Tuesday's Thoughts

Yesterday went well!  The legs did require extra assistance from the weed wacker but other than that....all went as planned.  Even Steve blow drying my hair (yes, picture that!) was not bad!  He may have a new future as hair stylist extraordinaire. 

But it really is hard to get used to little tasks being so exhausting!  The big goal for today.....walking around the block. 

So I mentioned yesterday that I would talk about "normal" today.  I have always hesitated when using or hearing that word.  And now that I am trying to "get my life back to normal", I have decided there really is no such thing!  Every person, every day, every situation, every life event, basically every moment makes things different so that nothing really ever stays the same.  So there is no normal!  Instead of striving to be "back to normal", I have decided to take all the yesterdays and have them make me a better and different person and life.  Kind of like the old act of asking yourself "what did you learn today?" or "what are you thankful for today?", etc.  So just as a reminder, ask yourself.....do you want to be "normal" or "different (kind of new and improved everyday)"?  And, if you feel like sharing....it would be interesting to hear/see what you are thankful for or have learned today!

According to M-W the true definition is:  http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/normal and a few of the highlights are:
2a : according with, constituting, or not deviating from a norm, rule, or principle b : conforming to a type, standard, or regular pattern 3: occurring naturally <normal immunity> 4a : of, relating to, or characterized by average intelligence or development b : free from mental disorder : sane

No, I am not on any drugs....just a little time on my hands to reflect!  :-)  I promise not to give homework everyday, just thought it would be fun!

Enjoy the day!

Monday Morning Koffee Klatch

Good Morning and Happy Monday!  This is actually me.....Susan writing the blog today! 

Shauna and Steve have done a great job of keeping it current but handed the reigns back to me (actually last week).  But you know, a wise man (Steve Hoffman) once said "fighting Cancer is a full time job" and he is right!  I am BUSY.  :-)  Yeah, I know what your thinking.....and you are right!  It is all relative.  But given my strength (or lack thereof), exhaustion (need two naps a day at least and a full 10 hours of sleep at night), speed at which I accomplish anything (NOT very quickly), daily maintenance of "the" area (you really don't want those details)......I actually do stay "busy". 

But this is all good!!!!  It means I am recovering! 

I went off all pain meds as of Saturday.  Those things were definitely a necessary evil.  Yes, I am in pain but at least I am coherent, have a decent appetite and have a moving digestive track.  When I asked the Doctor if I could go off the pain meds, she said why.  I said, "because I don't even know what kind of pain I am in!"  So she said sure, gave some advice about Tylenol and a taper off schedule and that was that.  But I will tell you a secret.....last night about 2AM I thought about sneaking in and taking a Valium (pain keeping me awake).  Maybe they should hide "the drugs" from me just in case!  :-)

Okay, enough about me!  How about you ALL!!!!!  WOW!  The"comments" (which I LOVE), cards, flowers, gifts, emails and calls have been amazing.  (By the way, I love the cards, flowers, gifts, etc. too).  Steve and I both thank you all from the bottom of our heart!  And if we aren't responding to a call or email.....please forgive us!  It is all pretty overwhelming at times and pretty challenging to keep up with.  But we "hear" you and it warms our heart to know you are there.

So next on my agenda (the 1030AM - 1200PM slot) ....a shower.  Hopefully, it won't take that long but I make no promises.  The legs have been neglected and will likely require the majority of that time!  :-)

I hope you all have a great day!  Keep on keepin' on!

Something to look forward to.......tomorrow's topic - "normal".  Stay tuned.

Much love and hugs to everyone!
Susan



Follow-up from Steve:
Just want to second Susan's point about the numerous emails, texts, voice mails received during the past week.  As we have noted, fighting Cancer is a full time job.  I haven't been able to return many of the communications.  That doesn't mean we don't feel your collective arms around us.  We feel the support, prayers and positive vibes every day!  From our friends in SEC country to family spread throughout the nation and buddies near and far -- we THANK YOU!  Keep the good vibes comin'!

