Cancer Files: Still No Cancer!

Good news and bad news again...I went to the nurse this morning to have her look at the incision on the right top and the spots that had opened up.  Thankfully, over the last couple of days the fact that it has been draining kept infection at bay.

The nurse was texting with the doctor and told him what she saw.  He texted her back and wanted me to come back after his surgeries this afternoon.  Sure enough, when I was back this afternoon, the doctor gave me the bad news.  It seems like the last surgery wasn't successful.  It really doesn't look like the right side has healed well since the first surgery in August.

The mastectomy flap was made thin in the middle and the tissue remaining is not healing together with the new flap.  He did say that it would eventually heal from the inside, it just may take a few months.  That certainly wasn't what I wanted to hear.  He gave us three options:

We Pick Option One

1. We can continue packing the wounds and allowing the healing to be done at a slower rate.
2. Doc will open the incision further and put in a wound vac which decreases the healing time.
3. We can go back into surgery and doc can stitch it up and see if it works this time.

Doctor said it is taking a chance to go in and do the same things we just did and hope for new results.  So, option three is OUT.  Wound vac will take less time but it will leave a much bigger scar and decrease the possibility of having a normal body when the reconstruction is complete.  So, option two is OUT.

So, we got all of our supplies bagged up right there in the office.  I am proud of David because we have now graduated from getting bottles pre-mixed in the docs office and sent home to getting strips and the bleach solution and are trusted to mix it at home.  Seriously, we should have an honorary doctor/nurse degree when all of this is over.

As the doctor was packing the strips in the office and I was trying to not scream while David was squeezing my leg and the nurse was rubbing my arm and shoulder, I was glad that I thought to take ibuprofen before I came.  I am thinking the scene in the doctor's office would have been a little different if I hadn't!

Perspective came later when Ryan told me that he knows something is going on with me but doesn't know the details.  I explained that it just isn't healing well and he looked at me with a worried look in his eyes and said "is the cancer back?"  Oh Honey...noooo, still no cancer, it is all gone.  Thankfully, it is still all gone!