Dr. Cody's appointment today simply was all about 1. him telling me I'm healing well after surgery, 2. prescribing my oral chemotherapy drug,
Arimidex, that I will take for the next 10 years (hopefully with no side effects!), and 3. ordering an MRI to see what's happening with that spot on my cheek/eye area from the nuclear bone scan that was concerning.
I will have the MRI tomorrow morning, with results on Wednesday, to confirm whether there is cancer in my bone or not. Then I'll meet with a certified lymphedema specialist to help alleviate the tight tendon pain going up my left arm. When he asked about my arm, I showed Dr. Cody how tight it was and he immediately noticed under my armpit what looked like a tightly pulled tendon protruding from my skin. Kinda hard to see it here, but that is the healing scar from the lymph node dissection surgery.
He said it would need to be treated by a therapist to loosen it and hopefully it will go away with lots of stretching. He said it would need to be 'broken up'! That sounds painful! I also mentioned to him that under my arm, I had numbness and a somewhat painful sensation when I touch the skin, to which he said it was common after full node dissection! Oh, all these things I never really knew about before having cancer!
Afterward meeting with Dr. Cody, I got to hang out in the 'chemo salon' to have blood drawn. While there I ran into Jen, one of the ladies I briefly met when I was having my chemo weekly. She gave me some great tips for lymphedema prevention and radiation therapy. Supposedly, after tomorrow's appointment with the lymphedema specialist, I will need to order a 'compression sleeve and glove' to wear! Oh, that will be sexy!But Jen strongly encouraged me not to even mess with the prescription ones as they are thick, itchy, and ugly and cause rubbing on the crease of one's elbow when worn. Instead, she strongly suggested I go to a website
www.lymphedivas.com to order a couple of the sleeves that I really like the cool designs, since I may need to wear this off and on for YEARS! Ugh. So how does one choose from flesh colored to crazy colorful tattoo-looking sleeves? Unfortunately, insurance won't pay for these cute ones, but Jen said to bite the bullet and just get these! I'm thinking I like these the best: dahlia, damask mocha, flora, grace, magnolia, midnight lace, onyx with crystal swirl or snowflake, plum blossom, purple paisley or zahara! I sure hope I can just get the gauntlet vs the glove for my hand but I'll ask tomorrow. Here a just a couple samples.
But the best part of my past couple days has been last night! We had a campfire with friends and our first official Christmas Gathering in our Wonderly Woods! Thankful for Mike Moorehead and Jake Cass for bringing their guitars and everyone for helping us make memories!
Check out the size of this bonfire John created! It was 5x3 feet!!
Jordan is my new little friend who has a sweet spirit and a voice like a songbird. She also will teach me how to make home made peppermint patties!
Jake Cassinari, aka, luminary expert and strummer, and Nichole Wilson who drove all the way from Nashville, TN just for this!
Great friend, Courtney, and one of her little dudes, Eli! The boy liked the hot chocolate and LOTS of marshmallows. Can you blame him?
Great neighbor, Steve Thompson! He gets the award for walking ALL the way to the campsite by himself, and even crossed the creek on foot!
Dearest friends from Hamilton, OH for almost 15 years now! Drs. Mike and Andrea Moorehead!
Sarah Jean, my beautiful daughter, and handsome Connor drove all the way from Columbus, Ohio to be with us! I'm so blessed to have a daughter who loves to be with me, even if it's 12 degrees outside! Thankfully, the fire helped keep us all warm!
Amy and Alan Kilbourne and girls! And, yes, we have officially scheduled our first Frozen Butt Hang for 2017, thanks to their encouragement!
Our newest friends, the Kirklands! It was awesome to have them up twice in one week, y'all!
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