This September

Good things often come in sets of three, or in this case, four or five, or six.
It’s hard to believe we’re almost to the fall, but September is only two weeks away. And this September is huge. For many reasons. In no particular order, next month will bring:

1.       My husband’s 30th birthday
2.       The expected due date of Seth and Katie’s baby, our nephew (and me becoming an aunt for the very first time!)
3.       15 years since I was diagnosed with Leukemia, making me a 15 year Leukemia survivor.
4.       My cousin Alison’s wedding
5.       My two year anniversary of joining Weight Watchers, which helped me lose 50 pounds and keep it off
6.       My final surgery where I will receive my permanent silicone implants. The surgery that marks the end of all surgeries, and the end of my breast cancer journey. (I would say “hopefully” my final surgery and “hopefully” the end of my breast cancer journey, because you can never be too sure what the future brings. However, instead I chose to say those things with certainty. Because as of now, those things are 100 percent true.)

Yes, it’s true! My final implant surgery, where my expanders will be taken out and my silicone implants put in, has been set for Sept. 19! My expansions have been going so great and I’ve been recovering so well that my plastic surgeon thinks I will only need one, maybe two, more fills, and then we can do the exchange! He said it’s a lot faster this time around, because I have the extra skin from the lat flap, and because my left mastectomy was prophylactic. Also, he has accepted another position out of state and will be leaving unfortunately at the end of October, so we want him to do the surgery before he leaves. After all, he is the BEST plastic surgeon, and he has done my last 5 surgeries. This way he can do my surgery, and see me post-op before he leaves.

ONE MONTH from now I’ll have my implants. ONE MONTH from now I can begin healing forever, and not just healing until the next surgery. I say this with certainty, because if I don’t believe, then who will? ONE MONTH from now I will be done with breast cancer. While it’s true I was “done” when they removed my cancer and found no remaining cancer, and while it’s true I am past the one-year survivor mark (April 2012 I became a one-year breast cancer survivor), my breast cancer JOURNEY wasn’t “done.” I still had another mastectomy to do, and reconstruction on both sides, and (what I thought would be months and months) of expanders. But the other mastectomy is done, and I just found out my expanders will be done in ONE MONTH.
Truly, truly, September is a month to celebrate.
Today, Aug. 16, marks one month since the last surgery. I’ve been back at work and back to my social life. For the most part I am not in a terrible amount of pain. Driving and sneezing, and stretching, hurt the most, but I assume they will throughout the remainder of this. I’m still relying on Ativan for muscle spasms, and the occasional Vicodin if it’s really bad. Both of those things combined make me a lot more comfortable. And this time around I am going to make sure I am comfortable. If I have to go through expanders a SECOND time, I am not going to suffer through it.

My plastic surgeon said it is perfectly acceptable to take a Vicodin now and then, especially after an expansion. So when I get home from work for the day and I’m not driving anywhere, I make sure to make myself comfortable. Take a pill, change out of my work clothes, and lay in bed playing Words with Friends. Then later in the evening, when Sean comes home, we hang out with Campbell. We watch TV and I go to bed early. That is how I find comfort. That is how I try to stay as pain-free as possible so I can do it all again the next day. I refuse to suffer. I refuse to take on too much. If a drive is too far away, I won’t force myself to do it. If social plans become too much, I’ll cancel. I know, as this is my second go-round with tissue expanders, that too much movement causes incredible pain. So I know I have to take it easy. While it’s important to still have nights out (two this week!), it’s also important for me to rest. Luckily, my job, my friends, and Sean all understand that. That living with expanders is extremely painful, pretty much all the time. And that the best way for me to survive and thrive through this next month is to make myself comfortable.

One more month? I can do this. Heck, I already am. And I’m doing it well, if I do say so myself.

(Pictures are from the past week or so)