Just trying to get caught up on my blog entries before surgery TOMORROW! EEK….where does the time go?? I will finish with some more thoughts below on radiation and then will talk briefly about my plans for reconstruction. Thanks again for following along…and of course, for being patient with my sporadic postings. J
My radiation treatments consisted of the same routine practically every day, except that every other day was “wet towel” day. On these days, the techs would get me all set up and then they would put a wet towel over my chest where the beams were pointing. They said that this was a way to control and vary the depth of the radiation so that the beams would affect my body more closely to the skin. I find it interesting to think about a wet towel providing another “layer” of my body and wonder how they came up with that technique….or any of their techniques for that matter? How do they KNOW that the beams are pointing precisely where they want them to point? (They ARE invisible, which seems kind of crazy to me.) And how do they really know how much air I need to inhale so that my chest will be at the exact location so they aren’t radiating any of my internal organs? Some things are just beyond my level of comprehension, but I am sure thankful that my doctors get it! I am constantly amazed by the level of technology and medicine we have available to us these days.
So the actual radiation procedure didn’t hurt at all, but what the radiation did to my skin sure was painful! One of our good friends compared the idea of my skin being radiated to the idea that it was, in a sense, being “microwaved”. Which is kind of yucky to think about, but it made understanding the burns easier for me. When I looked in the mirror, I could tell a definite difference in the color of my skin where it was radiated. It was pink at first, then turned a bright “sunburn” red, and then became seriously blistered (bigger than a half dollar size blisters in places). The most painful part was having OPEN blisters both on my chest and under my armpit. OUCH! My skin was RAW and it was NOT pleasant.
Again, my radiation techs and nurses weren’t the most nurturing people on the planet, so they only gave me lotions and protective patches for my skin when I proactively asked for them. (Even though they could obviously SEE my skin was raw, it was like pulling teeth to get extra patches from them. And it wasn’t until I was around other breast cancer patients at a support group that I was told there was a prescription level cream that I could be using to help my open blisters heal. I was really ANGRY that no one at my doctor’s office had even mentioned this as an option to me! Seriously…I shouldn’t have to call my nurse and ASK for a prescription cream for my burns, I feel like she should have just offered it up as an option. Sorry to sound bitter, but I really WAS bitter! *sigh*)
Anyways, I was able to play in a few volleyball tournaments over the course of my radiation treatments (which I LOVED!)…but it wasn’t an easy process to get ready for a day in the sand with open blisters. Armed with gauze padding, multiple rolls of pre-wrap and adhesive wrap for on top, Aaron carefully wrapped me up like a little mummy before we went out for the day. It was a tricky procedure, because I needed to be wrapped tightly enough so the bandages wouldn’t fall off, but I needed to be able to take a deep breath too! J
My skin got so bad toward the end, that they made me take some time off before finishing my last few treatments. While it was nice to have a break from the radiation, I was a little concerned because I didn’t think my skin would be healed for my surgery reconstruction date of September 3rd.
A week before my scheduled surgery, I went in to meet with my plastic surgeon. At that time, my skin was almost completely healed except for a very small scab (about the size of a lima bean). I was surprised at how well it had healed, but she said I wasn’t ready for surgery yet. (Even a very small opening in the skin can cause a huge risk for infection, and she didn’t want to chance it.) We decided it was better to push out my surgery date. And since we were already postponing it, I jumped at the chance to get some more indoor volleyball tournaments in before having another surgery.
My favorite number is 12. So November 12th sounded like a good day to have surgery. Wait a MINUTE….not only is it the 12th day of the month, but it is actually 11/12/13! How cool is that? I don’t think I will ever forget that and it must be a good omen….right? I sure hope so, because I am a little anxious about having surgery tomorrow.
It’s not the idea of having surgery, but the length of the surgery that has me a little nervous. I am scheduled to have a TRAM flap reconstruction surgery. What does that mean exactly? Well, they are going to use skin/muscle/fat from my abdomen (think free tummy tuck….woohoo!!), to form newly reconstructed breasts. The surgery is low risk, but the idea of being under for 8+ hours seems excessively long to me! I have had a few tears thinking about it along the way and I am sure they will flow freely tomorrow morning, but that is just how I deal with each new uncertain challenge and things have always turned out just fine! (Knock on lots of wood….and YES….I really did just knock on wood. *smile*)
So here I am trying to get this blog post up at 11:30pm the night before my surgery. For those of you that know me well…you are laughing at me leaving things to the last minute….AGAIN. I don’t think I will ever learn, but the good news is that I have been so busy today, that I really haven’t had a chance to sit and worry! Worrying is never fun, so I am going to do my best to LET GO and just have faith in the path that God has in store for me. If you have a moment to send a little prayer my way on 11/12/13 for a smooth surgery…I would highly appreciate it. J
I’d better sign off for now…I still have to water my plants, pack, take a shower with special soap (yes….these were the instructions from my doc) and eat something before the clock strikes midnight! HA!
I hope you all know how very much you mean to me! I have the best family and friends a girl could ask for.
Love and Hugs….
Nae
No comments:
Post a Comment