go to the bathroom for the first time, and while we were standing outside the bathroom waiting, the nurse ask Laura if she was able to go. Laura said "I was able to get few tinkles out". The nurse looked at me and said "tinkles ?". I explained to her that we were in the process of potty training our 3 year old daughter.

Never Alone

Hi Everyone! I decided to start this blog so that Craig and I can easily give updates on how things are going during this process. It also helps me to write out what I'm thinking and feeling. Therefore, I can't promise you that at times I won't just be rambling on and on as if I'm just talking to myself! If I do, you can just skip ahead to the end of my ramblings... wherever that may be! This week I have been VERY stressed, just anticipating everything that is to come. Friday I will have my oophorectomy. So, tomorrow may be the last day I will be in my right mind since I am going into early menopause! Of course, the benefit is that I will now always have an "excuse" for my crazy, irrational behavior!
I meet with the plastic surgeon on March 5th. The day before I got the results from my first biopsy, I was reading in a book about the names of God and it was talking about the name Jehovah Nissi- our banner. It said that in times of war, they would raise up their banner and the people would rally around the banner. Then it talked about when the Israelites were in war against the Amalikites, that as long as Moses held his staff in the air, they were winning the battle. So, two people held his hands up until the battle was over. I felt at the time that God was telling me that I was about to enter a battle, but that He would send people to hold my hands up while the battle was going on. And that is exactly what He has done. So many of you have been praying for me, reaching out to me, sending me meals, offering your help, calling me, emailing me, etc. I know I can't make it through this storm alone. I am so thankful for the family and friends that God has placed in my life to hold up my hands until this battle is won!