Gratitude - Home, Healing and Updates

Gratitude. That is literally where my heart is right now. Buried in gratitude and covered with endless amounts of love and sacrifice from all the people I love and even people I don't know. I don't even know where to start to thank these amazing people. There are way too many people to thank, from an abundant and overwhelming amount of donations, to dinners, to texts, to prayers, to hugs, to gifts, to foot rubs. Each and every amount of service, big or small, is so greatly appreciated and I am truly humbled by everyone that has served me. I have been brought to my knees with endless tears, from the amount of relief and stress that has been taken off my shoulders. I feel strong. I feel brave. I feel loved. I feel like I can defeat this again. Thanks to everyone that brings me strength and carries me while I am weak. I am so grateful to be alive and surrounded by people like you.

I had surgery last Friday. Surgery was about 2 hours and it went well. They removed the mass and did an auxillary lymphnode dissection, which means they took roughly 10-15 lymph nodes from the area to test them. They had to put in a drain from my armpit for fluids to drain from the incision. My first surgery I ever had, I had to have 4 drains, so 1 is nothing compared to that. Tanner is in charge of draining them and he takes very good care of me. You know someone truly loves you when they will drain fluids from your body without complaining and then they celebrate when it turns yellow (which means progress). They also implanted a port which is awesome news for chemotherapy. Last time I did chemo, we had to put in an IV every time. Those who know me, know my veins hate me. A couple times they even had to send an ultrasound tech to put in the IV because they were so stubborn. Also, since we only have 1 arm to work with, it makes it more challenging. So this was great news to me that I won't have to suffer through those terrible IV's anymore!

The first night back from the hospital was awful. The pain wasn't being managed very well. We ordered some more pain meds and the next night was a little better. Each day gets a little better. Last night was the first night I slept decent. Pain in lessening, which has been good so that I've been able to minimize the amount of meds I'm taking. The medication has made me so loopy and drowsy. Looking forward to feeling like myself again. We will get pathology results from surgery back sometime this week and will come up with a chemotherapy plan. Will probably start chemotherapy as soon as the drain is out, which could be anytime from a week to three weeks. It is all dependent on how much drainage comes out. When it gets below 20 ml, then it's time to remove it.

Thanks for the continued prayers and service you have shown me and my family. We are forever grateful for the service we have received and plan to pay it forward in the future.