And the countdown begins...

I had a follow up appointment with my plastic surgeon yesterday.  He seems to be happy with how my last fat grafting procedure is working.  He felt confident enough to schedule my exchange surgery for March 21st.  I can't tell you how much I am looking forward to not having these hard plastic expanders in.  But I would be lying if I told you that the idea of this bigger surgery doesn't make me a little anxious.  They warned me that I make get the pleasure of having drains again.  The drains are not fun to have in, but the getting them removed part is probably even worse.  I'm just sayin'... And the first couple of days where you just don't feel like yourself....BUT it is all worth it!

It's all been worth it.  To reduce my risk of ovarian cancer by 90+%.   And to eliminate the need to be at the doctor every 6 months for monitoring.  And to not have to get a call saying that you need to repeat an MRI due to their fear of what they might have seen.  And to not have people treat you like you have cancer already because you are BRCA+.  The pain, the obstacles, the financial burden were all worth it!

So the countdown begins to next big surgery! And maybe to the day where I don't have to plan my life around the next surgery.  I don't want to get too far ahead of myself! As a side note, when I was preparing to begin this journey I wish someone would have explained that a mastectomy and reconstruction is not just a 1 or 2 step process.  That sometimes it takes a few to get things right.  That being said....I would not change a thing!

What a difference a year makes!

The other day I had a follow up appointment with one of the first doctors that I met after getting my BRCA1 diagnosis.  A year ago I was in his office an emotional mess.  I had just had my first MRI, then the call that they wanted another, and an ultrasound.  I have always said that I was most fearful of my ovaries.  Not sure if it is because my grandmother died of ovarian cancer, or if it's because it is not very easy to diagnose....but I have always thought getting them removed was a priority.

I knew the importance of routine screening for my "upper half" as I like to call it :) So I just thought the MRI was routine.  But the call I received after was anything but routine as well as the follow up MRI biopsy.  I am so thankful that the biopsy never had to be done because they no longer saw any concerns, but I will never forget the emotional roller coaster it put me on.  It helped me to decide that scheduling my surgeries sooner rather than later was a must for me.

I had my bilateral oopherectomy/hysterectomy on February 23 of this year and my double mastectomy on May 4.  It hasn't been the easiest of recoveries.  I've had plenty of bumps in the road.  Somehow I always found myself in the 5% of the population who had to deal with this complication or that one.  But I love where I am at now.  I love the sense of peace I have today.  I've come a long way in a year.

The best part of the visit was talking about follow up.  Before I felt overwhelmed with the amount of surveillance testing I needed to stay on top of.  But at this appointment he suggested that I see my gynecologist once a year, see my breast oncologist 1x next year....all very doable and a lot less urgency behind it.

Lucky #5

The Tuesday before Thanksgiving I checked in for my 5th surgery so far this year! This time I was having a fat grafting procedure done for the second time.  Even though I was prepared for what to expect, it is still surgery.  Past nurses and doctors stopped by to say hi like we were old friends...ugh.  When I started this preventative surgery journey earlier this year, I could have never predicted the ups and downs that I would have.

I would say all went well with the surgery.  I will know more tomorrow after my follow up appointment with the plastic surgeon tomorrow.  I hope he says that my skin is repairing itself much better than it has in the past and the end is near.  A girl can hope, can't she? I have plenty of bruising still, but I'm back to work.  I'm thankful that with the holiday I was able to take a few extra days off to recover.  The nap a day was awesome! And already so missed!!

On Saturday I took the kids to see the Good Dinosaur with family visiting from out of town.  This was my 3.5 year old son's first movie in the theater, and I think he did so good.  He loved the movie! My 6.5 year old daughter won't admit to liking the non-princess movie, but I think she enjoyed it too.  I liked that it was a little unpredictable, but still a great story.  There looks to be a lot of good boy humor movies out around Christmas...if you know what I am saying. (Alvin making a joke about his t-o-o-t-s) I think Avery might skip that one all together.