Haha! Who ever thought I would say that! But it appears that chemo has put me into menopause. I spoke with my OB this morning and while she sees no need to rush into surgery, she did say that the cancer I have often spreads to the ovaries and it might be a good preventative move to remove them. We’ll see what the oncologist recommends. I’m waiting to hear back from him to see if he agrees with my new menopausal status and decision to hold off on surgery.
UPDATE: The oncologist is concerned that the ovaries might wake up and the menopause might not be permanent. So we have the choice to just sit back and test my hormone level every six weeks and hope for the best, or just take them out and not worry about it. If they wake up, there is also a chance of pregnancy, so the surgery would obviously take care of that as well. At the end of my long conversation with him, I asked him if it was his wife in this situation what he would recommend, and he said surgery. I think we will probably lean towards that, just to have one less thing to worry about. We’ll sleep on it, pray about it, and talk some more, but that’s where we are at right now.
I also met with the Plastic Surgeon today and Drain #1 is gone! FINALLY! It still drained 32ml yesterday, but he felt it had been long enough and removed it. Turns out it wasn’t attached to my skin. The dark part I was seeing through a hole in the gauze was stitches. 🙂 It hurt less to remove this one than the first one. It felt so nice to take a shower this afternoon!!
Today I also had a “fill-up”. I only felt a slight prick and the rest was painless. Looking back, I wish I would have watched it being filled. Oh well. There was enough room under the skin to fill the expander the rest of the way! Nice!! So it’s 3 weeks after surgery and I’m not lopsided! One is very strange looking and feeling, but with clothes on, you can’t tell. On May 18th, the expander will be replaced with an implant. MAY 18th!! That is so soon! I’m so excited. So as long as the radiation oncologist is OK with that timeline, we’ll finish the reconstruction first. So far, no pain from the “fill-up”, although I did take 2 ibuprofen just in case.
Next up – Tuesday’s appointment with the Radiation Oncologist to find out what the plan is with that. Also awaiting a phone call from the Dr. to get his take on the ovary situation.
Praising God for great appointments today…so thankful!
So happy to hear all your news! God is truly working out all things for your good. Keep on having that positive attitude and trusting him! He’s not finished with you yet!
Praising and thanking God with you.
Have a wonderful Mother’s Day!
Wonderful news!!
I’m so glad for you, Jennifer! Things have really moved along for you lately, and it’s great to hear your upbeat tone. You’ve been through a lot, so it must be pretty exciting to feel like you’re being restored, both physically and emotionally. I know you didn’t ask, but my vote is for surgery, so you’re not taking extra risks. But then, that’s easy for me to say, right? I’m in menopause! 🙂 🙂 Love you oodles and oodles.
We did decide on surgery. Hoping to get it scheduled before the girls are out of school!
Praising the Lord for wonderful news. Happy Mother’s Day
I love all the good news! My ovaries are gone and I have never regretted it. It was very freeing knowing I wouldn’t get pregnant again and menopause is something that you are going to go through eventually anyway. Continue to pray about it but I wanted to share that for ME, it was a good thing to do.
Thanks Janet. 🙂
What a wonderful report!
Praying gir peace of mind. (Btw…I whole heartedly agree with your friend Janetfor all the same reasons.Made that choice and have never regretted it!)
Praising God with you, you looked great today!
Wow, I can’t believe how fast they can reconstruct things and make them look “normal”…What a blessing doctors know how to do that.
So glad your life is filled with less pain…you made it through chemo and the biggest surgery!!!
Yay! It still feels like a lot, but hopefully the worst is behind me!