Surgery Again

     "I was calling Kaiser saying when can I get this surgery done because we need to get this done get this gone. In the meantime we were tracking the tumor marker and it had had a few bump ups, but in January it was at 84 and then it continued to go down. I had the mastectomy on March 25^ththey did not take out any lymph nodes this time because when we had done the scan – right before I’d had surgery they had done a scan – and it was such a miracle we got word that the scan was a significant improvement over last time where they had seen hot spots in my breast bone – in my breast bone and chest area it was no longer visible. 

     'That doesn’t mean it is gone just it was reduced enough that it was no longer visible. And that was huge! That was huge. So like OK the chemotherapy was working and so it was time to remove the breast and I came through surgery just fine. Came home and this time my wonderful sister-in-law Linda had come to be with us. This is Ralph’s sister; she lives in Ephraim, Utah we had stayed with her during the Manti Pageant. She came to be with us, to help take care of us and just hang out with me. 

     "That was the most important thing cause I was pretty independent still able to do a lot of things, just to have somebody else there to keep my spirits up, to talk to, and to lighten the mood – cause it’s just hard. Sometimes you start thinking negative things, started thinking what if – you just can’t go there, you just CAN’T go there. You have to be thinking of other things, distract yourself by working on projects, or reading, or listening to talks from Women’s conference or watching movies, or whatever it takes to keep you in that happy place where you’re thinking positively and you can move forward. 

     "My tumor marker right after surgery was 34, which is phenomenal. When I went in and saw the oncologist and said, “It’s 34!!” And she said, “Well yeah you just had the breast and all that cancer removed.” So that was good. The next month I had it drawn it was at 43. Now at this point she has me on [Flafodex] which is a hormone blocker and I get a shot in each hip. [ somewhere in the back.] it’s right near each hip, shots into the flesh there and that was once a month. It’s not too bad it – I haven’t noticed any horrible side effects – I do have hot flashes but I had them a lot before and so this is nothing new. Had the hot flashes and anyways I haven’t noticed a whole lot of side effects. 

     "My hair started coming back in. The last two months – actually the last 3 tumor markers was 43, and then a 43 again (and that was so exciting!) and this last month was a 41. So I kind of feel like we’re – for right now – we’re controlling it and that’s wonderful. Who knows what tomorrow will bring, for now it seems to be working in controlling the cancer. The oncologist is thrilled that things seem to be working that we’re controlling it. And so we’re moving forward! I have things to work on and things to do and that’s great.