Well life as “normal” has resumed. Although my hours are short, I have really enjoyed the last two weeks of working again. I have found my way back to the gym and am feeling the burn of some good workouts. Work and exercise have also helped me get back to sleeping without the help of medication. I look forward to maintaining this routine for two more weeks until I have my next surgery on February 29th. This will be the procedure in which the plastic surgeon replaces the expanders with silicone gel implants (we decided to go with silicone). He says my recovery will be much easier than my last surgery. I will only be under anaesthesia for one hour, he will cut through the same incisions that were used during the last procedure, and I shouldn’t need drains. No lifting anything for 2 weeks and no running for 6 weeks were the post-op instructions given to me so far. One thing is for sure, I will not be sad to see these expanders go.
Blake and I met with my Oncologist, Dr. Garg this week. I got my congratulatory high five for finishing chemo. It was great to be talking with him with chemo now in the rearview mirror. He re-iterated that I would not need radiation since I had the mastectomy and my tumors were not greater than 4 cm and no lymph nodes were involved. In that moment of hearing him say that again, I was so grateful to the Lord for His protection against those things being true. We also discussed Tamoxifen and all of its wonderful side effects. He agreed that I could wait until after my surgery to start taking it. Again he mentioned the main side effects as being hot flashes (which I already have from chemo) and mood swings. I can deal with these if I could just be spared any nausea/vomiting.
Since getting back into the swing of things, I have also noticed the worries of life creeping up on me. I am determined not to let myself get back to the place I was before all of this started. Blake and I are working on some practical steps we can take to keep this experience fresh in our hearts, and we appreciate your prayers in this area.
I read this quote in When Your World Fall Apart :
“We know not what the future holds
But take each day as it unfolds
The bitter with the sweet God blends
We wisely take what ‘ere He sends
His dealings are in wisdom made,
The warming sun or chilling shade.
On mountain top in the dell
Our Father doeth all things well.”
-David B. Stewart