Hi Friends and Welcome New Readers! Thank you to Prevention Magazine for featuring my blog on their website and bringing me some new friends! They did a small feature about my blog in the magazine last Fall, then recently asked if they could share my blog online. Um….YES! I first feel like I should apologize to my new subscribers for not being the Weight Watcher blog you signed up to follow. However, I will be back to Weight Watcher blogging very soon! For now, I’m focusing on this dumb breast cancer and getting my body back. (Please make self breast exams a part of your monthly routine. Six months after a 3D mammogram, I found my lump and had it checked out!) Tomorrow I will be having my third surgery. I will be having a full hysterectomy and my new breast will be having a few revisions. After surgery, I’m on […]
Category: My Breast Cancer
Where Have I Been?
I kind of fell apart. Since finding out that I had an Iliac Aneurysm a few weeks ago (an aneurysm located in the abdomen) I let my mind go to the worst place that it could have gone. All that I could think about were the drastic measures that I had taken after my breast cancer diagnosis. Have a Double Mastectomy. No Implants! Go through a 10 hour surgery, have my entire torso cut open and have my belly fat transferred to my breast area and make new breast. Schedule a hysterectomy to remove Ovaries since my Breast Cancer is estrogen positive and eliminate the ovaries to eliminate any extra estrogen and to eliminate the chance of Ovarian Cancer since it runs in my family. Take my Uterus too. One of the drugs that I will now be taking to reduce the risk of a Breast Cancer reoccurrence can cause […]
Road Block
Just over a week ago, I went in for my 9 week post op appointment. The purpose of this appointment was so the doc could see how I was healing and discuss our next step, Phase 2 of the DIEP surgery and talk scheduling so the OB can do the hysterectomy at the same time. Yay. Progress. I was happy to learn that during the next phase of this surgery, the doc will be able to give my new breast a much needed lift and a reduction and clean up a few things around my ab incision. He will also do some “fat grafting” where he will take fat from my hip area and fill in the top of my breast where there are still some empty spaces from where the breast tissue was removed with the mastectomy. This appointment is really a discussion of how he will make things look pretty and more […]
Don’t Forget to Feel It on the First!
This is your friendly reminder! Feel It on the First! Men too! Know your body. Be your own advocate. Doing a monthly self breast check will familiarize you with our own body. Check for any unusual lumps, bumps, dimples or changes. You just might save your own life! Okay, lot’s going on in my head. The reality of everything that my body has gone through and what is to come is apparently just starting to sink in. The hormone changes are not making anything any easier to deal with. My entire torso looks like it belongs to someone else. Yes, my tummy is gone and that is nice, I now have breast and that is amazing and the cancer is out of my body and that is the BEST news, but there are many changes that look and feel very strange. I am covered in scars with more […]
Practicing Patience
I’m getting super antsy being at home wanting to organize this or that, move this chair or that chair, paint a room, move a dresser. These are just the sort of things I do when I’m home a lot. I get these ideas and want to change things up. I’m advised to not lift over 10 pounds for the first 8 weeks post op. I’m also advised to do nothing strenuous as there is a risk of a hernia following my recent surgery. I hate asking for help, I hate to sit and I also hate thinking of things to do then not being able to do them. I’m venting. I’ve noticed that I’m in a much better mood if I keep myself busy. however, getting out in this cold isn’t my cup of tea either. A cup of tea. Now that’s my thing. (But you can only sit and drink so much […]
Post-Op & Commit30
Hi All. It’s Julie. Remember me? Oh my gosh, so much to talk about! Post op updates, 2018 Goals, 2017 in Review, Tracking my food and WW Freestyle I’ll save “2017 in Review” and “Tracking my food and WW Freestyle” for my next post, otherwise I could be here ALL day……..and you would be really bored. Heck, that might happen anyhow! Post Op My daughter Tess came in town December 6th and ended up staying through surgery and didn’t go back to Dallas until December 28th. I loved having her here and so did Mike. Recovery would have been so difficult without her here. She actually came back this past weekend and organized an un decorating afternoon for me with our son and daughter-in-law. Everything is put away and organized just like mom likes it. They all did a great job! I’m now 4 Weeks Post-op! I can not believe […]
The Jokes on YOU, Cancer!
Happy Friday! I’m excited to share that the last week has gone surprisingly well! I came out of a 10 1/2 hour surgery to the news that the surgery was a success and I now had a tummy tuck and new boobs! Of course I don’t remember that at all, but Tess and Mike tell me that when I woke up, I knew the good news. I spent four adventurous nights in the hospital and came home on Monday. Friends and family came to visit at the hospital, and while I feel like I was completely alert at all times, I vaguely remember those first few days. I’m working on a post for a later date with pictures, but for now I just wanted to let you know that I am home, I am happy. The Jokes on YOU, Cancer! Because of you…. I feel more loved than ever from family […]
Success
I am laying in my bed right now at the hospital. The surgery was a success and I now have a flat tummy and new boobies made out of my own tissue. Yay!!! I’ll go home in 3 to 5 days. Thank you all so much for your prayers, sending me some good vibes and wishing me the best. It worked!!
It’s a DIEP Subject
Surgery is in three days and I so wish that I was sitting here writing my 2 week post-op update. I am nervous, ready and admittedly a bit scared. I had a pre-op appointment with the plastic surgeon on Friday for my surgery this week. Before reading the rest of this post, please know that I am truly grateful that I am alive and that I found my cancer early. I know there are many women that have traveled this road and their road has been longer and much more challenging than mine. That being said, the last 5 months have been filled with appointments, phone calls, test, results and more decisions than I ever thought possible. In case you didn’t know…… On August 31st, six weeks after being diagnosed with breast cancer, I had a double mastectomy. I am scheduled for DIEP Flap breast reconstruction on December 14th. You can […]
Just Two Weeks To Go!
Surgery What a crazy last few days. I know. Story of 2017. Wednesday, I went to the hospital for a Pre-admittance appointment where they drew blood and I filled out paperwork. We talked about the importance of me staying healthy until surgery. Lots of hand washing, avoiding sick people, and so on. I left that appointment and four hours later I was vomiting. It also happened to be my birthday. Thursday, Thanksgiving, still sick. Yep. Missed the whole day. Friday was meh….I moved slow. No vomiting. Saturday I felt fine and we went to dinner with some family. Had a great evening. All good. Sunday, nausea again. Light headed. Felt like I was going to faint a few times. Clammy feeling. No fever or vomiting, just nausea, light headed and sweating. Monday. Same. I also was prepping for my colonoscopy, scheduled for Tuesday, so liquid diet on Monday. Monday afternoon at 3:00, I […]