Awesomeness!

That's how I feel, and that's how my day was! 

I slept fabulously last night, and woke up way less stiff than the last few days.  Stiff and tight is really how I feel-not so much 'pain'.  Everything around my chest and under my arms and from my back forward just feels tight.  But today-not too bad!

My friend Tricia was at my door at 9:45 with one of her super cute little people and helped me change Ethan, get him dressed and get him ready for the day.  The she carried him down the stairs for me.

By 10am my friend from work Kathi was at my door, and by 10:10 Dad was here to take Brian to his Dr appointment with his shoulder surgeon and be his driver/companion for the rest of the day.

So me and the girls it was!  Tricia made me breakfast and lunch and Kathi re-taped up my drain bandages that were doing nothing but sticking to my shirt and they both made me laugh and smile-lots! My Mom showed up on her way to work with cookies, an electric razor, a cherry pie for Parker's Pi day at school tomorrow, and new SpongeBob CD Player for the bald kid so I can have my Bose system back in my room-and he can listen to his Taylor Swift every night!  Kathi and Tricia both left around 3pm(ish) and then my evening shift came.
 Jenn came first with a delicious unsweet tea with 2 lemons from QT and her mad crafting skills!  Together we got my pink ribbon wreath almost done!! 
My dinner delivery arrived along with a gorgeous blanket her daughters made me-thanks Wells family!  I will post a picture tomorrow!
 Then Michala-my night shift- arrived!  Just as we were about to warm up dinner-we realized the dogs didn't have enough dog food to get through tonight and tomorrow, so a field trip we took!!  I got to go someplace other than the hospital or home for the first time in 7 days-and it was to.......drumroll please...... Pet Smart!  Woo-hoo and dressed in, you guessed it, my jammies!  At least it wasn't Walmart-although I might have shown up on the 'People of Walmart' website had I gone there!  Jenn drove and Michala buckled me in, and it was a fabulous field trip! 

Dr Sheehan called me this afternoon-oncologist from the Cancer Center-to give me my pathology results.  She is so nice!  Mind you-these are read to me by a Dr-and they vary slightly from what the RN told me yesterday-so believe who you want-I believe Dr Sheehan. 
Left Breast Negative (same info)
Right breast additional tumor of .9cm in size (she told me .6 yesterday-but really no big deal-still tiny!)
2 of 14 lymph nodes were positive (again-same info)
Lymph nodes were macrometastatic (I think this is where the RN freaked out-that word 'metastatic' means it has spread-thus the freaky behavior-I'm guessing)
BUT in this case all that means to me is...nothing!  Had Dr Failing NOT taken out all my axillary lymph nodes, it would have been concerning, and we would be scheduling me to have that done ASAP.  It sometimes also means Radiation Therapy at the end of Chemotherapy just to zap those last few possible remaining cancer cells in the axilla to help stop any recurrence there.  She said that is not something I will probably need though.  But no promises yet.  And I'm ok with that-step by step. 
So basically I'm Stage IIB.  Not too shabby, and pretty much where we thought I would be!

So it looks like chemo in my near future.  Dr Sheehan said they will call me next week to set up an appointment 2-3 weeks from now to give me all my education on the chemo drugs I will get, and the other drugs available to help counteract any side effects.  This is like a learning appointment, and I will have oodles and oodles of info from it.  My chemo regimen, she thinks, will be every 2 weeks for 8 cycles- so for a total of about 16 weeks. If any Radiation treatments are needed-we will know then.
 I should then start on Tamoxifen-an oral chemo and take it for 5 years.  This is her best 'guestimate' but a true plan will be decided in a couple of weeks. 

In the meantime I am supposed to rest and heal.  My drains and staples will come out, umm, sometime, and then I can get scheduled to have my port placed.  As soon as that is done, chemo can start. 
Brian's Dr's appointment you ask???  Umm, in that blasted sling for 4 more weeks!  His repair was more severe than originally thought.  So continue sling, PT and rest and heal.  Hmmmm, heard that somewhere before???  He asked about driving-and though they said they can't release him to drive, they also know they can't stop him.  But as long as he's on pain meds-no driving.  And he's still on pain meds-and definitely on PT days! 

So all in all, an awesome day with awesome news and awesome friends and family!


A funny story for you so you can have this lovely mental image in your head for the rest of the day/night:
I really needed a 'bath' last night and my hair washed.  Since I waited until 11pm to do this, Brian was my help.  Picture me, on all fours like a dog, in the jacuzzi tub, head under the faucet with my husband on his knees, with one free arm and one in a sling, pouring cups of water over my head and trying to shampoo my hair.  He did a darn good job-as funny as I'm sure we looked, and then he combed my hair out while I soaked in waist deep warm water holding my drains up around my chest! We tried shaving my legs-but not such a good combo of handicaps here-and I think I'll use my new electric razor tomorrow!
I think we did a pretty good job, and if I ever questioned it before-I now know how much my husband loves me! 

Thank you everyone for spending time with me today-and thank your families for letting me have your time! 

You're all awesome!