I hope that this post finds all of you doing well.  Hopefully, everyone reading this is safe after Hurricane Sandy.  We were fortunate here, in Laflin, in that we only lost power for 24 hours and sustained no real damage.  Poor NYC and NJ – the pictures are just devastating.  But, we’re a resilient country.  We’ll bounce back bigger and better than ever.

A few quick updates:  thanks to our awesome IT guy, Nick Grochal, you should now be able to receive e-mail updates from this website.  Many of you have e-mailed me saying that you had a problem signing up.  Nick corrected the issue.  Good luck to Uncle Bry who will be running in the NYC Marathon this weekend.  Please, don’t end up like Barney, Bryan!  My Taxol and Herceptin treatments are going quite well.  2 down, 10 more to go!  Cameron, knock on wood, has slept from 7pm until 7am the past 4 nights.  I’m slowly starting to remember what it feels like to get a good night’s rest!  Well, I probably just jinxed that!!

I said that I would write about our visit to Penn from a few weeks ago, so here’s what’s up:

I’ve never gotten poked, prodded, or undressed in front of so many strangers!  Getting your picture taken topless in front of a roomful of strangers is a lot of fun, let me tell you!  Penn is a teaching hospital, so you’re constantly surrounded by doctors, residents, interns, nurses, etc.  I asked the nurse practitioner if I was going to end up in a text book with a black line over my eyes.  She didn’t laugh.  Health care providers can be pretty stiff.  I’m saying that because I am one…..a health care provider, not a stiff!  Lighten up, people!

Anyway, our visit to Penn was great…..besides the photos!  We met with one of our oncologists, a breast surgeon, and a plastic surgeon.  Sal and I decided that it would be best to have the surgery done at Penn because I can have immediate reconstruction done at the time of the mastectomy.  It will be a longer surgery – about 8 hours – but everything, besides minor changes, will be completed at this time.  The standard of care at the larger institutions has changed as far immediate versus delayed reconstruction.  I’ll only have to undergo general anesthesia once, if everything goes as planned.  It’s really quite amazing what can be done.  I’ve spent quite a bit of time researching different methods, different institutions, and different physicians.  The plastic surgeon at Penn is one of the best in the country which is why we’re opting for Penn.  He’ll be doing a TRAM flap (Transverse Rectus Abdominis Myocutaneous) procedure.  Basically, he’ll be using muscle, fat, skin, and blood vessels from my abdominal area to reconstruct both of my breasts.  I’m making out on the deal, though.  I was born with an umbilical hernia (I had an outie every time I was pregnant!) and this will be corrected during the procedure.  I’ll also be getting a “tummy tuck”!  Hey, I’ve carried 3 kids and had 3 c-sections.  I’m sure if you ask any woman who’s had a child if she’d like a tummy tuck, she would scream yes from the rooftops!  I’d hate to see what that Duggar lady looks like.  Ok, now I’m getting off track.  The plastic surgeon, with this type of procedure, has a less that 0.1% failure rate.  That’s pretty damn good if you ask me.  We’ll be meeting with a radiation oncologist at Penn next month to be sure that he concurs with our decision.  Radiation and immediate reconstruction seems to be an issue with expanders and implants, not with your own tissue.  However, we’ll see what the radiation oncologist says and will make our final decision based on what he recommends.

As of right now, my surgery is scheduled for February 1.  I’ll be in the hospital for 4 days with a recovery time of 6-8 weeks.  Depending on the pathology, surgery may need to be followed up with more chemo.  This will depend on if all of the cancer is gone when they go in to do the mastectomy.  I will most likely need 4-6 weeks of daily radiation.  The radiation oncologist from Penn will be recommending a local physician for me to meet with.  I can’t live away from my kids 5 days a week and I feel as though driving back and forth to Philly 5 days a week will just be exhausting.  As part of my treatment plan, I will also be getting Herceptin infused every 3 weeks for a year (until October 2013) as well as Tamoxifen (a pill) for 5 years.  All of the “major stuff” will, hopefully, be finished up before Cameron’s first birthday which is May 29, 2013.  Time is flying.

“Cancer survivors are blessed with two lives.  There is your life before cancer, and your life after.  I am here to tell you your second life is going to be so much better than the first.”   – Hoda Kotb

Have a great weekend!!

LIVESTRONG and God Bless!