Just a quick post to say happy holidays! I’ve been resting a lot and tomorrow is my follow-up with my surgeon, so I’ll keep you posted.
Post-op update & wife brag
Hi all – Just wanted to give you a quick update on how Rachel’s doing. We’re almost a week out from the exchange and things are going steadily better day-by-day! This morning Rachel had her post-op appointment and was able to get the drain out 🙂 Overall, everything’s looking super healthy and barely looks operated on. Which is pretty amazing considering what Rachel went through six days ago.
With the drain out, pain culprit #1 is out of the way. In a couple of days Rachel’s strict schedule of pain meds will taper off – and if today’s any indication, her energy will probably rebound quickly too. Tonight she was able to shower for the first time since the surgery (I swear she wasn’t stinky one bit, she had me check a few times so I can confirm that fact).
Over the past week, we’ve had a steady stream of nursing school homies stop by to hang out. This has been awesome for both Rachel and me. Having these amazing friends over at the house has allowed me to run errands, get some needed sleep and gives Rachel an enthusiastic buddy to watch trashy reality TV with. They’ve also been able to change the occasional drain and help Rachel get from the couch to the baño and back. The UCLA nursing student community is incredible and we appreciate you so much!
But being a little loopy and having acute pain hasn’t stopped Rachel from being the badass that she normally is. She’s continued to be an amazingly supportive to all those she loves during this past week. In between naps, she’s been on her phone staying on top of everything from school, appointments, bills and keeping family up-to-date on how she’s doing.
Through this entire journey I’ve been completely blown away by the strength of my wife. No matter the challenge Rachel just steps up like a boss. (Gonna brag for a moment.)
Most ridiculously challenging academic quarter ever (I know you’re feeling me MCEN’s) six weeks after mastectomy? No problem: she passed all her courses handedly and served awesomely as president of her graduate nursing association.
Three physically challenging clinical rotations while recovering from mastectomy? Not an issue: Rachel helped women give birth just days after starting physical therapy and came home from every exhausting shift more excited for her future as a nurse, being able serve patients everyday.
Keeping focused after receiving news she had gnarly mystery tissue damage and then a resulting literal hole in the boob – and receiving the latter news a week before finals and going into surgery? Ain’t no thang: Rachel made it through all this by slugging it out every single day with an amazing attitude that got more positive even as the intensity mounted.
And not to mention that she absolutely loves chatting with and hopefully helping anyone that hits her up about mastectomies/cancer prevention/cancer treatments.
So I’m pretty sure I’m married to superwoman. I’m cool with that not only because I get a superwoman nurse as my bestie and life partner. (But also because I’m expecting all of our children to be super athletes who’ll surely hook us up with their signing bonus money). Not sure how Rachel does it and over the past few days I’ve been able step back a bit and just observe this woman’s greatness.
Getting Better
Rachel here! Just a quick update to let you know how much I appreciate all of your good thoughts. I am healing well. Getting lots of rest, watching lots of tv and movies, and having a great support community help take care of me. My post-op is tomorrow and I’m hoping to get my drain out and get the okay to shower 🙂 I’ll keep you posted. The drain is causing me the most pain so hopefully that’ll be done tomorrow!
Exchange completed!
Hey all! Husband Adam here. Rachel had a 4.5 hour surgery yesterday and it was a big success! She got home last night and has been resting well since.
The really great news is that she got two implants (as opposed to having to keep one of the tissue expanders in). Also, the recent tissue damage that popped up in October healed well! The surgeon tested the skin from the inside and was able to verify that everything grew back healthily. The Dr. used allograft on the inside of that breast and is very happy with the results of the procedure 🙂 Another big plus is that Rachel only needs one drain. These mofos were the cause of much of her pain during the mastectomy – so when the doctor said she just had one drain AND she got the implants, I was like ‘hallelujah! & Happy Chanukah!’
Last night Rachel was even able to sleep in bed for over five hours! It took two weeks for us to get to this point post-mastectomy – so another thing we’re both very thankful for. The biggest priority over the next week is lots of rest to heal and prep for the post-op appointment next Monday.
Thank you so much for all of your support and love during this journey! Either Rachel or I will post updates soon and I hope you have a great week and Happy holidays!
Ready for Tomorrow
This’ll be a short post because I’m totally exhausted from finals week. As finishing my last exam at 7:00 tonight – I’m done with with school for this quarter – woohoo, I made it (even with a hole in my boob)! Now, I finally had a chance to get everything together for surgery. I spoke with my surgeon and anesthesiologist (they both called me tonight, awesome). Adam and I went through all my paperwork and plans for tomorrow. I ate a burger and sweet potato fries for my last meal before surgery, and opened some kick ass pre-surgery/post-finals/Hanukkah presents from Adam. He got me 3 of my favorite things – winter dream tea from Coffee Bean (aka Christmas in a cup), a Beyoncé sweatshirt, and a John Cena action figure.
