Here's the scoop...
I developed an infection about two weeks after the first surgery, but I was able to rid myself of it with antibiotics and wound flushes. I was going along okay, and the wound was mostly healed until one night I developed terrible chills, a fever, and incredible weakness. The next day the doctor put me in the hospital and pumped IV antibiotics into me. By the following day, he decided I wasn't going to get better if he didn't take out the tissue expander (the thing holding a place for my boob impant). So that evening, I went under the knife again and came out with a size nothing on the left and my regular C on the right. The expander was covered with infection. Evidently, there was tiny hole in the alloderm (the covering over the expander), and the topical infection made its way into my body. I was really bumbed for a few days, but I got over it. Now I'm fine. I almost wish he had taken both of them so I would at least be even. I kinda' walk tilted to the right now...just kidding! :-) In a year or so, I may investigate getting an implant with another type of surgery.
So, where am I now? In the home stretch! I started my radiation treatments on Monday; the final leg in my treatment journey. I'm zapped everyday for 35 workdays, and then I'm done. Hopefully, there will be no cancer left when it's over. After reading my last CT scan, the docs thought I had a couple lymph nodes with cancer left in them. They said it was hard to tell since the CT was taken soon after surgery. The pictures could be showing stuff other than cancer floating around. It's okay - I'll get those evil bastards! Every time the machine zaps, I fighters my fighters kicking cancer's ass!
Otherwise, I'm still tired most of the time, but not so tired I can't function. I'm back to work doing mostly part time days. I'm working back up to full time. It's great to be out of my house and back to the land of the living (and the odd...this is NOAA, you know). :-)
Charlotte has had a fantastic summer thanks to Grandma, Pop, and rest of the fam. She's talking in sentences and asserting her independence. She's also becomming quite an affectionate little girl and has developed a definite fondness for her stuffed animals, especially Ernie and Burt.
Several of you, who don't see me often, have asked me to post a picture with the short hair. See below. It's a picture my sister-in-law took of Charlotte and I on the beach in Delaware one evening before my second surgery. I'm really loving the short (albeit gray!) hair (it's even shorter than when I was in high school!) and plan to keep a short style for a while. What can you do when your oncologist walks into the room and exclaims, "You look 10 years younger with that hairstyle!" Gotta keep it!
Love to you all!
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