Report is awesome!

This is the picture Don made of Judy and I today. She wanted to be sure her new watch with two time zones on it got into the picture. I wanted to be sure my swollen arm got into the picture. See; it’s not very swollen!

That was the only ‘bad’ report I got today: that I have a mild case of lymphedema. Lymphedema is swelling that comes from the lymph nodes being taken out and the lymph doesn’t travel through the arm like it should, so it swells. I’ll go to a therapist when I get home and get some therapy and a sleeve that is designed to compress the arm and help with the swelling. It is so minor that I hadn’t even noticed it. They want me to get it corrected so that it doesn’t get worse. If it gets worse it can be very painful. I feel so blessed that it’s so minor that I didn’t even notice it. In fact I didn’t believe it was swollen until my radiologist showed me how to tell. My left arm feels like it should, but when I feel of my right arm, the skin feels thick. That’s because the skin on my left arm and the tissue under it are stuck together with the tightness caused from the swelling.

EVERYTHING else was great. I had a couple of spots that concerned me but they said they were caused by the radiation. I had a hard spot that I suspected was a seroma that was hardened by the radiation, because I had one that I knew was that and it looked the same. (A seroma is a pocket of drainage after surgery; I had one that we knew was there and the radiation made it turn hard.) I hadn’t seen it before the radiation and hadn’t noticed it since until a couple of weeks ago. They did an ultrasound of my whole chest area to be sure that was a seroma and it was. While they were there they also included my neck and collar bone because it could have easily spread to those nodes since the nodes under my arm were positive. All the nodes in my neck and collar bone were CLEAR! So, it was all very good.

The radiologist doesn’t need to see me for 6 months. The Oncologist will see me in 3 months; that’s normal for cases like mine. They were pleased with my tolerance to Arimidex and my energy level. THANK YOU, GOD!

It was wonderful to see Judy! After all my appointments we were able to find Ann and Jim Nelson. We were in such a hurry that I forgot to get pictures of us with them, though! We hoped to get out of the hospital and beat some of the traffic, but I don’t think that worked! Bless her heart, she is starting a new trial program today and she was waiting on an available bed. They looked absolutely great, though! It was wonderful to see them.

Raynie saw her doctor today for her post surgery visit and he said she is all healed and can eat anything she wants! She doesn’t have to see him again for 9 months! THANK YOU, GOD! Wow, are we blessed!