Reconstructive Surgery Done!

I'm Baaaack!

I am pretty hacked up, but I am here! Whew, that "latissimus flap" surgery was NO picnic! I feel like a stabbing victim; I have pretty large incisions all over the place, I think there are 5 or 6 in all. But my surgery seems to have been a success and the transferred skin seems to be "taking." THANK GOD! I am still very sore, and I still have a drain in (two weeks post surgery now) to drain blood and other fluids. I am soooo eager to get this drain OUT!

Overall though, I seem to be recovering pretty well. I still can't do a whole lot and still have to take it easy, espeically because the output in my drain is still very high. So, I rest a lot, as I have for pretty much the last year.

Larry remains my angel and has the patience of a saint. He takes excellent care of me, and I am sooooo blessed. The Lord knew what He was doing when He put Larry in my path! A heartfelt, loving thank you goes out to Larry, the best husband in the world!

I want to thank all of you for the cards and messages. After all this time, I still get them from you guys, and trust me when I say that I just can't express what those well-wishes mean to me. Thank you ever so much, from my heart.

Getting tired now, so I'll sign off. I just wanted to thank you all for keeping me going throughout this challenging journey! My road would have been a LOT tougher without all this support!

Love to all,
Deb 333333333333

Winding Down

Well hello everyone,

You may or may not have noticed I am winding down on my blog entries. As I said before, one reason is because I have kind of moved over to Facebook and put small entries regarding my condition on there every now and then, as well as other bits of info. But, you all have been with me for an entire year now, do you believe it? Yes, my mastectomy was Aug 6, 2009; and here we are an entire YEAR later! It's gone slow, but fast too, if that makes any sense.

I am scheduled for my reconstructive surgery this Thursday, Aug 12. It is not going to be an easy surgery. The doctor tells me it will be very much like another mastectomy in terms of pain and recovery (4-6 weeks). But I will get through it, and that is largely due to your thoughts, prayers, encouragement and love, all of which have given me more strength than I can express.

There've been some unexpected bumps along my journey. A year ago, when doctors implanted a "tissue expander" at the time of my mastectomy, its purpose was to stretch the skin I'd lost, so that there would be enough skin to cover an eventual implant when reconstruction took place. However, at the time of my mastectomy, they did not know that I would need radiation. Radiation shrinks the skin, and sure enough, that's what happened to me. So although I went through weeks and months of "fills" in my expander to stretch the skin, radiation virtually undid any progress made in stretching. Therefore, my reconstructive surgery will be the "latissimus flap" procedure. Yikes! The plastic surgeon will make an incision in my back at the bra line. He'll leave the skin connected because it needs a blood supply. He will then "tunnel" through, and pull that skin out another incision in the front, and stretch that skin over an implant. OUCH! And of course, the doctor will remove this God-awful tissue expander that's been in there for a whole year, replacing it with the implant. The expander is hard to the touch, and even harder now, since my skin has shrunk around it. That has made it even more painful and uncomfortable, so as frightened as I am of my upcoming surgery, I am just as happy that the expander will be HISTORY!

I am so blessed to have a spouse, my Larry, who has been by my side and never faltered in my care this entire time. He remains my angel. And he is prepared to continue to care for me throughout the journey of this next surgery too. I thank God for him. I also thank God for all of my family and friends, who have cheered me on along this difficult road! How will I ever be able to thank all of you??? Please know that I remember all of you in my prayers every night, and I don't take for granted the blessings you all have bestowed upon me in being there for me. THANK YOU A MILLION TIMES!

I don't know when I'll be back on here again. As I said, if this upcoming surgery is like the mastectomy, as I have been told, it will be hard to use my right hand again (and just when I was getting used to the "new normal" of its limited mobility and its numbness!). But as soon as I am able, I will inform all of you of my progress and recovery. In the meantime, I thank all of you in advance for your prayers and well-wishes, and for your loyalty in guiding me down this road. I love you all.

Love, Deb 33333333

Hangin' in There

Hello to all!

I am feeling rather guilty for not posting as much here on my blog of late. As I mentioned before, I am posting more these days on Facebook than here. So if any of you are still keeping up with my blog here, and haven't seen anything from me in awhile, you might check my Facebook page when you do a search for Debbie Brady Brueckman.

