The surgery was totally exreme, dude. They ought to make a reality show based on scars alone. Mine starts about 2 inches above my navel and travels vertically all the way down to the pubic bone. Say goodbye to the navel ring. Until 2 days ago my stomach was so swollen on either side of the incision, it looked like I had a butt in front to match the one in back. And the bruises are pretty vivid. But still, we have good news and who cares about a few scars.
Since we only talked to the nurse, I'm guessing from what my oncologist told me in the hospital that I'm classified as Stage 1A. Excellent news. Because the cancer type is clear cell, a very virulent type of cell, they treat it like it's Stage 3. So, now I will have to go through 4 rounds of chemo. The chemo will be searching out any cell that has migrated into another part of the body or wasn't caught by the biopsies.
Apparently the cancer was created by my endometriosis that I've been battling for years. Endometriosis is fed by estrogen and with my female parts a thing of the past, I now have to lose excess weight. Fat cells create estrogen and I don't want to feed the endo anything any more.
I am having a little leftover problem. I began having all this fluid pour out of my va-jay-jay (as Oprah says.) I will be going in tomorrow to find out the source. It could be abdominal fluid leaking into the peritoneal cavity or it could be urine going the same route. Aren't bodies just the weirdest? If it's urine, I'll either have to wear a catheter and foley bag for 6 weeks so that the hole (possibly created during my surgery in November) can heal, or I'll have to have another "procedure" to fix it up. If it's other fluid, then it will heal itself. I'll know more tomorrow.
But today I'm up and around at least a little bit and enjoying the sunshine we haven't seen around here for weeks. It's about 35 and a lot of the snow has melted, but more is coming again soon. I can hear the "glaciers" slide off the roof and crash onto the ground. We still have so much snow that the city doesn't know what to do with it. We haven't been able to get garbage pick up for 2 weeks and it looks like it will be another week until we do. We normally get 36 inches in a season but have amassed 48 inches this month alone. Just thought you Californians would be interested!
We have been overwhelmed with the kindness shown to us by co-workers, church friends, kid-friends, my dance community and our relatives. We are truly blessed by your friendship and care. Thank you so much! Christian and Jesse said that this was the best Christmas ever. I have to agree with them!
2 comments:
I'm so happy that on my 40th check of your site today...there is fabulous news! Amen, allelu! I'll update all the prayer chains and tell them to keep it up! Can you imagine? Jessie and Christian's best Christmas ever. Who'd a thunk? xxx Claire PS - My "word verification" on this comments is "diets." A sign, perchance? I'll try to match you pound for pound.
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