Happy Halloween!

Well, my recovery boredom continues as I have read all of the magazines around the house now. I have been trying to get into Margaret Atwood's Blind Assassin but I just can't seem to focus on it. Looks like I'll be forced to read another military book of Doug's to keep me entertained. Not sure if the difficulty concentrating is from the steroid I'm taking but the good news is that I finished it today and the only drug I am continuing with is the antibiotic.

I have very little pain but if I start using my arms for stuff (ie. making sweet potato soup, like I tried to do yesterday), then my chest starts to hurt. I need to just do nothing, which is sooooo boring. Doug is doing a good job keeping the place clean, making most of the meals but the humongous pile of clean clothing waiting to be folded and put away, in the second bedroom, is killing me! But it just wouldn't be a good idea to start a folding frenzy right yet.

Not sure if I mentioned yet, but had my first shower yesterday after the surgery. It was wonderful. Good news about my back... the pain has disappeared! Yahoo! I am very tempted to start back working again next week because of the aforementioned boredom. Unfortunately, I don't have an appt with my doctor until Wednesday though... I am also having that feeling of being left out of the fun again as Doug goes out riding everyday and I am not allowed to raise my heart rate for a few weeks for fear of hemmoraging or something like that. I know it won't be long before I get back on the bike but with his cruel purchase of candy corn and mini-chocolate bars... it's tough here right now.

Anyway, that's it for now.
Happy Halloween!

Post surgery boredom...

I had day surgery on Monday to get my chest expanders replaced with silicone implants. The surgery went well and I was home by about 11am. Had some pain the first day but took pain killers. The worst pain is coming from my back. I think when I was out, they might have pulled me funny from bed to bed because my back has been bugging me ever since I woke up. I'm sure the lack of activity isn't helping much either.

So, it's 2 days later now and things are going well. I had the two nasty drains taken out today but am really restricting my arm movement because I was pretty much at the max level for the drains to be removed. I need to make sure I don't move my arms much over the next few days. I am able to wear a sports bra now, which is good, because before it was just gauze and a big tensor bandage/wrap around my chest.

I don't need the painkillers but am taking a muscle relaxant (i guess to keep my pectoral muscles at bay), antibiotic and for my wonderful shingles - a steroid prescribed by the anesthesiologist and the acyclovir I was taking before...oh and let's not forget my Tamoxifen. Let's just say it's a lot of pills when I get up and go to bed. Yick!

My shingles are still here but are getting better all the time. They are healing up well.

Thanks for all of the well wishing here and on Facebook.
Mo

Surgery part 2

Here is a picture of me and Dad at Miriam and Jeffrey's wedding in Pittsburgh from this past weekend. I had a wonderful time seeing all of my family!

So tomorrow is my final breast reconstruction surgery, replacing the chest expanders with silicone implants. It's just day surgery, but unfortunately, I have to have those stinkin' drains in me for a few days again. I'm off work for two weeks and I'll be resting at home.

The shingles I got a week ago have been a real nightmare. They are really painful and while they are healing very slowly, they are improving. Doesn't seem that Tylenol even takes a bite out of the pain so I've stopped taking anything. I'm looking forward to pain relief from the meds for the surgery!

I'll keep everyone posted on how I'm doing over the next few days.

Bed bugs?

Well, at first I thought they were bed bug bites. And I was totally freaked that I had beg bugs in my bed. I even made Doug sleep on my side of the bed. But then last night, as I was reviewing the red welts on my body, Doug said "maybe it's shingles?"... and the more I researched, the more it became obvious that I did indeed have shingles. I got this confirmed today when I saw my oncologist. He said that I'm not contagious right now but I need to take a prescription for the next 10 days. The bad news (isn't this bad enough?) is that he said that the plastic surgeon may not want to go ahead with the surgery next week because of the shingles. My breast reconstruction surgery is scheduled for next Tuesday. So, I'm now waiting to hear back.

Other news - my hair continues to grow curly and funky and I'm just dying to have it grow longer so I can figure out what the heck it's going to do. Fitness-wise, I have been working hard to get into biking shape and even competed in a hill climb event last weekend on my mountain bike! I can't remember if I had posted this before, but I have been on Weight Watchers for a month or so and have lost about 12 lbs so far. It's going really great. I've been really disciplined and it's been working out well. Doug is also on WW and has lost about 10 lbs.

I'll update again when there's more news. In the meantime, here is a picture from the Race for the Cure of my team - Pinky Mo and the Livestrongs.

