Post surgery note

Medical Update

Thank you for the emails and messages since the surgery and the Oregonian’s article came out.  I am 2 weeks past surgery now, but still recovering and have needed far more help than I anticipated.  My older sister and mother have cared for me 24/7, and I am just beginning to do things for myself again though I can’t drive and still have drainage tubes in my sides.  I am not really writing much at the moment.  Sleeping, eating and taking pain pills is more my regiment.

Paige Stoyer photographed the pre-surgery chemo-girlfriends party at the Benson Hotel and was actually in the surgery room during the double mastectomy and reconstruction.  I have not yet seen these images and will wait to view them until my next week.  I will also share photos from the shoot four days post surgery with Fritz Liedtke, as well as the self portraits from after surgery once I’m recovered from the next surgery I’ll explain next.

The post-op appointment with my plastic surgeon went well.  No problems. I’m healing well.  Evidently my nipples look good on the outside as well as the outside and they were able to save them during surgery.  This was very good news to me as I woke up looking somewhat more normal than I expected.  The post-op appointment with my surgeon, however, was not quiet so good.  Due to the location of the tumor, even though it was much smaller than before chemo and there was only cancer in 2 of the 8 lymph nodes removed, I need additional surgery this coming Weds to create a wider margin around where the tumor used to be.  This is just to be sure we got everything.  So there’s little time or energy to process where I’m at now before I have more surgery.  I will wait until then to begin posting.  Thank you for your thoughts and support.  The outlook is very good and my hair is growing in the meantime!