As you all know my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer last month. She had a double mastectomy last Thursday and the preliminary results show that she is now cancer free!! They did send some of the tissue off to have more extensive tests ran (we will have the report in a few days) however the doctor feels strongly that the cancer did not spread outside of the breasts. No chemo or radiation is all tests come back negative!!
I have to tell you that mom handled this with such unbelievable calmness and courage. She has amazed everyone with that way she has handled this diagnosis. So many of her friends have commented on this in the past few days. She says that she knew God would take care of it so why worry...it's there and there is nothing we can do about it, we just got to get it taken care of. She also amazed all the nurses and doctors with her health...she is 73 years old and this is the first surgery she has ever had. She doesn't have to take any medications except for baby aspirin and osteoporosis preventative.
The one downside was that the anesthesia made her very sick. She was in surgery for about 7 hours so she got an extra dose of it....Poor mom was so sick she had to stay in the hospital an extra day. We didn't even talk about food around her and had to make sure that her door stayed closed because any mention or little whiff of food really made her nauceous. Mom & Dads 55th wedding anniversay was Friday...needless to say there was no romantic dinner. The hospital brought them a cake but they didn't get to eat it either. Dad did get her some beautiful roses and she was able to enjoy looking at them.
You know that she has to be hurting but she never complains. We have to really coax her to take pain meds...you know how it is, if that pain ever gets a grip on you it is hard to get rid of so we try to encourage her to take it even if she just hurts "a little bit".
I have learned so much through all of this...but the one thing I had never heard of was that since she had some of her lymph nodes removed from her underarm she should never have her blood pressure taken on her arms, have blood drawn, or get injections in her arms. Doing this could cause her to get lymphedema. From now on they will have to put the blood pressure cuff on her foot or calf, draw blood and give shots anywhere else but her arms. Who knew???
Please pray for mom as she heals and goes through the reconstruction process. She will eventually have to have a day surgery in order to complete the reconstruction (in 2 or 3 months).....my prayer is that she will not get sick when they put her under anesthesia again. Also pray for Dad...he had spent a lot of time at the hospital and I know that his back and legs were really bothering him.
