Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! We hope you had a wonderful holiday with family & friends. We stayed home Christmas day and my sister, brother-in-law and niece came over. The kids were such a help this holiday. Alex in particular helped with the shopping and the wrapping. It was a wonderful day filled with gigantic crab legs for dinner. We decided that day to take a little trip and surprise Noah for his 9th birthday, which is today. Christmas night we all packed bags and went to bed early. The next day we were up by 3:30 am and on the road by 4:30 headed to Florida! What a long drive. We made it to Valdosta, Georgia by 9:30 pm and just couldn't drive any more. We spent the night and got up early today and drove the last 5 hours. It is beautiful here in Florida. I told the kids I could rest on the beach in Florida just as well as I could on the couch at home. I am pretty sore but I think that is due to the lack of exercise for the past 2 days.

The week of Christmas I met with Dr. Jew for a follow-up. All is well. She has me scheduled to have my central line put in January 16th. I still have a drain in but I am hoping that while I am in Florida it will slow down enough that I can have my mom pull the drain. The skin is so irritated but so far no infection.

We plan to stay in Florida for a week. We will just watch the weather and look for a few good days to head home.

Noah was very surprised by the trip which is what we were hoping for. His only request for his birthday was to spend it with his cousins. We are very thankful we have the opportunity to grant his wish!

Doctor's visit

Noah and I took a quick trip to the doctor today to have one of my drains removed. Yeah! The drainage was minimal and I just didn't want to wait for my scheduled visit on Monday. He was such a trouper. He told me he didn't want to see my "owees" and he would wait for me in the waiting room. I brought him a deck of cards and he played solitaire on the floor while he waited. I guess I didn't realize when they pulled the drain there would be a hole in my chest. I am not sure what I thought would happen but there is a hole! They said it would close within the next few days. I still have one drain in and it will probably be there for a while.

I have been feeling pretty good overall. I am stiff in the morning because I don't move at night while sleeping. I can only sleep on my back and it hurts to move to much so by morning I am pretty stiff. I get tired by early evening so I am trying to take it easy. The worst part is when I get cold. It makes the muscles in my chest contract and that hurts like ****! I guess it would have been easier if the muscles in my chest were flabby. I think the past four years at the gym, although great for overall health, have made this surgery more difficult.

Thank you again for all your support!

Pathology Report

I finally received the pathology report this afternoon. The total size of the tumor was 8.5 cm. They removed 11 lymph nodes and 2 were positive. This means that the cancer is a stage 3. Not the best news but at least only 2 nodes were positive. I had a follow up visit with the plastic surgeon today and I am healing nicely. I still have the drains in and they will probably be there for a while. He does not want to remove them until the output is less than 30 cc per day per drain. Today the output has been over 100 cc in one and 50 in the other and they both need to be emptied again....yuck!

The tissue expanders are in place and they hurt! I thought this would not be that painful but as the nurse explained today they separated the chest wall muscle by cutting it and my chest muscles were very tight. They have not begun filling the expanders but should start that next week.

The next step will be to meet with the oncologist and map out my chemotherapy treatments.

Thank you to everyone for your thoughts, prayers and wonderful food. Sometimes we get so caught up in our own busy life we forget that the smallest gesture can make a world of difference. Thank you for reminding me of what is truly important!

Home from the Hospital

Well the first part of treatment is done. I had my surgery yesterday morning. All went well. They did have to do a total lymph node disection. One lymph node was positive so they removed 15-20. We won't have the pathology report until Friday. I am pretty sore. They must have had me in a strange position for the surgery because I have been having muscle spasms in my back. Yesterday they were pretty severe but I have taken a lot of pain medication to help, morphine, valium and percocet. I feel better today now that I can move around. I am home now. Thank you to everyone for your kind thoughts and prayers!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Ready for Surgery

I am finally ready for the surgery. I had all my pre-op labs done today. The nurse at the hospital asked me if I have been tired lately. I said "of course as I have not been sleeping well." It turns out I am anemic. My hemoglobin level is at 9 and it should be at 12. I spoke to my surgeon and because it was after 5pm she said she would not get the lab results until Monday. She said I may need a transfusion or postpone the surgery. I can't imagine pushing the surgery date back. I am hopeful we can resolve this and proceed with the surgery. I just want to get the ball rolling and get this thing out of me!

When it rains...

Hi everyone. We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We are all back in our routine and I am dashing around trying to get Christmas ready in a week! Regan had an orthodontist appointment today and for "fun" she decided to pass out. She got up to go brush her teeth after they removed her top wire and she asked me a question took a few steps and hit the floor. She seemed fine afterwards and decided to go back to school. By mid-afternoon she was in the nurse's office, dizzy and sick to her stomach. I called her pediatrician and he wanted to see her. He ran some tests including an EKG but all seems fine. He wanted to check her heart because an irregular heartbeat can cause fainting. With the stories that circulate about athletes with undetected heart conditions I am glad he ran the EKG. She appears fine now. She is still a little dizzy so maybe she is coming down with something.

GYMNASTIC MEET SCHEDULE By the way if any of you are in the Kansas City area and would like to watch Regan compete her first and only meet in the metro area is on Friday, December 12th. The competition begins at 5:30 pm at Eagles Gymnastics in Martin City, Missouri. Regan would love some fan support!