Yesterday I went to meet my surgeon to look at my incision, get my pathology report officially, and maybe get stitches out! I am one of the few patients that can say I had a double mastectomy … and then a partial mastectomy 🤯🤣
He said that the incision is healing perfectly – he took out 3 of 8 stitches to see how it does and we will take the rest out on Monday April 6! It is very itchy but incision itself is causing very minor pain.
As many of you know a complication I am facing from surgeries and imaging etc. is something called axillary web syndrome. I went to two physical therapy sessions prior to this surgery and learned some different workouts to do to try to decrease the pain. She also told me it absolutely has to get better or it will be near impossible to position my body as needed for radiation at this time. It had started to loosen up and be a little better but this surgery has really aggravated it! I had a physical therapy appointment this morning at 0700 and she said I lost about 15% of my range of motion in the past week. I will be adding on physical therapy sessions twice a week for the foreseeable future to try to deal with this and allow for me to move my left arm correctly. I also do about 15-30 mins of work on it every single day – I won’t give up on fixing this 😅
If you don’t know what axillary web syndrome is it’s a more rare (shocker) complication for patients than lymphedema but seen most commonly in thinner athletic patients. Here is a link about it if you want to learn more: https://www.breastcancer.org/treatment/side_effects/aws
Other than surgery follow up I’m now just preparing for and counting down the days until my first chemo while trying to stay clear of the coronavirus. In the next couple of weeks I plan to write specifics on the following topics.
Cold capping for chemo – my aunt and uncle have graciously paid for this for me for my treatments ! More to come on this 🥰
Working out to try to decrease side effects before each chemo session !!! My physical therapist is not playing y’all!
What is it like to get chemo ?! I’m really excited to try to document this we shall see how I do!
COVID19 as a cancer patient and hospital employee
Emotional well being with recurrence
Until next time – read a book you haven’t had time to read, pray for those around you, WORKOUT (YOU ARE SO LUCKY YOU CAN!) listen to music, learn a dance on tik tok, actually follow through on a bible reading plan, start a new hobby, fall in love with an old one, play some board games, cook some real meals, and obsessively check for updates on when baseball will return. I know the above has been keeping me busy!
Also – if you are reading this and going through anything health related please continue to advocate for yourself! I have two perfectly good implants – and WOULDNT have when I woke up if I hadn’t fought for them ❤️
Love, Sami
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