Hi Everyone following this blog and my recovery process!   I went to the Oncologist doctor (Tetef) on Monday and "everythng looks fantastic!"  My blood tests came out great and no new lumps.  The pain I feel now and then in my right breast and underarm area are from the scar tissue pulling.  The more I use my arm, the more I feel the burn.  No problemo.  I can deal with that.  The Tamoxifen I am taking makes me gain weight and my hair thin, but it is supposed to reduce my risk of getting cancer returning by 25%.  I know someone who stopped taking it so they could lose weight and they got cancer back.  I'll keep taking the Tamoxifen.  Just 2 more years on it.  So that makes it 2 and  a half years I'm cancer free!  Whoohoo!    Thanks for following along and caring about my recovery!



If you are going to donate to any organization this month (because it is Breast Cancer Awareness month), PLEASE donate to the Breast Cancer Solutions organization.  You get a tax deduction  because of the Nonprofit charity and they help women get treatment who couldn't afford it plus, they helped me out significantly when I couldn't work as much.

Go to:  http://www.bcsurvivors.org/    Even $10 can make a big difference!  Thank you for helping! 

New hair growing in.... new breasts... it's the new me.


What do ya think?

I'm just about done with this journey and done with this blog.  I am very appreciative of all the support I received while going through the cancer treatment.  Thank you very much for coming along with me and fighting it in my army.  I felt very strengthened by you all.

Now it is time to LIVE! 



You may receive updates from time to time, but I believe this is the end of the Breast Cancer Recovery Blog.

Two studies show it was a good decision:

Compared with women who did not receive hormonal therapy, women who received adjuvant tamoxifen for at least five years were 60% less likely to develop an ER (estrogen responsive)-positive second breast cancer but four times more likely to develop an ER-negative second breast cancer.

and

The researchers concluded that lifestyle factors such as obesity, smoking, and drinking could significantly increase the risk of developing a second cancer.

I don't drink or smoke, but I certainly have obesity issues.  Looks like overall, I had a 50% chance of it coming on the left side, too.

FYI:

The results indicated that women who were considered obese (body mass index [BMI] over 30 kg/m2) were 50% more likely to develop a second breast cancer than women who had a BMI lower than 25 kg/m2. Furthermore, women who consumed more than seven drinks per week after their first breast cancer diagnosis had a 70% higher risk of developing a second breast cancer compared with non-drinkers. Finally, women who smoked were more than twice as likely to develop a second breast cancer compared with nonsmokers.

http://www.cancerconsultants.com/lifestyle-factors-increase-risk-second-breast-cancer/

Everything wen't well.  The doctor was pleased with his work.   I'm in pain, but I seem to be recovering nicely.  No complications.   Rick is taking good care of me. 

Thanks for all of your support!

God Bless,
Julie

I'm excited.  I have my last breast reconstruction surgery on Tuesday, Sept. 8th.   I'm happy to have this be the end of all my treatments.  It is an outpatient procedure.  I'll be at the Newport Beach Surgery Center.   I trust Dr. Kaidi to do a nice job and I trust his anesthesiologist to keep me comfortable.

So what are they going to do?  I have some photos and explanations here.

The goal of breast reconstruction is to create a soft, natural looking breast for a woman who must undergo breast removal due to cancer or other disease. Whether it is performed immediately following mastectomy or at a later time, breast reconstruction can dramatically improve a woman's appearance, self-confidence and overall quality of life.

A tissue expander is inserted following the mastectomy to prepare for reconstruction. (this was done a year ago and 3 months for my right breast and 5 months ago for my left breast).

The expander is gradually filled with saline through an integrated or separate valve to stretch the skin enough to accept an implant beneath the chest muscle.   The stretching and the saline injection is not that painful.  It's the expander itself.  It is hard and uncomfortable.  I am looking forward to the soft implants.

After surgery, the breast mound is restored. Scars are permanent, but will fade with time. The nipple and areola are reconstructed at a later date.  Dr. Kaidi creates a very real looking nipple by doing a tattoo!

So, there you have it. Please pray that everythng works out okay and I'm home free.  I will be at home the rest of the week, resting.  School starts where I am teaching a class on Saturday afternoon.  And my new interns come to the clinic on Monday.  I'm so ready to move on after all this.  

Canadian scientists inhibit cancer protein 
 
TORONTO - Canadian medical scientists say they've developed
a new way to inhibit two cancer proteins in a study that
might lead to more effective chemotherapy. A research team
led by University of Toronto-Mississauga Professor Patrick
Gunning created several molecules that inhibit Stat3 -- a
protein that in cancer cells pairs with a copy of itself and
becomes unstable. "The molecules we have created are particu-
larly nice because they're showing selectivity against cancer
cells, but not against healthy cells," Gunning said. "This
molecule could be used in conjunction with typical chemother-
apeutics, and it could mean that drugs will have less resis-
tance-so you could use lower dosages and cause fewer side
effects." The scientists said the Stat3 protein is involved
in nearly all cancers, and is known to contribute to the
resistance of cancer cells to current drug therapies. "Most
currently available therapeutics aim to induce cell death,"
Gunning said. "We wanted to make small molecules that could
try and stop this protein." The study that also included
scientists from the University of Central Florida and the
Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto appears in the Sep-
tember issue of the European journal ChemBioChem.

