On to the 2nd half of this journey...

Ray & I went to see the breast surgeon, Dr. Jacobs, on Friday.  It's hard to believe it's been almost 6 months since we've walked into the breast center to discuss my options.  I really like the breast surgeon & feel really comfortable with her.  We discussed my options and I'm pretty sure we've come to something we're both comfortable with.  (I won't go into detail since I know my audience isn't all female LOL)

We've confirmed surgery for July 8th, although the Doc's assistant/scheduler lady (who I wasn't impressed with in Jan) said she needs the Doc's surgery notes before setting it in stone.  I asked what I'd need for after surgery to be more comfortable and she said that Dr. Chang, the plastic surgeon, would go over that with me.  So I still have no idea what to expect as far as recovery time, etc.  I know I'll be in the hospital for 23 hours after surgery but that's about all I do know.  I did find out from a fb support group that women in Australia stay in the hospital for 7 days after surgery!

I'm feeling pretty decent after my last Taxol.  I'm still pretty tired and my mouth feels like I burned it, making eating painful.  I expect to feel much better by Wed.  I have a follow up for bloodwork tomorrow & I'm supposed to see my oncologist again in 2 weeks to make sure all looks good for surgery.  Then I'll see her again 2 weeks after surgery to go over the pathology from the lymph nodes that'll be removed during surgery (to make sure that there's no cancer in them).  If they do find cancer, I'll have to have radiation, but so far nothing indicates that I have any lymph node involvement.

I think the worst of this journey is over.  I know the surgeries will be tough to heal from, but it can't be as hard as chemo was.  From what everyone has told me, chemo is the worst part of all this.  I'm so glad that we decided to do chemo first and that I'm done with it!