When I got back Morry took the boys to the park for a little bit.
Once they got back we all went to the hospital to visit Jimmy, who had hernia surgery. Aunt Doris was there too and we took her out to lunch. We ate at Manny's Uptown Kitchen. We had a nice time and the boys were well behaved. We spend a little more time in the hospital room when we got back.
Then, we went home and tried to get Noah to nap.
For dinner we had leftovers. I had my leftovers from Buca Di Beppo. Morry had pizza. The boys had shrimp.
After dinner we did more cleaning up.
It seems quiet upstairs. I think the boys are asleep.
This morning both boys were up at 6:30am. That's very early for them. Evan said he heard the air conditioning come on and thought it was the garage door. When he ran out in the hallway Noah was coming out to use the restroom. Both boys were excited to see each other and never went back to sleep.
Evan and Noah were very hyper this morning, but then it turned to crankiness. I dropped them off at Clubhouse for Kids around noon. I packed a lunch for them to eat there.
I stopped in Target to get a few things and then went to the hospital to visit Lauren and Shayne. She had her baby last night. I visited with Lauren, Shayne, Aunt Susan, Aaron, Mandy, and of course baby Garrett for about an hour.
I picked up the boys at Clubhouse for Kids and then we came home. Noah wouldn't nap.
For dinner we had flank steak and corn. Noah ate really well. He actually ate our dinner, which was nice. Evan ate ok.
We tried getting the boys ready for bed a little early, but they are both still awake right now.
Evan did not go to sleep last night until after midnight. He ended up watching the ball drop with us. In fact, I went upstairs before Evan did.
However this morning, two minutes before my alarm went off, Evan came in and woke me up. Uncle Mike and Aunt Jen took him downstairs, though, and gave him breakfast.
Rachel and I got ready and had our own breakfast and then went to the hospital for her neulasta shot. Normally, the shot is given at the oncology center but since it was New Years Day, it was closed and we had to go to hospital. There was some miscommunication so we were late but the people at the hospital were very nice and it went very quickly once we were there.
When we got home, Rachel laid down for about 2 hours. She's feeling very wiped out and she's nauseous.
Evan played Wii with Uncle Mike and Aunt Jen before lunch. Noah liked pretending to play the Wii.
For lunch, we had our left over Salt Lick and the boys ate peanut butter and jelly.
Rachel took a walk after lunch.
Both boys took good naps. I left to go to Matt and Rachael's wedding. They decided to have a very small wedding on Mt. Bonnell. Rachael's friend officiated. After that we went to Pluckers. The wedding was very nice and it was nice to see them so happy. The kids were very well behaved.
I came home and picked up food for all of us for dinner. I made pasta for the boys when I got home and the adults ate the to-go food from Santa Rita. Rachel came downstairs and had some lentil soup.
Both boys are in bed now and Rachel is in bed as well.
************ 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.
***********
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.
Not only is October tough because of all of the breast cancer awareness promotions, but it is also the anniversary of the beginning of my journey back in 2009.
Angelina says, "There is more than one way to deal with any health issue. The most important thing is to learn about the options and choose what is right for you personally." I appreciate Angelina Jolie and all of the others that have chosen to be open about their health and share personal details.
Shortly after I finished chemo, my feet started feeling like someone took a hammer to them. At first, I thought I had an injury or arthritis. I went to a podiatrist and a rheumatologist, but they couldn’t find anything noticeably wrong. My x-rays looked fine.
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