By fall I had finally recovered from my radiation treatments. My skin still has a little discoloring but otherwise healed well. I have had 2 follow up visits with my radiation oncologist and so far all looks good. My right breast muscle is much tighter then my left leaving a weird numbing sensation. Not sure this will get better or not but it definitely is keeping that breast nice and perky! Which brings me to my reconstruction and plastic surgeon...
On Halloween I had my implant exchange, it was a pretty easy surgery and recovery. It feels good to have the 'rocks' (aka expanders) out and my implants put in. They have healed well and I have to say I have an incredible plastic surgeon. My biggest decision was nipples or no nipples. After much thought I decided to hold off getting nipples. Honestly I'm so use to the way I look that it doesn't really matter, it would be more for a visual then anything else. Also I can get them at anytime if I change my mind. My implants are finally settling in. My left breast feels a little more natural and hangs slightly lower then my right which sits higher due to the muscle tightness from radiation. I go back to the plastic surgeon in April I am hoping he will agree to do a lift on my left breast and at the same time fix my port scar that did not heal the way I hoped. That scar is not as bad as it could be but it still bothers me.
I followed up with my medical oncologist in December. At the time I was having severe hip pain and feeling achy. To be one the safe side she had me get an MRI and another bone scan. Thankfully everything came back fine. She thinks the pain maybe from bursitis. After several months the hip pain has subsided but the achy bones still comes and goes. My blood work confirmed I am officially in menopause which means I can go on long term medication to prevent the cancer from coming back. She gave me some time to get back to myself and lose some weight. I started Weight Watchers a few months ago and lost 12 of the 35 lbs I gained from chemo. I still have a long way to go but I am starting to feel better.Today was the day that I have been dreading... I went back to the oncologist and was put on Femera. Femera is a form of hormone therapy known as an aromatase inhibitor, by reducing the amount of estrogen in postmenopausal woman or to put it simply, a long term drug to help prevent the cancer from coming back. Basically I am being treated like I am 65 years old (my doctors words not mine) and there is a huge possibility I could have mood swings (because I don't have any of those), hot flashes (because breaking out in a sweat every few hours isn't enough), joint pain (and I thought I got rid of that!), headaches and blurry vision, oh and limited to no alcohol. Sounds like fun doesn't it! I agreed to try it for 3 months but if I really feel crappy I am going to take my chances and go off of it.
Emotionally I feel like I am on a roller coaster. I still get weepy for no reason, cry for no reason, lose my patience for no reason, feel overwhelmed and have days it takes all I got in me to get out of bed. I do my best to put on a happy face and really try to enjoy the simple things. I have days that I feel 'normal' and happy but they are not as frequent as I would like. Apparently these are all typical feelings after treatment and will slowly go away. For now I am going to keep reminding myself how blessed I am and keep counting down the days until I am 1 year cancer free! Thank you for the continued prayers!! XO