Not to worry....we're back!

Okay, it's been a couple days of ups and downs. Sunday was not pretty. Percocet is our friend and enemy. Side effects of nausea and constipation were really taking their effect. After Susan had some OJ on Sunday (healthy right?) she was feeling pretty nauseated. The thought of vomiting when you have 2 drains in andincisions on your chest is pretty scary. So Sunday consisted of trying to balance getting food in her stomach to buffer the Percocet, but not make her sick. It was a high pain day so Percocet was a requirement just to keep her from crying. I'm hoping she doesn't remember too much about the day because it consisted of us badgering her to eat crackers and drink water or Gatorade.

Late on Sunday when her stomach was settled but she was exhausted she said, "I'm going to get on that blog and tell everyone you bi*&%es have been lying about how well I'm doing. Photoshopping my pictures so I look good, painting a smile on my face. When I get on that blog I'm going to tell them the real story." That's when I could tell she was starting to feel a touch better.

We tried to deal with the nausea by dropping the Percocet to 1 tablet instead of 2. This seemed to help with the nausea but I called the surgeon anyway to get some antinausea medication to have on hand. When talking with Jenn (the surgeon) she asked if Susan had a BM since the surgery. When I said no, she asked if I had given her a laxative, as instructed per the post-op discharge instructions. I said I tried the day before but Susan wouldn't take one. Well, did I get in trouble (from Susan) for that! For hours, I heard about how I had "ratted her out" to the surgeon. I was trying to save my own butt (every woman for herself)! The surgeon recommended enough OTC laxatives to make someone's bowel clean as a whistle. (Okay, that's kind of a gross metaphor). Anyhoo, we're working our way through those. MD also recommended decreasing the Percocet if Susan could tolerate it.

Good news is Monday turned out to be a good day for the most part. Bland foods but more substantial (yogurt, blueberries, sandwiches, etc.) No nausea and okay pain control. Lots of napping. Normally Susan is a "buck up" kind of girl. She's been known to tell Steve to "buck up" when he was recovering from his herniated disk last year! So, she's trying to decrease the amount of Percocet she takes each day so that the side effects will decrease.

Yesterday evening, Susan's longtime friend Lisa stopped by (a preapproved visit). Lisa's mom and our mom were best friends so we all grew up together. Anyway, Lisa's a hoot so her visit was invigorating but not too exhausting. She brought a snuggly blanket and teddy bear (which can be used as a pillow under her arms for comfort). I think it's the first tiem the four of us have been together when we weren't all drinking. (Susan and Lisa were "on the wagon"....Sharon and I couldn't resist a beer!) I've posted a pic of our pre-surgical celebration. This was before we read the pre-op instructions that advised no "heaving drinking" within 3 weeks of surgery....oops!

Suze is having a good morning so far. Her voice is stronger and eyes brighter. I think the food from yesterday helped. When eating breakfast this AM we were talking about "this food has to go somewhere"....hopefully, it goes in the right direction! In addition to another dose of laxative #1, she got milk of magnesia which tastes like (and I quote Susan) "....the water used to rinse out a can of tuna and then the water was left in there for a day." Yum!

Right now she is napping, has Enya playing in the background, and a lavender candle burning. Althought this sounds peaceful (and it is), I've learned my lesson not to paint too pretty of a picture.

Once again, many thanks for the flowers, food, gifts, and cards. In the last post, Steve mentioned the "routine" of meds, eating, walking, and sleeping. Opening cards, etc. is a nice refreshing break from the routine and a highlight of Susan's day.

1st Full Day Home

Susan is settling into a home recovery phase, take meds, sleep, wakeup for a bathroom break and then repeat the cycle. Occassionally during the awake phase Suze will read the countless number of cards and well wishing notes she has received over the last few days. Easy to see that she is deeply touched by the outpouring of affection from so many friends and family members. The house is also filled with beautiful flower arrangements. Susan can turn in any direction and be comforted by Roses, Daisey's, Sunflowers, Carnations and Snapdragons.

