Fall 2010

Hi everybody! It has been a long time since I posted. We have been great. The kids are busy with school and preparing for finals. Football and soccer season were a blast! Alex got to cheer for Aquinas on ESPN! Regan had fun cheering at both JV and varsity games.The soccer team won state again for the 8th year in a row! Noah played football and soccer and his teams both took 2nd place this year. This past weekend they played in the HIT tournament and took second in their division. Regan is also playing competitive soccer so we spend the weekends running from game to game. We have a little break now before basketball begins. Noah is playing for a CYO team....I guess Alex and Regan are too! The girls won't have to start cheering until the first week of December so it is a nice break. The big news is that Alex is officially a WILDCAT! We went to Manhattan for an official visit and soon thereafter she received her acceptance letter. She is very excited and ready to head to college! Next step is to figure out housing and the financial part of college. She would like to live in Ford so we need to submit our housing application soon. I have been feeling great. My last surgery was successful so my chest is healing nicely. I finished the reconstruction last month so I should be done with that part. Unfortunately I am going to have surgery November 30th. This time it is a hysterectomy. My cancer was estrogen feed to a small degree so when my ovaries "woke up" last month they decided it was time to remove the primary source of estrogen. I'm not real happy about this as I was just starting to feel like myself again. I should only be sidelined for 6 weeks this time. I have been working hard to get back in shape and this will set me back again. Alex tells me to quit saying I'm done with surgery as it seems to jinx me. Hopefully this is the last surgery! Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!!!

Surgery finally over!

Well I think I am finally done with all surgeries for a while. I can honestly say I have had enough. The surgery was fine but the recovery has been a little more difficult than the last few. Thank goodness my mom was here to help keep things in order. I am sure she was very happy to return to Florida! I had my drain removed today so hopefully I will be able to sleep a little better. The drain tube ran right over my ribs across my back which made laying on my back very painful. The incision on my back is much larger than I anticipated and you can see the outline of the muscle they took. It is shaped like a football. The flipped the muscle and tunneled it under my arm to my chest. Now I have a rather larger bump under my arm that is the muscle. The surgeon says the muscle will atrophy over the course of the next few months. If it does not go down they have to shave the muscle. I refuse to even consider that right now. I get tired very easily and am trying to limit my activity. I am just so bored! On a much brighter note my wonderful husband bought me a new car today!!!!! No more minivan in the Bellerive house. It is a cream colored Ford Edge. They consider it an SUV but today I think they call them cross over vehicles. It is a 2007 with only 41k miles. I absolutely love it. Hope everyone is well and is enjoying the last few weeks of summer. Practices start tomorrow for all the fall activities and school is in just 2 short weeks!

Another surgery

OK so every time I post it isn't good news. This past weekend my incision site tore open again. I saw the doctor yesterday and they have decided to try another procedure. This surgery is called a latissimus dorsi flap. The procedure uses muscle, fat and skin from my back. It is tunneled under the skin and tissue to reconstruct the breast. It remains attached to the donor site which leaves the blood supply intact. It does not sound like a fun surgery. I will probably stay in the hospital 2 nights. My mother is coming tomorrow night and plans to stay for 2 weeks. She had this surgery done and insists on being here. This leads me to believe it will be a little more difficult than the past few procedures. Down time is 6-8 weeks so all the progress I have made at the gym is over. At least I should be back to myself by the start of school. Pray that this surgery is successful. I am running out of options to fix this!