Paper vests and booby-sandwiches

Oh cancer, you never cease making my life more colorful by exposing me to a world I would otherwise be unfamiliar with at my age. Particularly the realm of paper vests and booby-sammiches! The what and the what? Haha! Well, I suppose even if you were familiar with these things already, you might be perplexed by my loving nicknames for them. So here I go! ;)

This past Tuesday, I went for my standard weekly blood draw. I got voicemail on Wednesday from my oncologist nurse Julie letting me know that my WBC and all else were almost back to normal already! This meant, no further need for me to go get blood drawn every week! After 6 months of this routine, I was ecstatic to no longer need to go do it. I bet my veins on my right arm/hand are even happier than I am though!

Truly a grand way to start off a busy and informative week. Thursday I had my appointment with Dr. Kushner. Ah, the return to needing paper vests in my life. Lol! More appointments = more exams = paper vests, capes, etc. Though the paper vests, by far, are the most horrendous and uncomfortable. I do wonder if even the sexiest bombshell of women feel like a hot mess whilst wearing one too? How could you not? >_<

Honey, they're not paying you enough that model that atrocity.

Moving on! So Kushner did an exam. Felt no lump... lymph nodes felt fine too. :D He got down to business giving me more info on surgery. Not quite as much as I would have liked, but that wasn't his fault. I hadn't had any imaging done yet and I still need to see my cosmetic surgeon again before he can give me specifics. I think it's all riding on whether to see if they need to worry about that stupid internal mammary lymph node or if chemo melted its face.

What I do know now for sure is that, yep, the surgery will happen in September. I'll have to get blood work and an EKG done when I'm nearing surgery. Once the tatas are removed, I will then likely be in the hospital afterwards for 2-3 days. I also know that my overall recovery from the surgery will take between 4 to 6 weeks.  What I don't know yet? Ah, well, radiation therapy is still up in the air. That's fine though. I've said it a thousand times before and I'll say it again, whether I'm meant to have it or I'm not, I trust God. :)

I brought up that strange icky bump on my port-a-cath scar to him. He took a look and sure enough, it was a suture that my body didn't absorb. Apparently my body tried to wall it off because it thought, "hey! that's a foreign object!". Bizarre considering that big ol' port lives inside me just fine! Dr. Kushner gave me some localized numbing agent stuff and basically poked a scalpel in it and got it out. So gross right? A bit more gross yet, Jason asked him if there was a way he could keep it. Hahaha. Boys! I don't get it. 

Today I had my imaging appointments I mentioned in my previous post. And in steps the booby-sandwiches! This year I went from having had zero mammos to having three! If you've never experienced one, then calling it the booby-sandwich machine is the most accurate description possible. It's not the worst thing ever, but it's not very pleasant either. It squeezes your breast(s) in between two flat surfaces. It's obviously done with some sort of x-ray too I suspect as they make me wear a lead apron. Oh, and that thing where the technician runs behinds a wall of protection as the machine hums away.

Behold! A booby-sandwich machine in all its glory.

But what's better than enduring one booby-sammich experience in a day? Having TWO in one day! Haha. My tumor was always tough to see on the mammo imaging because of the proximity to my chest wall... so I wasn't surprised when the tech had to call me back to do another round. She said the doctor wanted the clip marker (left from my biopsy) to be visible in the images, thus why it needed to be redone.

Ultrasounds are always a breeze, but with all the sandwiching my poor chest went through between both imagings, it was pretty red. I wasn't clever enough to wear a top that didn't have a lower neckline. Oops. Lol.

I already got a call from Dr. Wagner's office earlier this evening letting me know my results of both of those too. No sign of malignancy present. PTL! Both techs told me that at the time, but hearing it officially felt great.

Next on my appointment agenda is to see my cosmetic surgeon this coming Wednesday. Later that day I'll be getting my MRI as well. I imagine I'll be get a surgery date solidified after that. It's my next big hurdle so I'm anxious to get over it.

Pardon me if this post was all over the place. ^_^;  My chemo brain has certainly kicked in as of late. I'm sure my current lack of sleep does nothing to help matters either. And with that said, I think it's time I attempt to catch some zzz's.

May God bless you all with an enjoyable and safe weekend and week to follow!

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power." Ephesians 6:10