Hysterectomy - done.

My surgery went well today, so now I'm comfortable at St Joe's Resort and Spa. The food is good, but I haven't gone down to the pool yet. I'm pretty relaxed, so if I close my eyes while you're visiting it's because I'm just feeling the moment or maybe because of the sun reflecting off the waves (of cars in the parking lot). I'll go home Wednesday (to a clean house, surely) with this step behind me. On to reconstruction next!

Oophorectomy

I find myself with a bit of pre-surgery insomnia. I check in at St. Joe's Resort and Spa in about 5 1/2 hours to have the rest of my girl parts removed. It's called an oophorectomy when they remove the uterus, fallopian tubes, and ovaries - I'm going to call it a hysterectomy because that's what we all know. I'm more nervous about forgetting chapstick than the actual procedure. I'm in good hands and I'll be better off without those parts anyway. Today I had my final follow-up with Dr Kommareddi, my breast surgeon, and she was happy with my healing. She is a very pleasant and kind doctor - kind of sad to say goodbye. My radiation burn is healing quickly (thanks to my aloe plants ... and a slew of creams and ointments). It's mostly peeled with fresh, pink/tan skin underneath. I'm wondering if I'm going to have a rectangle boob tan for a while.

All done with Radiation

I'm all done with radiation! I was surprised by a group of friends with party blowers & balloons for me after I rang the bell. I'm so grateful to these friends and all the others that have supported me, both near and far!

The radiation burn isn't terrible, but there are some pretty sensitive areas. Between the fresh aloe, moisturizers, and ointments I'm sure it'll heal up quickly. I'm definitely starting to feel the fatigue creeping in, but nothing like I expected. My sleep monitoring app has never been so proud of me! I'll start to reconstruct my left breast while the right side heals. I've gotten comfortable walking around in public with just one breast (I don't think most people even notice), but it'll be nice to get more balanced again. On April 17th I'm scheduled for an ooferectomy (uterus, fallopian tubes, and ovaries removed). We want to get those estrogen machines out of there - The cancer was being fed by estrogen. We've been blocking it and suppressing it, so this is the final step. Then I'll switch to an aromatase inhibitor as my long-term medicine (5 years).