 




I went to the oncology doctor for a check up after 6 months from radiation.  She said my labs look good.  I'm doing fine! You can see my hair growing back, too.  I took a before and after picture of my hair color.   I tried to go a little blonde and get my hair cut with some shape & style.  I can't get used to it! 

Sometimes in therapy, we talk about how when something big happens to you, you need to get used to it being the "new normal."  I suppose this is the new normal for me.  For now.  I want to try and get more healthy by swimming and eating better.  The lack of ability to even use my arms for heavy work right now has made me feel so sluggish and I'm eating chocolate for comfort!  Yikes.

I hope you are doing well!

Love,
Julie

 

I had my nephew Michael drive me to Newport to see Dr. Kaidi for the next followup on Monday.  It was planned that he would give me a "fill".  I had hoped that I could get all the fills I need by June 15th so that i could get my implants done in August.  The breast needs 2 months to "chill" before the surgery.  I wanted to be done with everything before the Fall Semester starts w hen I have new interns new training, etc. 

When I went in, the breast had expanded on it's own.  The day or two before it started to puff up like being swollen.  Dr. Kaidi said the tissue was swollen from doing too much too soon.  He took a huge serine and sucked out about a cup of "fluid" from the breast tissue.  Gross, eh?  I didn't watch.  He told me to slow down. 

I've actually been taking it fairly easy, not doing the dishes or the laundry.  But, work as been very mentally stressful.  hm... So, I go back 2 weeks from now to see if I can get a fill then. 

My hair is growing in.  It's about 2 inches long now.  Sorry no new decent photos yet.


    Here is a nice "healing vizualization" if you ever want or need one:


For a simple but potentially effective healing visualization process, proceed as follows:

Healing Visualization Method

Just before sleep at night relax as deeply as possible, clear your Mind of all thoughts, and begin to visualize the object of the healing.  This might be yourself, another person, or an aspect of yourself or another person who is in need of this healing.

As you drift off to sleep visualize the object of the healing to be surrounded by a sphere of radiant, glowing, white light.  Now imagine, visualize and know, beyond any doubt, the object of the healing to be in perfect, vibrant health.  The more knowing, emotion and gratitude you can feel, the more powerful the healing will be.

Never for a moment doubt that the person or aspect of the person to be healed is in anything but perfect, vibrant health, and always in the present tense, i.e. is in perfect health, never "will be" in perfect health.

Continue with this visualization, knowing and feelings as you drift off to sleep.  Continue every day for as long as is necessary to bring about the desired result; i.e. a full healing.

"Wow, it looks great!"  is what Dr. Kaidi said when he examined my breast 7 days after surgery.  He also decided to take the drain out... YEAH!!!!  I was very happy.

In the next few months he will give the expander shots of salien to stretch the expander and then probably in July that will end.  The the breasts will relax a bit and at the end of August, he'll do one last outpatient surgery to take out the expanders and replace them with permanent implants.

Right now, I just need to baby it for a few more days and then I can get back to work.   It was painful being in the car for 45 minutes today, with the bumping and jarring of the breast tissue.  (I wasn't drving.  Thankfully, my mom drove.)  But, he said I could drive to work, which is a mile and a half away, starting May 4th.

Would you believe that May 4th was the day I first went for the mammogram last year?  What a journey this has been.  Thank you for your interest and for coming along as support.

I'm healing very quickly this time and the pain is minimal.  Thanks again for all your prayers concerning this!!!

I'm doing well today.  The pain in the few days after the surgery was high, but yesterday it felt like someone punched me in the breast .Today it just feels like I'm wearing an uncomfortable Victoria Secret bra for more than 2 hours.  If you've done that, you know what I mean!   ha ha!

Most likely the pain is coming from wearing a 6 inch ace bandage around my chest and the drain poking through the skin.  The bandage is keeping the swelling down and is also pressing on the hard plastic expander.

The drain is hardly draining any fluids any more, which is a great sign that I probably will have it taken out this Wedensday when I see Dr. Kaidi.  It's the most uncomfortable part of this.  Plus, it keeps me from being able to take a shower.

Rick is doing a fantastic job of taking care of me. How did I rate such a wonderful husband?

Here are some facts I found on post-operative pain:

After surgery, you may feel a mixture of pain and numbness in your chest in the area where surgery was done. This is because nerves were unavoidably bruised, stretched, or cut during surgery. As the nerves grow back, you may feel strange, crawling sensations in your chest. Right after surgery, you may feel brief shooting pains in your chest. This is also because the nerves are irritated.