Now to Larry. PRAISE GOD, he is fine after having had 8 inches of his colon removed a couple of weeks ago! There was no cancer, and since they did the surgery lapriscopically, his recovery was much quicker! He is doing great! Thank you one and all for your prayers and your concern!

As for me, I am gearing up for my next surgery, and it will be the "big" one I had hoped to avoid. I will be having the latisimus flap surgery on Aug 12, performed by my plastic surgeon as my reconstruction. It has been a year now since my diagnosis -- can you believe that?? And since my radical mastectomy of Aug 6, 2009, I have had a tissue expander implanted in the void in my chest. For the first many months after my mastectomy, I would receive saline "fills" in the tissue expander, in the hope of stretching my skin enough to eventually cover an implant. Unfortunately, radiation un-did everything the tissue expander did, and shrunk my skin. Now the tissue expander is still in there, but all the more uncomfortable, since my skin is so very tight and taut over it. It is quite painful. Since my skin shrunk, I am now going to have to have the surgery I had so dreaded: the latisumus flap surgery, where skin will be taken from my back and moved to the front to cover the implant. My plastic surgeon explained it this way: He will make an incision in my back at the bra line, then "tunnel through" to the front, and pull the skin from my back through an incision in the front, then stretch it over an implant. Ugh. He says it is on par with another mastectomy, pain-wise and recovery-wise, so I am bracing myself. And I will need some more prayers, please. My recovery time will be 4 to 6 weeks, but I will be sooooo very glad to get this tissue expander OUT of here! It is like a rock in my chest, it does not move as a natural breast does, and it is very hard to the touch.

So that's the update for now. As I said, please check out my updates over on Facebook if there aren't as many updates here on my blog. I so appreciate those of you still hanging with me on here, still caring and still praying! Thank you from the bottom of my heart. As I said, I can't believe it's been a whole year now, and I can't believe even yet that this happened to me. But I have come a long way in this year, and that has been in large part from the support of all of you! Thank you!

Love, Deb 333333333

I'm Still Here!

Hi everyone,

Well, it's been a long, long time since I've blogged. I guess as my recovery progresses, there is less to report. Also, I have now reactivated my Facebook account, so I do write some on there.

As I said, my recovery is progressing, though I still have a ways to go here. I am now taking Arimidex, which I'll be on daily for five years, to try to keep the cancer from returning. But boy, are there ever side effects from this drug! I ache all over (which scares me, of course, because I don't know if I have another problem brewing, or if it's this Arimidex), I am very, very fatigued and rest a lot, still spend a good amount of time in bed. Bah. But I am progressing.

I am scheduled for reconstructive surgery on Aug 12. I can't WAIT to get this tissue expander OUT of here! It is so very uncomfortable and so hard to the touch.

My husband Larry is now experiencing some health issues as well. He is scheduled for colon surgery on June 18. They will remove part of his colon to prevent cancer in that area. Prayers please! He is the love of my life, and I don't want him to have ANY health issues. He has been my biggest supporter throughout my breast cancer experience, which has made me love him all the more. He has done EVERYTHING around the house, inside and out, as well as care for me (and I probably wore him out). I hope and pray that I will be able to take as good a care of him as he has me. I would take on ANY health issue if it would prevent Larry from having to go through any health issues himself. He is a wonderful man and I ask for prayers that he will be okay. He deserves a good, healthy, happy life!

I know that Larry and I have both been "under the radar" for awhile, and I think in being so, we have offended some people. I pray for understanding that we are doing the best we can, just trying to get by. We hope that we will be given time to just get all this health stuff under control. If we can just get better, we'll be back to going and doing, just as we used to. But until then, we just need time and space to deal with these health issues. It's been a long time, I know, since we've been ourselves, and since we've been out and about. Unfortunately, our maladies here have tied us down quite a bit, and thus, some of our friendships have been compromised. But with time, and especially with God's grace, we will be back to ourselves, hopefully by Christmas.

Love to all,
Deb

Chemo Brain gets me in Trouble!

Warning: Language contained in this blog may be offensive to some!

Hello everyone!

Well, I have been starting to feel a little better. Still really weak, but better. I have even begun to get back in the kitchen a little bit, which nearly always gets me into trouble. I have never been known for my cooking skills. But I thought a new pressure cooker would get me in the mood, as well as make things easier and faster in the kitchen (not my favorite room in the house).

