NED! NED!

Well, it's not really official yet (I feel like I need to hear it from my oncologist for it to be), but I got my pathology back from the lymph nodes that were taken during surgery.  I had an appointment with my gyn on Tuesday for a follow up and she was able to look up my results- all negative!  So I can safely say I am NED= No Evidence of Disease.  Although this is awesome, I still have a long road ahead of me.

Physically I'm feeling pretty good- I can't believe how quickly I'm healing.  Luckily I have some really awesome caregivers helping me with my drains and bringing me iced coffee when I need a pick me up!  I'm hopefully getting the drains out on Monday when I see my breast surgeon.

I have some strange numbness under my arms (especially the one that she took lymph nodes from) that may or may not go away, as well as total loss of feeling on the skin on my actual breasts. It's quite a strange feeling.  I do get random pangs here and there and strangely sometimes my chest wall aches- which feels like letdown (for my friends that breastfed), which is super ironic.  Cue Alanis Morissette.

I'm still pretty horrified by what's left on my chest, but the plastic surgeon said I'm healing great and that it's totally normal to feel this way.  He promised that he won't leave me looking this way.  

And of course I got a new t-shirt this week- I can't wait to wear it!

I want to thank everyone who reached out to me after my last blog.  It was really tough to write and I was hesitant to write it, but Ray encouraged me to share how I was feeling and I'm really glad that I did.  I have had a couple of good days since I wrote that- maybe I just needed to get it off my chest. (no pun intended) I'm going to find a support group to discuss how I'm feeling.

I feel like this journey thus far has aged me 10 years.  But now I can finally call myself a survivor- no more cancer in this body!