Race for the Cure 2

Hi all,
Last weekend was my second Race for the Cure as a survivor and I had a great time again. A bunch of friends came out from work, mountain biking and Andrea Dwight came all the way from Toronto! Thanks to everyone who supported me either through a donation or by walking with me.

Quick update on my health... I am doing great. My surgery has actually moved up a few days and is now on October 26. I expect to be out from work for 2 weeks to recover. Just in case you missed my last blog, the surgery is the final (major) stage of my breast reconstruction and I will have the chest expanders removed and silicone implants put in.

I continue to see my oncologist monthly and i get a physical exam there as well as a blood test where they are keeping an eye on my tumor markers.

I went to see my radiation doctor who might possibly be my favorite doctor of all, although my breast surgeon was really awesome too, and everything went well there too. He was impressed at how well my skin recovered from the radiation.

My hair continues to grow all funky and curly and I hope that I will get used to it one day. When I wake up in the morning, i have a bit of an afro going and it needs some major calming down. Strangely, I still have a few fingernails that have remnant side effects from the chemo and they just don't look normal, but expect this to disappear over time. the nail bed seems a little dead in spots but far better than before.

So, generally, everything is great. I consider myself cured... and really, what else would I want to think. I find it a bit creepy when people ask if the cancer is gone. Geez, I sure hope so! I really try not to think too much about it. I just can't...

As for the rest of me, I am trying to train myself up for a few major bike rides next year. One is a big mountain bike ride in April and the other is a series of three really hard road rides in April and May. As I was riding up Maple Springs today... I couldn't help but think about how the only way I am going to get stronger is by suffering. It made me think of Lance Armstrong and how he thought that the reason he was so successful was because "if it was suffer-fest, he was good at it". So that's what I need to do. Get good at suffering.

I am also working on losing some weight, so I can be in top shape and have less poundage to push up those hills. Doug and I are both on weight watchers, and while we have only been on for 1.5 weeks, things are going really well. It is making it really clear to me, what I've been doing wrong in my eating and I am eating a really great, low fat and high fiber diet now. It's also getting me to make more dinners at home which is always important to good health. On our first weigh-ins, Doug and I both lost weight so we are really motivated to get this done. Looking forward to reaching my goal sometime in November, if possible.

That's it for now. I hope that you are all well and to my family on the Wolfson side... Shana Tova and to all my peeps in Canada... Happy Thanksgiving next weekend!
Mo

Surgery date set

I met with the plastic surgeon today and set my surgery date for October 29. This surgery is to remove my chest expanders and replace them with silicone implants (I like to regard this as taking my temporary fake boobs and replacing with my real fake boobs). Oh joy. Well, at least it will be my last surgery and sleeping should be more comfortable long term. It's not the very last part of the process but pretty close to it. Luckily I think my recovery will only be one or two weeks. They say I'll have drains again too, which is so gross but hopefully they'll be quicker to take out. I won't be able to exercise for 2-3 weeks which is a bummer because it has taken so long to get back into shape, but could be worse I guess. The good news is that if it takes 6-8 weeks to recover fully, that puts me at Dec 15 to 30 to start snowboarding! Yahoo!

Apart from my great surgery news, life is good. I feel strong and am getting stronger every week.

Oh yeah, and I almost forgot! The Race for the Cure is on September 26, 2010. Please consider joining the team or supporting me. If you can't make it, you can still join the team and Sleep in for the Cure!


Thanks,
Mo

Ready to Race?

Thanks to everyone who posted a comment on my blog or on Facebook. I still appreciate the encouragement.

Not much to update these days. I went to see the breast surgeon and he told me that I would probably have the surgery in November. Then he told me that I wouldn't be able to snowboard for 6-8 weeks after, major bummer given that we have the annual passes to Mammoth Mountain. The good news though is that I can be active two weeks after the surgery. Yay!

The radiation burn is healing up really well and my right side is only slightly red now. I think it will look normal in another week or two.

There isn't really much else to report... life is becoming normalish.

Lastly, I raced in the Over The Hump mountain bike race series tonight and despite not feeling in top form, I still had fun and didn't finish last ;-) I finished 11th out of 16 beginner riders. I rode hard and it was so hot that I felt like throwing up on every climb, but it was still a good time. I've been working hard to bring up my fitness level and leg strength. I am impatient and disappointed that it is so much harder than usual to get back into shape, but I'll get there.

Hope you are all happy and healthy,
Maureen