Countdown to surgery #6

Six surgeries in 19 months...UGH!! Cancer is certainly a loonnggg journey. I met with Dr. B last week and after going over my "ovary issues" he said it was time for them to come out. He said that my symptoms could be a couple of differnt issues..it is obvious that the Lupron injections that I have been getting will not keep these little buggers shut down. I could be having symptoms of coming out of chemopause, it could be trouble caused by the tamoxifen which does have a slight risk of causing ovarian (or uterine..can't remember) cancer or signs of other trouble with the ovaries. Breast cancer and ovarian cancer can be linked together but since I tested negative on the genetic test there was not an immediate need to remove the ovaries. We have talked a couple times about taking them out but since I was not having any problems he and the ob/gyn felt that it wasn't necessary. He said he would call my ob/gyn and let her know that he wanted me to have surgery....it was not something we should put off any longer. Other than that, my visit with him was good...no other issues!

I met with the ob/gyn on Friday. Surgery is set up for April 30th. It is called a Bi-lateral laparoscopic oophorectomy...It is outpatient but I have to have general anesthesia....I asked for other options like maybe an epidural but she said she is not able to do that...it's kind of interesting why not....when the surgery begins they fill your abdomen with gas to give her a clearer view with the camera she uses. Once the abdomen is expanded it actually pushes your stomach up against your lungs....this could potentially cause breathing issues so she needs the patient fully sedated with a breathing tube. You all know how much I HATE general anesthesia but this sounds like a pretty good reason to go with it. The surgery is laporascopic so I should only be off work 2 weeks. She makes an incision in the belly button and two other small incisions in the abdomen. From what I have read of other patients experiences with this surgery it is pretty simple....the main complaint is horrible pain for a few days after the surgery in the shoulder blade area...this is caused by the gas that remains in the body. I guess it kind of pushes higher up into the body and causes the pain in the shoulder blades....

This surgery will put me into permanent menopause....they say the first few weeks will be pretty rough because it's kind of like slamming into a brick wall with the hormones going crazy...poor Bret, huh?? The hot flashes could get worse or just stay the same...that is something that seems to differ with everyone. The good thing is the ovaries will be gone so that will definetely stop them from producing estrogen which feeds my type of cancer.

So enough about surgeries....let's talk about something good. Our weekend was perfect! Bob, Cheryl and Paige came over on Saturday from Crawfordsville. We had a perfect visit with them...the weather was so great so we were able to be outside all day and even ended the evening with s'mores over an open fire. We hated to see them leave on Sunday but not long after that my Mom and Dad stopped by for a quick overnight visit. We had another perfect day of just being outside and enjoying the spring weather. We had a cookout and then Mom and I just hung out on the porch and watched the storms move in and listened to the rain falling....I hated to see the weekend end...we love having company....hint, hint to everyone!! COME FOR A VISIT - King's Island opens this month and there are lots of fun things to do in Cinci!!