The new electronic pressure cooker from HSN arrived, and I started right in. Larry was observing. I was telling Larry that I was going to make a recipe that was shown during the pressure cooker's demonstration on HSN: chicken breasts with salsa. I told Larry, as I was preparing the meal, that the gal on the HSN demo put in "cock hard" chicken breasts, and that they were done cooking in a matter of about 15 minutes. Larry listened and watched. "Can you believe it?" I said. "Cock hard!" The pressure cooker began to do its thing, and sure enough, those frozen chicken breasts were cooked through in 15 minutes. We ate. It was good. And I repeated again: "I just can't believe these things cooked in just 15 minutes, when they started off cock hard!" Finally, Larry (who'd been giving me funny looks all the while, which I thought were because of his amazement with the pressure cooker) said to me, "Do you even realize what you're saying? Why do you keep saying that? That's awful!" I didn't understand. Finally, Larry realized that I really and truly didn't realize I was saying anything offensive. He asked me if I had been meaning to say "ROCK HARD." Oh my gosh, was I ever embarrassed! Yes, I had meant ROCK hard! Oh my heavens!!! I guess my chemo brain had been mixing up the thought of a rooster with the frozen chicken breasts. OH DEAR!

I have had many instances of "chemo brain" since my breast cancer journey began. For example, last week, I said I thought I'd wear my "snake skin" pajamas to bed. Where that came from, I have no idea. Trust me, I do not OWN a pair of snake sking pajamas!

Moral of the story:
Yes, there IS such a thing as "chemo brain." For real, folks. For real.

My Life Passed Before My Eyes Today

Wow, what a sobering experience I had today, when I literally saw my entire life pass before my eyes!! It was a profound and humbling experience. And it all happened during an everyday ride in the car, as Larry and I took a drive this evening. A near-death occurance doesn't have to be sudden to have such an experience, either. Any ol' near-death occurance will do, such as the one I've had.

And so, our evening drive began.

The 1950s. Today, my Uncle Fred Blevins sent to me the most wonderful family photo from the 1950s, which I viewed just prior to Larry and I taking an evening drive. Although the photo was taken about three years before I was born, it was taken at a place I remember so well from when I was a small girl: Grandpa and Grandma Blevins' "Crooks Road house." It was a lovely and whimsical place, where there were nothing but good family memories for me. The singing, the music, the laughter... they never seemed to end there, and when we visited there, I never wanted to leave. My beloved, departed mom was pictured there with her siblings and their wives. Some of those pictured have gone on, and I'll always miss them.

The 1960s. While on our drive this evening, Larry and I saw an old, '60s pop-up tent camper for sale on the side of the road. As some of you may or may not know, my parents' livlihood was sustained by the ownership of a trailer business, and they sold or rented everything from utility trailers, to RVs (including pop-ups), to mobile offices. As I looked at that old pop-up, I recalled a time when my parents had three or four of these units fully open and unfolded, on display on the lot. This old tent camper reminded me of a 1960s day a storm began to blow up. Dad called upstairs (to where we lived, above the business) to mom, asking her to come help him fold up these tent campers to prevent storm damage. Mom complied, wearing her full, '60s-style skirt. Dad said, "Ruth, you take the mattresses out, and I'll start folding up the campers!" I watched the windswept events unfold from our upstairs window, having been admonished to stay inside, out of the impending storm. And then the fun began. Mom grabbed a mattress, and the wind grabbed mom. And she would NOT let go. The next thing I saw was mom rolling with that mattress down John R, with her skirt over her head! They rolled and rolled: mom/the mattress, mom/the mattress, mom/the mattress ... Dad began chase, doing all he could to rescue mom, but he was no match against the mattress, which was more like a kite in that wind. AND MOM WOULD NOT LET GO. When mom and the mattress finally came to rest nearly a block down John R, her skirt remained over her head as she tried to fight her way out from under that skirt. Dad had by now caught up to the both of them, and tried to help mom up off the sidewalk, but she was sooooo angry that all she did was swing at dad. Dad was laughing, which served only to make her madder. Adding insult to injury (and it was only mom's dignity that was injured), the patrons of the barber shop across the street were applauding. Oh my goodness, it is a scene I never forgot, and one which brought us all years of laughter thereafter. Mom was always able to laugh at herself, once her pride was restored, and this was one of her most admirable qualities.

