update on my health.

It is hard to believe that almost two months have gone by since my surgery. (7 weeks to be exact). I imagine some of you are curious as to what is happening next. I am too! haha.

I am recovering well from surgery and have truly enjoyed feeling good physically. I have almost full ROM on my left side which was more effected from the surgery due to the lymph node removal.  Overall strength is increasing each day and it helped significantly by picking up my kids on a regular basis. :) My plastic surgeon dismissed me for a 10 month to a year from now, at which time they will complete the reconstruction.  I know, it doesn't sound like a desirable word when describing one's body, but it is important to keep in mind that the most complicated aspect of the "reconstruction" is already complete.

Due to the positive lymph nodes at the time of surgery I will be receiving radiation. My radiation oncologist orchestrates my care,  not to be confused with my medical oncologist (this is the chemotherapy side of things). Tomorrow I begin radiation therapy which consists of 5-7 weeks of radiation. 5 days a week. The treatment lasts for about 15 minutes and does not require I avoid my children. Thank goodness.

I had a PET-SCAN a few weeks ago. This scan looks at your body and has the ability to locate tumor growth (something to do with sugar uptake). My scan was clear. Praise GOD!

*Something strange and important to understand about breast cancer is it can "come back" as any time, 1 year from now, 5 years from now, 20 years from now. It also might never return! This is called a risk of re-occurence. It is a frightening reality that I now face, and due to my number of lymph nodes, size of tumor, and aggressiveness of the tumor I have a high risk of reoccurance. ugh. (I will talk more about my heart on this matter later....)