Introducing Thelma and Louise

Introducing Thelma and Louise -- my two new breasts. We've been on such an adventure together. I've felt like I've driven off a couple of cliffs in the past year and a half, just like in the 1990 movie. So I thought the names were a good fit.

I haven't posted in a while and I'm seeing a pattern in questions frequently asked of me so I thought I'd answer them here.

How are you feeling?
All my drains are out and I'm feeling good. My energy level is sustained throughout the day and I'm eating healthy. I'm making progress on my right arm, shoulder and back area. I began yoga therapy and do isometric type exercises twice a day. I also have twice a week lymph massage to help the fluid drain from my back and weekly massage therapy to help my muscles surrounding the latissimus dorsi to build and learn to compensate for the reassigned muscle. Sleeping throughout the night is a bit of a challenge as my right side continues to heal. I have to sleep sitting up which is not a very comfortable way to sleep but doable. However, I'm hoping in the next two weeks that I'll get doctor's permission to at least lay flat.

Are you finished with surgeries?
Not quite yet. I'll have to schedule my final surgery and right now that is planned for the end of September. This surgery will remove the port that rests subcutaneously below Louise, my right breast. The port was implanted at the time of the 7/7/08 surgery so that the saline implant could be filled as needed in order to stretch the skin. We will replace the saline implant with a silicone implant. This surgery is an out-patient procedure however is done under general anesthesia. Once I have this surgery you have limited motion on the right side for about two weeks.

What's next in your treatment plan?
I continue to take Tamoxifen, an estrogen receptor drug therapy, and have four more years of this. I do get heat (opposed to hot) flashes from this drug but over time the flash has gone from a 10 to about a 6. Looking on the bright side this drug is supposed to help build bone mass and can reduce cholesterol. Many breast cancers are driven by estrogen and this drug will prevent the estrogen from getting the upper hand. Yesterday, I had a PET/CT scan and will have results by Thursday. This is a scan of the entire body. When they removed the left breast last year and replaced it with Thelma, they also did a lymphectomy and found microscopic metastasis. So this test is to be sure there is no indications of cancer elsewhere -- which I'm sure there is none. I continue my healthy eating habits and reading lots of books on different schools of thought when it comes to nutrition and good health. There is a common thread in all of them and that is that sugar, especially processed sugar, plays havoc on the body. Think twice about downing that Reese's Peanut Butter Cup for a mid afternoon pick me up. Being the sugar queen that I was this was a big wakeup call for me. I think I've gone from a 10+ sugar eater to about a 3. Sometimes I miss it but not very often. Taste buds change when you change your eating habits. I will visit with my oncologist, Dr. John Link, in mid-September when I'm due for a cancer marker test. See website for more info on this. http://www.breastcancer.org/symptoms/testing/blood.jsp

When are you going back to work?
I'm hoping that I'll be back to work by mid-October. Keeping my fingers crossed that I can get the second surgery done by the end of September, so that once I'm back at work I don't have to leave again down the road to have it done. I miss being at work with my friends and I have a habit of letting my brain overrule my body. Not this time...body first. Thelma and Louise will be sure of that.

How's Jeff doing?
He is a warrior on every front imaginable. And at times I honestly don't know how he stays so positive. We will celebrate 15 years of marriage on September 3. Cool, huh? And he is becoming the nutrition guru for his own good health! Gotta love it! He's working with a new client, a flower company, and is working to sign additional ones in the near future. Maybe we'll even have a new four legged fur kid by the end of the year.

Your cards, prayers and support have been key elements in all of the progress you've read above. So know that you have been an integral part of my healing. All of us have the power to heal ourselves and each other. The human spirit is amazing and what a spectacular gift from God. Enjoy the Olympics and pray for Georgia and Russia so that the human spirit may prevail.

Blessings to you all. Love Karen