We 've learned to care for Susan by following prescription instructions to the tee. When scripts say 2 pain pills every 4 hours no sense in Susan trying to be tough girl and get by with just one pill. Comfort and rest is the key and percocet is the answer!

We also have introduced a little canine therapy. Molly, (Shauna's dog) is in the house. Molly will play an important role in keeping a smile albeit faint on Suze's face.

I'll turn it over to Shauna for the Pathology report... Steve

Last night Susan's breast surgeon called at 8pm! Major props to her for calling at 8p and on a Friday night no less. She reported that while there were no cancerous tumors in the left breast, the pathologist did find atypical cells there. This was validating to hear since Susan did have the choice of just having a right breast mastectomy but opted for the double due to the risk of recurrence in the left.

Great news is that of the lymph nodes dissected NONE were found to have cancerous cells. This means that it is highly unlikely that the cancer spread beyond the breast region. However, that doesn't rule chemo out as a possibility. One, her largest tumor was actually almost 2cm (which would bump her up to Stage II). Two, the next step for the pathologist is to perform an oncotype of the cancerous tumors. This info will help determine if she would benefit from chemo (in a preventative type way). http://www.oncotypedx.com/

Here is a photo of Molly and Susan. (Molly - the aforementioned therapy dog - looks like a demon ....but she's not.) Susan promises not to post another picture until she washes her hair. :-)

Home Sweet Home

Susan was discharged from the hospital at 11am today....yeah! It must be pretty exhausting to go under general anesthesia, sit/sleep in a hospital for a couple days, and then come home.....because she is snoozing Susan! Of course, the Valium and Percocet may have something to do with that as well.

I expect she will be back to blogging herself tomorrow. It's eye-opening to realize how much we use our hands/arms for everything (okay, that sounds like a stupid comment). I'm just thinking that even tomorrow, someone will have to put the laptop in her lap and then remove it because it's too heavy for her to lift in these first few days.

Even though she was tired, I noticed Susan brighten up when she was reading the cards, admiring the flowers, and opening some gifts from all of her wonderful friends and family. To be honest, I got choked up when I was reading the cards from such a wide array of thoughtful people. I think it speaks to the immense kindness of others as well as Susan's own investment in Hallmark cards that she is always sending to others.

My sister Sharon is bringing over beef stew tonight which should be scrumptious and energy building for Suze. Big shout out to cousin Jennie, the official Team Buring Social Networking Guru for researching and setting up this whole blog thing. She is the mastermind behind it!

Let us all enjoy our homes tonight and thank God we're not in the hospital. Of course, I could just have my cell phone beep throughout the night and wake Susan up every couple hours so she won't miss her routine! :-)

A Good Day (It's all relative)

Lots of progress today. Surgeon #1 stopped by much earlier today. She had already performed 4 surgeries from 7:30 - 11:00. Wow! She can be a bit curt at times but this AM, she was quite funny. (Did I mention that both surgeons are women?)

Today they discontinued the IV fluids and morphine (all good things must come to an end). She ate solid foods for lunch and dinner (Turkey breast with dressing/gravy ....I think it's the same thing they serve in grade school cafeterias!). In and out of bed to the restroom, chair, etc. ...from my vantage point Suze has gained a lot of strength today. Percocet is now on board and seems to be controlling the pain quite well (easy for me to say!)

Late in the day, one of us commented that Susan looked good...."pinking up" as they say. I took a picture of her to show her and when she saw it, she said, "That's not bad. Post that mo'fo' ".....and so I did.

Have a good night! Tomorrow should be a busy day with discharge and getting set up at home...yeah!

Overnight Report

Why are hospital floors so shiny and clean? Evidently, it's because they spent the night shift buffing, waxing, and shining with the loudest equipment possible. Everyone knows hospitals aren't a great place to catch up on sleep with the every 2 hour vital signs. What we didn't expect were the major housekeeping projects during the night!

Steve enjoyed an awesome night of sleep in a non-reclining chair. :-) The upside is that he was here with Suze to watch the Reds come from a 7-3 deficit to beat the DBacks.....around 1am!