The 1970s. Once again, I attribute today's 1970s memories to Uncle Fred's having sent me some photos he had of ME from my high school days. These photos were fresh in my mind when Larry and I took our drive, as I had just shared them with Larry. In one of the shots, I was playing my beloved bass fiddle, which I continued to enjoy playing bluegrass music on for years and years thereafter. In two other photos, I was in my drum majorette uniform. My hair was long and straight, thick, and reached the middle of my back. I was very trim in those days, and very healthy (and I took all that hair and all that youthful health for granted!). And when those photos were taken, I had not a clue as to the twists and turns my life had in store for me in the decades to come. (I posted one of those majorette photos here; can you believe that's me??)

The 1980s. As Larry and I drove along, we passed the farm that my cousin Kathy and her husband of 30+ years lived in not long after they married. How could that much time have passed?? Their old Hurd Road farm is not far from where Larry and I live now, and is in fact on the very same road, but in a direction of our road we rarely travel. So, when we passed their old farm, I recognized it, and more memories came flooding back! Kathy and Fred had a water bed in that vintage farmhouse, and the kids LOVED playing on that bed -- back when my kids were so little, all those years ago. Sigh. Yes, I was blessed by the birth of both my sons this decade ........... I lost mom in this decade as well -- she never lived to see me have children -- and after losing her, my life was never the same. I learned in this decade that life is not always as carefree and happy as mom had made it for me all those years prior. What a wakeup call it was.

The 1990s. As we passed Kathy and Fred's old farm, Larry, who became my blessed husband late in this decade, turned on the stereo. In the CD player, he had one of my first CDs, the one I recorded in Branson in 1993. More memories rushed my brain. Bittersweet memories of when I was singing in Branson, commuting back and forth from Michigan to Branson, and wishing I'd never followed that dream in the first place, even though my Branson vocal experiences are among my most cherished and fondest. So bittersweet. I missed my boys so much during that time. (Be careful what you dream.)

The 2000s. By now, Larry and I were on our way back home. As we pulled into the driveway of our house, and I looked at the For Sale sign out front, more memories came to me. Thoughts of how much I had wanted our house, this "house of my dreams." But alas, we hadn't been here a month until the neighbors to our front built a huge pole barn in front of our house, and my dream house became a nightmare. This act of rude inconsideration was one I never got over, and is one I have thought about and been saddened by every single day since the pole barn was erected in 2005......... It was in this house that I learned I had stage 3 breast cancer (gulp), and in this house that I continue to recover from same. And it was early in this decade that I lost my dad to the cruel ravages of Alzheimer's. And late in this decade that my beloved grandson, Duke, was born! You know what they say, "Life is like a battery: you have to have both negative and positive in order for stuff to work."

The 2010s. And now, we begin a new decade. I could feel myself emerge from this experience of my life flashing before my eyes within the span of one short drive, as I wondered what this decade, as yet in its infancy, will bring for my family and me. I know what it has brought so far. It has brought me health problems that have threatened my life. And while my illness has frightened me beyond measure, it has also taught me many things. So many things, that if the remainder of this decade marches forward uneventfully, I will still have learned enough in this first year of the 2010s to fill a whole decade. I learned the value of love and support, as I experienced how many people love and care about me, and send up prayers for me and my recovery. I learned how grateful and thankful for my loved ones I am, and that means ALL of you. I learned that I love life more than I ever realized I did, now that I am fighting so hard to hang onto it. I learned that I am stronger than I ever thought I was. I learned that my breast cancer walk with the Lord has given me strength and insight. And most of all, I experienced the integrity of my wedding vows. I have felt, and continue to feel, the true meaning of "to love and to cherish, till death do us part," because this is how I feel about my husband -- a whole new facet and depth of my love for him. And I experienced the "in sickness and in health" promise made to me by my beloved, one that he never broke during the worst experience of our lives together. He has stood by me and taken care of me when I know I couldn't have taken care of myself. And from this example, I learned that life could not be better! How blessed I am!

I was silent throughout our drive this evening, reflecting on the life and memories I cherish. Can you just imagine? Over a HALF A CENTURY passed before me in just the short span of an evening drive!

Lessons and memories. These are what life is made of. Our appreciation and recognition of these treasures are what make us who we are, the good and the bad. Did you ever stop to think that something good almost always seems to come out of something bad? I have learned to try not to focus on what I've lost, but rather, what I have left.

