Checking in on Amy

The leaves have been putting on a stunning show this year. My morning walks have been full of little delights around every corner. I have been enjoying watching the leaves change over time and some of the sunrises have been fantastic. I'm thankful that these beautiful fall days have coincided with this little break in my treatment. My body and brain are feeling more my own these days and it feels good to be able to get out and move. I started physiotherapy for my lymphedema last week. My physiotherapist specializes in this treatment and it was great to meet with her. Having had about 40 lymph nodes removed from my right armpit, my body can't move fluid around like it used to. My arm isn't particularly swollen but my breast is still quite swollen after surgery, and this is a direct result of not having normal drainage available. Lymphatic massage is used to manually move fluid to where it needs to be. In my case, that means redirecting fluid towards my left armpit, up into m...

After a very long month I can finally announce that the surgery part of my cancer treatment is complete. Pathology results from the second surgery were good. There was no residual cancer in the breast tissue at all. My surgeon removed 31 more lymph nodes (wow!) and there were cancer cells in only 4 of them. These results are what we might have expected after the first surgery. I think I would have been annoyed if they didn't find any other cancer in the lymph nodes; it would have left me wondering whether the more invasive procedure was necessary at all.  My recovery from surgery continues to go well. My surgeon removed the steri-strips yesterday and all of the incisions are healing well. My armpit incision isn't as pretty as it was after the first surgery; since more tissue has been removed the incision looks more prominent than before. All of my incisions are still a little tender and very sensitive. I am finding that by the end of the day even the softest and most comfortabl...

I haven't written in a while because the first few days of healing from surgery #2 were pretty boring and also frustrating. It felt like such a setback to be healing from scratch all over again, especially so soon.  My mom spent a few days in Barrie with me after my surgery, and my sister even came for a quick visit last weekend. It was wonderful to have them here to help look after me and be my cheerleaders. Mom is really good at letting me be quiet when that is what I need. We took a walk every morning, drank lots of tea, then spent lots of time sitting quietly either reading or knitting or stitching. We went on one excursion to do a little bit of birthday shopping for my girls. Mom stayed until Thursday after taking me to my nursing appointment Wednesday evening where my bandages were removed. Gloriously, my drain was also ready to be removed. I can't tell you how much better I felt with the drain out; it was the definitely the most uncomfortable part of this surgery. I thin...

It has been three days since my surgery (again!) and I'm feeling good. I took my last pain medicine yesterday (Tylenol + Aleve) and am feeling pain-free this morning.  Everything about my experience at the hospital was similar to last time, minus the long wait and watching the live feed from Westminster Hall. My surgeon was joined by a surgical fellow this time. While in the waiting room, I noticed that my fingernails matched my hospital gown. Fancy, eh? The only big difference in my recovery from this second surgery is that I have a drain this time. The drain helps to remove fluid that builds up after surgery. It is a very simple gadget. I know some people don't like the thought of blood and other bodily fluids, so skip this paragraph if that's you. It's natural for the body to send extra blood and fluid to an area that has been damaged, and in my armpit where the lymph nodes were removed my body has lost some of its ability to keep those fluids moving. After having so...