to all of you who have emailed me and pm'd me with questions about my health and kind words of caring and encouragement, a heartfelt thank you. it really has made all of this much easier knowing i have such good friends on allnurses.com! i expect i will be picking the brains of some of you who have offered sometime in the future! i'm a complete ignoramus regarding matters of oncology . . . except of course from the patient perspective!
despite my long held and non-negotiable policy against being naked where i work, i now expect to bare it all to anesthesia (some of whose numbers i've worked beside for nearly a decade in the icu) and surgeons (some of whom have done rotations through my icu) in early june. my husband talked me into it.
my breast cancer has a great prognosis. we caught it early, it's a small tumor and it's not one of the nastier ones. i'll have surgery -- and yes, i *do* get a breast reduction out of the deal (whoo-hoo!) -- and radiation therapy. no chemo unless it looks worse than they expect when they get in there. i's going to be a lousy summer, but i'll have much to be grateful for when thanksgiving rolls around.
unfortunately, there may be a second malignancy, and i'll be going into the or next week to rule that out. (or in, as the case may be.)
i've beaten cancer (cervical) twice already, i fully expect to kick cancer's ass again and be back to munching on new grads (so to speak) online as soon as i can sit up straight to type. in the meantime, i'm holding all of the good will messages i've gotten close to my heart where hopefully they'll circulate systemically and give me all the positive vibes i need.