My surgeon is hopeful that I can get implants on both sides tomorrow, but it won’t be until we are in the operating room that she makes the final decision based on what is safest and will heal the best. Either way, my right expander is being switched for an implant and the deep tissue injury will be cut out and supported with a graft underneath on the left. Whether or not I get an implant or keep the expander on the left is to be determined. If I don’t get the implant on the left, I would have one more surgery down the line to switch it to the implant.
Despite all the craziness, I am feeling pretty calm. I’m confident in my medical team and I feel very supported by my community. Adam will post with an update sometime tomorrow. Please send good vibes/thoughts/prayers tomorrow. My surgery starts at 9am and should last about 4 hours. Much love.
Things Are Looking Up
Since my last post, I finished a lot of my school stuff. I’m just in hard core study mode for a big final I have Monday (I have 2 other ones on Monday too), but then I’m done with this quarter of school! Adam went and got some groceries that I’ll need after surgery (think ginger ale and crackers, mmmm lol) and friends are offering to come over to help after surgery.
The studying has been a somewhat good distraction from my surgery. It looks like the wound may be improving, but my surgeon won’t know what the surgery outcome will be until we are in the operating room. I’m at peace with it and trying to think really positive (about finals and my surgery). Since I’m in crazy study mode right now, I thought I’d share a quick cute video before going back to hitting the books.
Cry Sesh
I’ve been pretty much doing nothing but studying for finals and schoolwork, plus wondering about what will end up happening with my surgery next week. I was totally exhausted late Tuesday night and got a message from my surgeon about the daily pics I send her of my stitches, and she said there was an area she was concerned about. So I ended up crying on the couch. I usually stay pretty calm, cool, and collected – but it was actually a great release to get it all out. It’s rough enough studying so much, so I guess adding uncertainty about my surgery was the final puzzle piece to make me have my cry sesh. Oh, and drains. I now know 100% I’ll have drains at least on the left side because of the skin repair they have to do. Drains are definitely not fun. Adam helped me get through my crying by comforting me, and of course using humor, which is the best medicine. We were joking about how if I only have one drain we can treat it like fashion – it can be my statement drain. I also watched Vanderpump Rules which made me feel better about my life and then we watched The Little Couple, which always makes me happy.
I told myself (out loud in the car – anyone driving next to me probably thought I was crazy) that I can do this, I can handle this. I passed my two lab finals and knocked out another final, NCLEX prep exam, presentation, and a group paper today. Two more presentations tomorrow, an NCLEX prep exam and two more finals on Monday, and I’m all done with school for this quarter! All the school stuff is actually a welcome distraction from thinking about my surgery.
The good news is that today, my surgeon said the latest pic I sent looked good and things are looking sturdy. I’ve made peace with whatever the outcome is during surgery. If I need to have one more surgery at a later point so things can heal on the left side, I am okay with it and completely trust my surgeon’s judgement. Hopefully Tuesday’s surgery will be the last one, and if not – yes, I’ll be bummed. But all of this is still wayyyyyy better than having breast cancer. 2015 will be the first year since 2009 that I haven’t had to get a mammogram and breast MRI, which I’m really happy about. Especially when I have the mammograms where they call me back in to do an ultrasound to take a closer look at something. So, I still have no regrets and am thinking positive about the surgery!
ps – for those of you who haven’t seen The Little Couple, here’s one example of why it makes me so happy
So Far So Good
Just wanted to give a quick update on my tissue damage (aka boob hole). Thanks for all the vibes/thoughts/prayers. The stitches are looking good and my surgeon has been happy with how everything looks in the photos I’ve been sending. I stayed home from school on Friday because I was pretty sore and as always, my classmates and instructors were very supportive. I’ve been studying a lot for finals, and trying to rest in between. Tomorrow is my last day of clinicals for the quarter. I’ll keep you posted!
Yeesh
I had my pre-op appointment today, which was supposed to be the “fun” implant shopping appointment. Well, that tissue damage I sustained in October reared its ugly head again today, making the appointment not so fun. Last time I saw my doctor about the damage, it was healing very well and was covered with a sterile bandage. Today, when the bandage was removed, there was a small area that had not healed, and is now basically a small hole.
Luckily, my surgeon is amazing, and she was immediately coming up with options for me to heal, have my surgery as scheduled, and keep on track with school. She removed some saline from the expander to help it heal, and then stitched up the tiny hole. My surgeon also told me I could text her a picture each day to make sure it is looking good. My friend was with me to hold my hand, and also to watch the whole thing (she’s a nursing student too so it was pretty cool she got to watch).
Now, I just keep an eye on it and hope/pray that it stays looking the way it looks today. Then, my exchange surgery will still take place on the 16th, but will be a little more complex of a surgery. She will remove the damaged area, and replace it with skin graft, and then continue with the exchange. The hope is that I can still get the implants in, just at a smaller size than my expanders are at now. The worst case scenario is that she can only put in the implant on the right side, and I keep the expander in the left until it is all healed. The good news is that even though it is a longer surgery than originally planned (4 hours) and I know I’ll have drains (boo), the recovery time is still exactly the same.
Please send vibes/prayers that everything goes as planned (with both implants placed), I can have the surgery on 12/16, and that I heal well!
Funky Genes 