Any way you slice it... it'll still be surgery

This morning I enjoyed a fabulous massage at the Integrative Care Center of RMCC. Apparently, deep tissue is a no-no when you're in chemo - something about your body being traumautized and too much pressure can make you get flu-like symptoms... of course, I could've misunderstood - so she used gentle pressure and it felt awesome! Also, I worked on being present in the moment and clearing my mind. Do you know how hard that is for me? But, since I worked so hard at it, I actually had several zen-like moments. That, also, was awesome.

After my awesome massage and zen time (did I mention it was awesome?), I headed over to meet the plastic surgeon. Ok... that was another surreal moment for me. The surgeon is located off 4th & Maxwell (those of you who know Boulder, are familiar with the neighborhood) and that in-and-of itself was intimidating. I was driving hubbys truck and I'm wearing pigtails and a hat waltzing into the PLASTIC SURGEON'S office. Twenty years ago, if you would have told me I'd be going to see a plastic surgeon in Boulder, I'd have thunk you were LOCO.

Anyway, after being subjected to an 8 minute video on how they would slice me up - and I almost vomited - I was able to meet the nice Dr. Hartley (Winfried Hartley... wonder if he played squash) He's from Georgia (I do miss that southern accent), has 3 kids (twins, 4 and 2, girls) and he was very calming about the whole thing. Then he showed me samples of his "work" (boob pics). Man, I use parentheses a lot (have ya noticed?)

Looks like I'll have the cosmetic portion of the surgery 6 weeks after radiation therapy, and the type will be determined once we figure out how much that little booger of a tumor has shrunk. This will fall at the first of January, I think. New boobs for my 40th in Mexico? I think so!

My morning at the hospital

Today was the big day... the beginning of treatment to get rid of this pesky cancer. I had the port implanted.

Woke up this morning feelin' fine (hey, isn't that a lyric in a song?), didn't have breakfast... or coffee. I decided to walk to the hospital to get some fresh air before going under. It's a beautiful day today. It only took about 15 minutes to get there- I love that!

Checked in, and the receptionist looked at me funny, but was still quite lovely. Walked back to the room and Mr. Happy Nurse took my vitals and laughed at me salivating over the need for coffee (am I addicted, or what?). More nurses came in - one complimented my haircut (thank you, Liz) and the other said, "Oh, she was right, the receptionist said you looked like a movie star" - HAH! - I think they tell everyone that to loosen them up for surgery. They must.

Finally the rolled me back, and, well, that's about all I remember until I woke up a few hours later.



As Andrew previously posted, Dr. Johs had a hard time getting the port into the vein he was hoping to use, so he poked me a few times and finally went into the jugular. I'm pretty sore as a result. But the vicodin is doing it's job to take the edge off.



After taking x-rays and determining that the port was properly placed, they let me go.



All the nurses were fab - especially the ones who thought I looked like a movie star :) and the overall experience was not bad.


NEXT UP:
3 birthday parties this weekend and chemo on Monday.