March 25

It’s been 10 days since my surgery and I’m starting to bounce back and feel better. I’m taking it one day at a time and trying not to focus on what might lie ahead but instead think about how far I’ve come since my diagnosis. The journey has already had a few ups and downs, but I’m looking forward to a lot more ups this summer. My post op appt. with my medical oncologist and reconstructive surgeon went really well. Apparently only 15% of patients receiving chemo treatments respond as well as I did. They said that I was 100% cancer free at the time of surgery. What that means is that when they went in to remove the breast tissue, they found no live cancer cells, but only scar tissue where there once was cancer. That was a huge relief to hear just to know that all I went through with the chemo treatments turned out to be so successful. They also found scar tissue in one of my lymph nodes which means that at one time there was cancer present there so they asked me to think about going in to have all of the lymph nodes removed as a precaution. If I don’t elect to have them removed then I will need to get an ultrasound every 3 months to check the area. I’ve decided to wait and see, knowing that I will have to have a second surgery for the reconstruction anyway and we can always do it then. Right now I want to enjoy thinking about being CANCER FREE and focus my energy on healing from my surgery. I was told by a friend that I will need to change the name of my blog from karenhascancer to karendoesnothavecanceranymore….but I’m going to wait and see. I’m usually a very positive thinker, but getting cancer has a way of getting the best of you and you find you just aren't as invincible as you once thought. Anyway, I’m going to keep this blog up but might not post anything new for a few months. Remember, no news is good news. I’ll be back when I have something to report. Thanks for sticking with me.