Thursday, April 05, 2018

UPDATE ~ on Last Week's 9 to 5 Adventure

Yesterday I visited the surgeon's office - the surgeon who performed my lumpectomy "procedure" on 27th March.

The appointment's purpose was for compression bandage and dressings to be removed, incisions checked, and for the passing on of information obtained from investigation of the offending cells and lymph nodes removed or biopsied as part of the procedure.

The office was pretty busy - lots of people waiting. The surgeon, we were told, was currently seeing a woman who was in the same position I'd been, just a few weeks ago. My heart went out to this lady!

After a chat with the surgeon's personal assistant/secretary, who kindly congratulated me on the way I'd handled the whole thing (little did she know the anxieties and obsessions with which I'd tortured myself - or perhaps she did), we then met the nurse practitioner who removed the long compression bandage and dressings, declared all well, healing nicely. Before she began the undoings, though, she told us that the surgeon had given her permission to give us "the good news". Smiling very broadly, she told us that all tests on lymph nodes etc. had come back as "clean", and emphasised what good news this was - could hardly have been better in fact! I started choking up, but called my stiff upper lip into service, and threw my arms around her...

"Thank you, thank you!"

I'm tightly re-wrapped, but not waist-deep this time. Compression is used to help the inner breast cells to come together over the wee hole left by the procedure. I have to return in a week, to have the incisions checked again.

In the meantime, tomorrow I have an appointment to see an oncologist at the Cancer Center - part of the hospital complex, to discuss what comes next. I'm hoping that treatment going forward will be minimal in view of the good news received, and my advanced age, but I'll not feel too cock-a-hoop until we see what this specialist has to say. So far, though, news has been so very, very good!

6 comments:

Wisewebwoman said...

Oh this post brought tears. Oh I am so pleased, so thrilled for you. You must be breathing normally again. I totally get your anxiety and stress. As if we have the power to la-di-da our days.

Phew. Well done.

XO
WWW

A Casual Reader said...

I'm so happy to receive your good news, Twilight!

Twilight said...

Wisewebwoman ~ Thank you so much WWW! One layer of anxiety has been lifted, and whatever needs to come next will not seem as bad as it would have seemed if accompanied by less clear good results. Onward we go....
:) ((((Hugs))))

Twilight said...

A Casual Reader ~ Thank you ACR - I hadn't dared hope that it would be as good! :)

Anonymous said...

Bee's knees. Are you having a reprieve party?

Twilight said...

Anonymous ~ Indeed! Thanks! Not quite yet - maybe after Friday's appointment - if appropriate. :)