I finished my last Taxol treatment on August 30th. Just as I was getting my meds figured out for nausea it was time to move onto the next phase of treatment; the dreaded “Red Devil”, Adriamycin. Thankfully, I only needed to do 4 rounds - 1 round every 3 weeks. We had to play around with meds for nausea again and I missed some work due to how icky I felt. I am so blessed to have amazing employees who were able to step in and keep my business running for me.

In October, I met with my general surgeon again to discuss options for surgery. I was notified that the plastic surgeon would be retiring and was no longer taking new patients. This was a bummer because I really wanted to do both the bilateral mastectomy and reconstruction at the same time.

 There were a couple options available to me, Sioux Falls or Duluth, if I wanted to continue with both mastectomy and reconstruction. I met with a surgeon in Duluth right before Thanksgiving to go over what surgery would entail there. My amazing sister-in-law, Josie, accompanied me to help keep information straight. Over Thanksgiving weekend, I was able to talk over the pros and cons of having surgery in Duluth. I decided the best option for myself and the girls was to have the bilateral mastectomy in Fargo with my surgeon and do the reconstruction at a later date when I had more time to take off work. 

Surgery was finally scheduled for December 28th, right after Christmas. But alas, surgery would have to be rescheduled. Christmas Day I tested positive for COVID-19. Not only did I test positive, but many of my employees and some of the children we care for. We unfortunately, had to close the daycare for the remainder of Christmas break.

 Typically, the hospital requires that there be six weeks between a positive COVID test and surgery but because my surgery was time sensitive, we rescheduled for January 9th.  

Surgery day arrived and my mom and Journie came with to keep me company. During surgery, they would remove lymph nodes to test if the cancer had spread in addition to the removal of both of my breasts. To help narrow down the lymph nodes, they inject a radionuclide (radiation) that is supposed to collect in the lymph nodes. Well, the radiation didn’t collect in my lymph nodes, which while it’s not common, is not unheard of and my surgeon dealt with it from time to time. Because the radiation didn’t collect in my lymph nodes, the surgeon needed to remove 19 lymph nodes instead of 2-3 lymph nodes. Unfortunately, removing that many lymph nodes increases my chance of lymphedema down the road. I am unable to have blood pressure taken or IV’s inserted on my right side. 

Other than the unplanned removal of 19 lymph nodes, surgery went really well. I woke up with minimal pain and was able to transition from IV pain meds to oral pain meds fairly quickly. One night in the hospital was all that was needed. I honestly expected to be in more pain than I was. I struggle a little bit with tenderness in my armpit on my right side due to the lymph node removal. My mom stayed with me for almost two weeks to help with the girlies and help me with my Employee Christmas Party. I couldn’t have done it without her ❤️ 

Yesterday, I had my post op with my surgeon and went over the pathology results. Lymph nodes were negative for cancer! Both tumor beds each had about 3% cancer cells remaining. Because of the residual cells remaining, I will eventually be put on a chemo pills that I will take for 1 year. I will not need radiation as I don’t meant the criteria due to my results. I am very happy with the outcome! 

I do still need to continue immunotherapy treatments every 3 weeks until May, which has always been the plan. My oncologist is very pleased with how my treatments have been going. I hope things continue on the up and up! I  will also be happy to get back to normal life soon 😊