Please everyone, appreciate your life. No matter what it brings you, the good or the bad. Because it's too short to spend time lamenting. The more time we take to lament, the less time we have to appreciate what life really is.

My love and most gracious thanks to you all.

Love and God bless,
Deb 33333333333

Saw the Plastic Surgeon

Hello to all,

Okay, here's the update. I saw the plastic surgeon (PS) earlier this week. The news regarding my reconstruction was not really what I wanted to hear, but remembering back on my main goal when this horrible journey began for me, which was to STAY ALIVE, I guess I can't complain.

The PS told me that my skin is very hardened and “woody” from the effects of radiation, and that if he had to decide today whether to do the conventional implant or the flap surgery, he’d have to go with the flap. As I have mentioned before, the flap surgery is quite painful and scares me so much. I was wrong however, in how I had explained the flap surgery before. I had originally thought that there would be skin harvested from my back and fat sucked from my belly to form a new breast. Nope. It seems that with either option, I will get an implant, and my belly fat will be left alone (oh good, I LOVE that fat!). The question is, did the radiation therapy remove my skin’s elasticity to the point of it reversing the effects of all the skin stretching and expanding that the PS had done with this tissue expander? It appears so. The PS said it’s still a bit too early to tell if my skin will regain any of its suppleness, and that over the next couple of months (until my next appointment with the PS in June), I can try softening the skin by regular massage and application of creams and cocoa butters/moisturizers. If I do that, I might have a slim chance of foregoing the flap surgery and having just an implant. If the skin remains hard and leathery however, then he will stretch skin around from my back to my front, to cover an implant. Recovery time for an implant: a couple of weeks; time in the hospital: outpatient. Recovery time for flap surgery: four to five weeks; time in the hospital: a couple of days. Also with the flap surgery, pain is on par with the mastectomy, and I will once again have my “friends,” those God-awful drains for a few weeks afterward. Further, after my mastectomy, I developed a life-threatening blood clot in my lung, as a result of the surgery. I now worry that the same thing will happen to me again if I have the flap surgery. Dear Lord. What a threat, what a scare.

I asked the PS about my ongoing “stage 3” fear. He told me what every other doctor has told me. There is no way of knowing what our future holds, and I can either go through life marching forward, or go through life looking backward, waiting for the footsteps behind me to grab me in the darkness. Well you know me, the glass is always half empty and I am a pessimist. Bah. So I left there in tears, and have been crying on and off ever since. I am so, so scared even now. And I wonder if I am trying to fool myself by distracting myself with thoughts and dreams of moving out of this house I dislike so much, and into that one I love so much. Is it all for naught? Should I even be entertaining thoughts of a future of any kind?

Larry, bless his heart, has said that if I want to do nothing surgically (other than take the tissue expander out and be done with it all), that’s fine with him. He would never have me go through all this pain for HIM. God bless him for that! I am blessed by the freedom he gives me in letting this be totally my choice. But I do want to feel whole again, for me. We went to Wendy’s for a burger after my PS appointment and I looked out the window at this lovely tree that was in full bloom. I first thanked God for letting me see the beauty and wonder of His work. But then I stopped to think of what made this particular tree so pretty. It was the symmetry of it. It was shaped the same all around. Balanced. That’s what I want to be again. Balanced. With symmetry. I want to feel as normal as I can once again. But ... doesn't everyone in my situation? And once again, breast or no breast, reconstruction or no reconstruction, I AM ALIVE, for now, at least. For how long, I don't know. But then again, no one does, I guess.

So, as you can probably tell, I'm a little down. Trying to go forward and put my life back together after an experience like this is NOT easy.

My surgery, which ever kind I get, is scheduled for August 12. I hope you will all keep me in your thoughts and prayers. I will go to the plastic surgeon in June, at which time, he should be able to tell me which procedure will be best for me. In the meantime, I am applying creams and lotions like it's 1999! If I can get this skin all soft and supple again, maybe I won't have to have the flap surgery after all! Fingers crossed!

Thank you to everyone again for hanging in there with me. Please keep praying for me. I have come a long way, but still have a ways to go, and have come to depend on your prayers and support! Oh, and the consensus on the gray hair seems to be pretty positive. Thanks! Maybe I won't have to visit the Clairol aisle after all!

Love,

Deb 3333333