Good news/Bad news

I had my appointment with my infectious disease Dr. today.  When I first go into the office I check in and get a copy of my blood results.  My results were wonderful and I was so happy and excited to know that this portion of my recovery is coming to a close.  Once the Dr. came into my room to review everything, he agreed that my blood results looked great.  Then I felt like he kicked my feet right from under me.  He said that I have to monitor myself and come in if there is anything wrong since I have a 55% chance of getting the infection back within 3 months-6 months.  :(  Those aren't good odds and I do not have good luck to beat those odds.  Needless to say, I was really upset.  I feel better now that I had some retail therapy and my little guy was being so good while I was taking my time scanning the racks.

I need to take the best care of myself.  We've been enjoying one of the farmers markets here so we already have fresh fruit. :)  Exercise will be hard, especially upper body, but I will do what I can.  Now that the initial shock of the high reoccurance rate of an infection, I am in high spirits.  I just want to make sure that I do everything that I can to get this infection out of my body! 

2nd Inflation = 100cc's (Pictures)

I have finally taken new pictures after my 2nd inflation.  I am up to 100cc's now!!!  It isn't a considerable difference, but I think it is apparent that they are bigger! 

I ended up going to the Dr. today because of the pain, bruising, and swelling on my left side (on the pics, its the right side).  The symptoms were just too close to the previous symptoms of an infection but its normal.  My Dr. did recommend to not be so active.  I haven't really done much, or so I thought, but now I really can't.  It hurts, still.  Not the shooting sharp pains, but an burning type of ache, a little more than a dull pain.  Its hard to describe, but I am constantly aware that there is a balloon thing in my left side.

 

 

^^I thought I would do a more personal shot of my lady lumps!  My chest is red because my meds make me light sensitive so after a few minutes outside I get color, and not a lovely glow.^^

 

 Not a clear picture, but you can tell on the right I'm a bit purple.

My left side. 

Ok - so its totally embarrassing but you can kind of see it here.  I have said previously that I have internal stitches on the sides of my chest to keep the expanders in place.  My body is trying to heal, so they kind of itch.. in my armpit (my theory, I keep forgetting to ask the Dr.) !  It is horrible, I hate, hate it!  So - I am kind of inflamed there too.

 

Right side

 

Up close and personal for the left side.  Of coarse the ugly white lines are stretch marks, not from surgery and inflation but from my 2 pregnancies.  I am self conscious about those and not my incision scar, thats a little ironic.  But I have earned my tiger stripes! 
 

 

And now the right.

 

 

I don't know if I will have another inflation on Thursday, but I do go in anyway to see how things are.  I won't be disappointed if I have to wait another week since I am in pain.  I just had lab work done tonight with an appointment with the infectious disease Dr. Wed to go over the results and check status of my infection.  I am looking forward to that appointment and I have positive thoughts for good results! 

 

I will keep you posted! 



My meds changed again

Its been another few days since my last blog, I've been busy with various things and a bit lazy too.  Thursday was my appointment with the infectious disease Dr.; one of my normal weekly appointments.  My bloodwork came back with not so great news; my vancomycin levels and white blood cells were low.  Last time my vancomycin was low the Dr. increased my infusion to every 8 hours, instead of 12; 3 times a day.  Since my white blood cells were so low, the Dr. decided to go back to doing my infusion every 12 hours.  The vancomycin was doing more harm than good.  Once thing that confuses me is, how beneficial is the vancomycin to me if those levels are too low too?  I know my blood cells are way more important, but I also have an infection I need to fight.  This week I am anxious to go to my appointments.  Physical therapy is fine, just time consuming and a bit painful.  I am supposed to see my surgeon for HOPEFULLY my first inflation (keep your fingers crossed!!!) and then there is my infection disease Dr.  Both of these happen on Thursday. 

I have noticed at night I have been waking up with a lot of pain.  I think I found out what it was.  I have been trying to sleep on my side and it shifts my expander just a bit.  When I sit up or lay flat, the expander shifts again under all that muscle and this makes for the horrible pain.  Sleep is hard, I have to lay flat on my back, like I am in a coffin.  Often I am uncomfortable.  I used to sleep on my stomach but not now.  I actually tried laying on my stomach, it didn't really hurt, it was just weird for me.  I think my days of sleeping like that are over. 

I will post some updated pics tomorrow, maybe Tuesday.  Nothing has really changed just some healing and the sterry strips and mesh is off my incision.

My pain explained

I had an appointment with my general surgeon this morning, for a wound check, and complained about the pain on my sides.  Its swollen, tender, and feels warm.  Dr. O'Neill explained to me that she put 10-20 stitches on my sides to keep my expander's from going to the side.  AH - HA!  She said she normally doesn't place those stitches in cancer patients but since mine is prophylactic she chose to do that to keep them in place and it also gives me cleavage!  I like my little cleavage. lol  My wound looks good, everything is healing as it should  and in 10 days I will have my first inflation!  Its only 50 cc's on each side, but I will take them!  I will be posting pictures!!! 

As far as my mastectomy is concerned, I feel good.  My range of movement is getting better by the day!  At times I feel stretching, pulling, and the expander, but it just needs to loosen up and I won't experience that any longer.  The same goes for my sides where the stitches are.  I notice if I am too active I start swelling.  This is normal also.  Dr. O'Neill explained that there is a lot of friction and movement going on which causes the swelling.  This is a good thing because I am getting stretched out. 

My issues with everything really stem from my infection which makes this so frustrating!  Fatigue, headaches, nausea, and a bunch of other things.  I am taking probiotics for my digestive system and another one to prevent a yeast infection.  I have made B12 a big part of my life which has helped with the fatigue and I can't seem to get away from napping.  A minimum of 4 weeks left of my treatment, I am definitely counting down! 

If I wasn't fighting with my work about paid disability, I would say that today was a really good day.  I am confident that it will be getting better and better.

And the day started off so well ..

I woke up feeling decent, finally after 10 days had a BM (TMI - whatever I showed you my foobies) so I was feeling so positive that my healing was gaining momentum.  Then I went to the infectious disease Dr.

So I have cellulitus*. An infection in my tissue.  The Dr poked me all over my chest, it was painful!!!! So what does this mean? Well, tomorrow I will be getting a chest CT scan and a picc. I am told the picc is an IV that is in your arm and is threaded up to your shoulder. They do that so when I get the antibiotic IV, I already have the line in and it is located in a central place.. my shoulder. The Dr. projected 6 weeks of treatment since I have expanders in.  There is a 50/50 chance that it will work,  however the Dr. said he has a good success rate.  If it doesn't work then my left expander will have to be removed. (This is when the tears started.) Depending on my CT scan I might have to have the fluid drained too.

I am hoping .. PRAYING this is all just overkill.  I know I have an infection and my current meds didnt work and I need more meds but I am pretty upset and scared about this.  Better safe than sorry.

I will know more tomorrow of the specifics tomorrow.  My entire day will consist of test and then getting the first infusion. 

As my sister reminded me - I did this for all the right reasons!  I keep having to repeat it to myself.