My Health Update

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For those of you that don't know what's going on read here... otherwise skip to the next section.

A few weeks ago I noticed a lump. A few different doctors all thought it was just a cyst. My ob/gyn said to wait a few weeks and see if it went away. Since breast cancer runs in the family, my parents insisted I get it checked out sooner. I went to have the cyst aspirated (drained), but when it wouldn't drain a biopsy was done. Even then, the surgeon said not to worry, it was probably just tissue that needed to be removed. To everyone's surprise, I got the dreaded news on Friday, September 25. All they knew at that point was that the lump was cancerous. Other test results were still pending.

We were able to get an appointment with a top breast surgeon at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas on Thursday 10/1. So, we all made the trip to Dallas for what we thought would just be a consultation. We had a very long day that Thursday. We met with various doctors. I had a lot of tests done. We were very impressed with everything and decided to go ahead and have surgery in Dallas.

The cancer was only on one side, but we (and the doctors) decided the best thing in my case was to have a double mastectomy. I most likely have the BRCA1 gene mutation which gives me a 50% chance of getting cancer again on the other side. Since I’m young (31) they said just going ahead with that surgery (rather than just a lumpectomy) would give me peace of mind for the future.

They were able to quickly fit me in for surgery on Monday (10/5). So, 10 days after getting the bad news I was at the hospital having the surgery. I ‘m glad we got things moving so quickly.

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I'm home (my parent's house in Dallas) from the hospital. I had surgery Monday afternoon. It was a very long (8+ hour) surgery. The first few days were pretty rough. The pain is getting better each day. It seems to be getting a little better now. Our next appointment is Thursday. We'll meet with the surgeon and go over the surgery results. They'll have a more detailed biopsy report then. The initial report during surgery was good. The lymph nodes appeared to be clear, but they still have more testing to do to thoroughly check them.

Most likely I will begin chemotherapy in a few weeks.

I'm very exhausted right now. They said typically after a surgery like this it takes 3-6 months to get your energy levels back. Just taking a shower wears me out.

I did get out of the house for the first time yesterday. We took the boys to see the Toy Story 3D movie.

I still have the drainage tubes from surgery (2 on each side). Those will hopefully come out next week at some point. I'm hoping to be more comfortable once that happens.

Morry is going to go back home on Sunday to work for a few days and then come back to Dallas on Thurs for my appointment.

Depending on how the appointment goes and how things look I'll probably go back to Austin either the following week or the week after that. We'll see.

It's been tough on the boys not being home. They are having a good time here, just not sleeping as well and they are off of their normal schedule.

thanks again for all your thoughts, prayers, emails, gifts, etc. Morry has shared all of your emails and messages with me.

If you have any questions, want to talk, or know someone in my similar situation please leave a comment or email me.

love, Rachel