Dear friends and family-
I has been quite a week. I'm still on pain meds, so this may not be as eloquent as past posts. Here's a brief recap of what has transpired since I last posted.
I went to the new Woman's Hospital on Wednesday morning with David and the girls. I had a big support team there while they were prepping me for surgery (David & the girls, my mom, dad, Artie, Michelle, Jeanne, Denise). Talk about feeling loved. I remember feeling sleepy and then the next thing I knew, I opened my eyes and there was David, telling me I was OK and made it through the procedures. I was also met by the most excruciating nausea that I have ever experienced in my life. I could not open my eyes, eat or drink for the next 13 hours. It was the worst afternoon/evening of my life. The nausea finally broke around 3 in the morning and I was able to eat half of a grape popsicle. Best thing I've ever tasted!
Unfortunately, I was to learn that Dr. Christian had found cancer in two of the Sentinel lymph nodes, so she had to remove the rest of my lymph nodes under my arm. They will be sending all of the tissue to get a pathology report and then send it along to Dr. Milatello (the oncologists). Hoping to get those results early this week, and meet with Dr. Milatello before the week is out to discuss next steps.
I was able to leave the hospital on Thursday evening to return home. The girls started school on Friday and I really wanted to be home when they left. David has been an excellent nurse during these past few days. There are a lot of not so pleasant things to be done, and he has done them all without flinching. I am so proud of him. My mom has also been staying with me and has helped tremendously with the girls and around the house.
We've been managing the pain well and I have not had many bad moments. I've been doing my exercises religiously so that I don't lose range of motion. My chest area is incredibly tight and i have to force myself to breathe deeply. It is quite a strange experience.
Over the past few days, I have been inundated with cards, gifts, flowers and FOOD! It is so amazing to witness how kind people can be...and to be the recipient of that kindness. It is very difficult to not be able to do the things we think are easy each day (taking a shower, sleeping, folding clothes, getting dressed.) So, that is my lesson for this past week: Accept the kindness of others. I have had to learn not to fight it when people want to help out and accept their grace and support.
We are now in another "hurry up and wait" phase while we await the pathology reports. In the meantime, I have an appointment today to (hopefully) remove one or two of the drains I have to wear (I have four total). They are really a pain in the behind!
I'll post more news as it becomes available. Thank you again for the love and support and prayers. I feel them and am so grateful!!
Love to all-
Angie
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