Recovering from Round 1 - Fight!

Roller Coaster Ride

The past 4 weeks after my Lumpectomy was quite a roller coaster ride of ups and downs.  The first week and half after my surgery was challenging.  Although I felt relatively good, I would fatigue easily and needed to take naps throughout the day.  I knew I was tired when I could hardly keep my eyes opened and sensed an immediate need to sleep.  That was the first two weeks.  On top of sleepiness, I felt nauseous at certain time - mostly when I smelled food.   The food I loved before - cheeseburgers, fries, fried chicken, fried eggs - created a wave of nausea.  I assume my body was still getting rid of the anesthesia in my body.  

After 3 weeks, I felt fine with the exception of sore shoulder/ underarm of the surgical area.  And with the lumpectomy, I didn't feel comfortable with any bouncing, jumping or lying on my belly.  

Week 4, I met with my Oncologist, Dr. Korapatti, and she reviewed every line of my pathology report.  She also reviewed my treatment plan for my particular breast cancer type.  For those of you who are curious about the nitty gritty medical details - I have the Invasive Ductal Carcinoma, Stage II a, Estrogen Receptive Positive, Grade 3 cancer.  For this type of aggressive cancer, I am to undergo 6 sessions of chemotherapy, another surgery to clear my margins, and 6 weeks of radiation.  For this type of chemotherapy, I will be losing my hair.

Dr. Korapatti also put me on a monthly Lupron shot to hibernate my ovaries and put me into early menopause in order to suppress my estrogen and essentially starve and kill the cancer cells.  The side effects I've experienced from Lupron in the past 2 weeks have been:  hot flashes, significant bloating where my stomach extended like I ate a whole watermelon, swelling on my hands and feet (my fingers and toes looked like Vienna Sausages) and worst, cravings - like I'm always hungry and craving for my favorite food!!!  Now, I'm fat but I'm hoping chemotherapy will slim me.  I'm storing up for the worst.

Wednesday, August 7 is my surgery to in place a port catheter in my chest.  The idea is to save your arm from numerous IV stabbings and have a one easy place for nurses to stick the IV without torturing you.  I will be put to sleep during this surgery but no anesthesia will be administered.  I sure do hope I don't wake up in the middle of surgery.  Supposedly, the port catheter is connected to the artery under the collar bone.  I'm not sure if I like the sound of something in my artery.  Kinda sounds weird.

Stay tuned as I progress in this journey!