Having said that, Susan did get some rest and is feeling better today. Moving on to pudding, jello, tea (of course she was asking for coffee instead!). Surgeon #2 stopped by and gave positive comments. Drains look good and minimal pain meds were used. She's been up out of bed twice and will be moving to a chair today (finally getting that penthouse view!) All signs point to being "on target" for Friday discharge.

Suze is napping now and waiting for surgeon #1 to make rounds. Thanks to all those who have posted comments. We relay them to Suze and she's enjoying hearing them all.

More to update later today.
Shauna, Steve, and Sharon

Surgery Update #2

Susan is out of recovery and up to her hospital room (thank you Jesus it's a private room). She's controlling her pain with a push-button pump of morphine.....right now it's a 1 out of 10....yeah! Eating ice chips, dozing off and on, chatting about the room, how our day went, etc.

She is on the 15th floor which is the top floor (nothing but the best for Suze). She made note that it's like some hotels that don't know how to capitalize on their view. Her bed is facing the wrong way and her view is of the side of a building, but sitting in the visitor chairs I have a magnificent view of the city!

Beautiful flowers from the GetThere family are lovely to look at. All of the staff have been nice, professional, warm personalities....good experience (so far). :-)

Suze it talking about an evening with Steve watching the Reds beat Arizona on tv. Sounds like a pretty normal evening for them!

That's the update for now. More info tomorrow about the surgeons round!

Surgery Update #1

Susan was a trooper during the pre-op procedures. She was loaded with blankets, super cool compression stockings, IVs to keep her hydrated, anti-nausea meds....the works! They put a hat on her to keep the heat in and it looked like the Jiffy Pop container. I wanted to post a pic of it but Suze put the kabosh on that.

The first surgeon completed her part around 2:20pm. When she came to the waiting room Steve was in the restroom...niiiccccee. For her part, all looked good. The lymph nodes didn't look abnormal (which is good) but final pathology on that won't come back until Friday or Monday. (We're guessing pathologists don't work on the weekends!)

Surgeon #2 finished around 3:10p. She said Susan was "stable as a rock" during the surgery. Inserting the expanders went well and they were able to add quite a bit of fluid to them already (which is a good thing). She's back in recovery now and should be going up to a room around 4 or 4:30p.

That's all we know for now. Keep ya posted!
Shauna, Steve, and Sharon

T Minus 26 Hours

Okay, so just to bring everyone up to speed.  A few weeks ago I was diagnosed with breast cancer.  Tomorrow I will undergo a double mastectomy and the start of reconstruction (implants - not flaps).  During the surgery they will harvest some nodes to determine the chemotherapy path.  All in all, everything looks very positive for a great recovery!  I am viewing this more of a year of "inconvenience" than "illness".  Because as I tell everyone....I don't feel sick (at least yet). 

The surgery is at 12:30PM Eastern at Good Samaritan Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio.  They expect a two night stay at this point.  Post surgery and over the next couple of days, we (Team Buring members) will be updating the blog with the latest information.  After that, I hope to be making my own updates!

My husband, sisters, family, friends, co-workers, customers and everyone else I interact with have been INCREDIBLY thoughtful and kind over the past few weeks.  I know I will come out of this a changed person.  The impact others are having on me is amazing and I love it!  The strength, virtual and real hugs, prayers, kind words, encouragement have touched me to my core and will carry me through this ordeal.

So, with less than 24 hours until I report to the hospital.....I better get going!  There are Doctor appointments, refrigerator cleaning, clothing organizing, TV hook-ups and, oh yeah, a pedicure to be had!  So enjoy the rest of your day!  I know I will enjoy mine!

Welcome to my Blog!

Hi There!
Here I am, opening my own blog!  Pretty interesting (for me)!  While I wish this started as more of a "Julie Julia" type blog story, the bottom line is it will be fun and a great way for everyone to "stay abreast" of what is happening.

So let the blogging begin!