Thursday 13th Jan 2011: Appointment with my Professor
went very well yesterday. Clearance margins on Mastectomy were: 5cm at
the back, 2.5cm at the side and 0.5cm at the front. Wow it was a deep
one. He is very pleased and now I need to put on more weight, do more
excersise, not to strenous but more weight bearing i.e. walking
recommended only, not excersise bike etc. Assured me I am doing well and
have survived all their treatments! Also told me that is normal for all
those chemicals to be in my body for up to 18 months, but I will get
better after the first 4/5 months now that treatments have finished and
will notice an improovement as the months go on. It can also take up to 2
years for immune system to get fully back and take care meantime of
where I go re people and places and be aware of any signs of infection
etc. Yes I can eat more things now and even have a Chinese meal.
Yippee!!! He will see me in 2 years time. Mentioned Brac 2 Gene and that I felt
that my left arm was getting numb again and he thinks I have a little
swelling and he asked to tell the Breast Care, Surgeon and specialists
teams as he did not specifically specialise in this area. Handed in the pre and post operation photos to specialise team. Next appointment is to see my surgeon to discuss next step etc. I came home very pleased and hope now that I can start to build my
eating, diet, excersise and a daily structure. Hubby and me bought
Barbeque spare ribs and a special fried rice. Monday 17th Jan 2010: Phoned the Breast Care Nurse today as
over weekend my left underarm and shoulder more painful, heavy and
stinging like never before as well as some swelling with cording. Advise
that it was Post Radiotherapy Effect kicking in, to give plenty gentle
massage with aqueous. It should all calm down within a week, but not to
be alarmed if further swelling continues, phone them and they will
assess referral to physio and clinic to get a possible sleeve etc and
reassured me that it would not be life threatening as I had a fear of
lymphodemia. Today also saw the start of my care package going into
place and a Carer will help me with showering/washing, dressing and
making sure I get something to eat as now hubby back to work 12 hour
shifts. Not too happy about all this to be done in 30 minutes though as
it takes me all my time to get out of bed and make an effort just now
due to sleep patterns all over the place, daily structure out of the
window etc. Last night it took me over an hour to have a shower, wash
hair and get dressed for bed, Never mind the 15 minutes preparation
before hand of getting night clothes out and stripped and into the
shower. Guess it will get better, but at the moment I cannot afford to
get rushed about. Today also got a letter for an appointment to see the Surgical
Clinical Team and can only assume that this will be to arrange a date
for next operation........ very scary indeed as also got two other
appointments in the same week: One with my Surgeon and the other with
Genetics. Cannot believe that we are into the middle of January already.
