Surgery & Recovery

At the beginning of September I had a lumpectomy surgery. I found a lump in my left breast last summer, and did all the testing (mammogram, ultrasound, biopsy). The biopsy came back benign and wow, that was such an enormous relief!!! It is incredibly scary to wonder if you have cancer with good reason to believe you very well might have it. I found the lump a few days after Drew passed away, and I could not bring myself to tell Rockwell that on top of mourning the loss of his friend and all the trauma involved with that, his mom might also have cancer, so I decided not to tell him until I knew the results. (Or anyone since I couldn't talk about it without crying, and with the kids home for summer, there was no way they wouldn't pick up that something was very wrong. It worked better for me to only talk to Paul about it, and go on with life as usual as much as I could.) 

The lump really didn't bother me or change much for the next 10 months or so. But around April/May, it started hurting much more frequently. I had been told that cancerous lumps usually don't hurt, so the pain I was feeling brought me comfort. I went in for another mammogram in July and the lump had grown significantly. The pain I had been feeling more and more regularly was caused by the lump growing. I met with a surgeon who explained that all signs pointed toward it still being benign, but that when there is rapid growth, that's cause for concern. We scheduled a surgery for early September, and the surgery went very well. I was so happy to say Bye Felicia to the lump!! (I just realized I wrote a little bit about the surgery on another post, but I think it will be good to have a little more detail documented somewhere. I forget things so easily.) The lump and surrounding tissue were biopsied in detail and there was no cancer detected. Another huge relief!!

My recovery was slow and painful. It was hard to not be able to take pain medication. Rest and ice were a huge part of my life for a month. After about a month, the pain was much improved but I was out of shape for sure. My friend Sara invited a few friends to go on a hike in mid-October and I really wanted to go. We planned it about 2 weeks before we went, and that was the motivation I needed to push myself to get back in some sort of physical shape. I started walking every day, and it was hard, but also felt good at the same time. I walked up Provo Canyon a couple days before the hike to make sure I felt like I would be able to do the hike. It was so nice to get back into the Canyon after being at home in the recliner for so long!

Sara, Miquelle, Quincy and I had a great time on the hike. We went to Primrose Overlook up above Sundance. It was really fun to see some new trails close by our house. The peak of the fall colors had passed, but it was still beautiful with what was left.

It felt really great to be out with friends, hiking, and feeling like life was a little more back to normal.