First of all, let me start with thank you’s for your prayers, cards and calls. We appreciate your visits in the hospital and at home, and the meals that have been delivered for our dinners have been wonderful! We’re especially grateful to the people who have helped with the store so Mark could spend more time with me in the hospital and here at home.
I’m starting to get back on my feet, but it will take a few more weeks of R&R to fully recover. I have 9 staples in my abdomen from the gall bladder surgery that I had last Tuesday. Monday Mark took me to the doctor and he removed my drain tube, and next week we go back to have the staples taken out. It was a great relief to have the tube removed, and it made daily activities much easier.
I’m still in quite a bit of pain from the surgery, but I”m getting better every day. I can tell when I do too much and need to rest, which is often. The simple tasks of laundry, cleaning, and walking much are still too much for me to do, and there’s not much that my stomach can handle in the way of food.
I’m working on setting up a new schedule with Dr. Aggarwal for my Herceptin treatments, which I think will be every three weeks now. The surgeon we met with on Monday recommended that we take a 3-6 month break from scans and chemo to see what the cancer will do. He found 3 old lesions on my liver that have shrunk to half their size, but there is also a new tiny lesion of cancer. He still doesn’t think there’s any chance to have the spots removed surgically, but he suggested a possibility of laser treatment to “burn them out” after we watch them for a while.
My goals are to be free of staples and pain by next week, so I can start returning to a normal life. I probably won’t be allowed to return to work for 2-3 more weeks, but I hope to be functioning well on my own at home and with the kids. I can’t drive until my pain medicine is reduced, but I really don’t feel up to it right now anyway.
Thanks again for your encouragement.
Sandy
