Breast Cancer Update--December 2020

It has been a while since my last breast cancer update. Until the holiday break, I was pretty busy catching up with work and friends and frankly just recovering. So I finally have a moment to sit down and catch you up a bit.

• SURGERY--December 2nd, I had a lumpectomy. They also took a lymph node. It has been 3 weeks and I am healing well. My energy level is good. My surgical wounds are healing, although not quite all the way yet. I met with my surgeon last week and he said all was healing well. I have some fluid in my breast at the sight of the lumpectomy but he said that will go away naturally and is rather normal for this type of surgery. My pain has gone way down, so I stopped taking the prescription pain meds.
• PATHOLOGY REPORT--the pathology report was good. The tissue they took from the margins around the lump was negative--no cancer. The lymph node they took out was negative--no cancer. The lump had shrunk considerably but not all the way. All of this was good news to me. I am excited to have it all out of me and leave that tumor behind in 2020.
• RADIATION TREATMENTS--even with all the good news, they are recommending radiation treatments because radiation can kill things they can't see. so I'll be doing those in January. I will be having 20 treatments, Monday through Friday, 5 days a week for 4 weeks. The radiologist says that the main side effect is fatigue with also some redness on the skin which can be treated with creams. Skin is pretty good a rejuvinating so that shouldn't be too bad. It will certainly be a lot less trouble than the chemotherapy has been.
• STILL RECOVERING FROM CHEMOTHERAPY--I continue to have a pretty bad case of neuropathy in both my feet (toes plus foot pads) and fingertips. So far it doesn't seem to be getting better but I am reassured that it sometimes takes up to a year for this to get better. Please pray for this healing. I would love to get my feeling back and have more control and not be so clutsy.

Meantime, I am so grateful for this holiday break without treatments and time to heal. Tomorrow, we will be foolish or brave and celebrate Christmas with our children and grandchildren, who happen to be our COVID bubble. I honestly haven't seen anyone else in person since I was diagnosed at the end of June and some people I haven't seen since February or March. 

I am also grateful for all the friends and family supporting me with prayer and phone calls or Zoom calls. I am so grateful for this support and wouldn't have survived this far without it. Thank you all for that!

I pray you have a healthy holiday celebration filled with PEACE and SURPRISES OF JOY! Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! 

with love and prayers,

Jules