The procedure was a sentinel node biopsy on the left with bilateral mastectomy and diep flap. They removed two lymph nodes and they were benign. The diep (deep inferior epigastric perforators) flap is where these blood vessels and the skin and fat are removed from my abdomen and used to reconstruct my breasts (tummy tuck 😉). The left side worked perfectly, but the right side had some trouble. When I was waking up from surgery my amazing doctor, Dr. Hijjawi was there and I remember him saying, “the left looks great, the right side is iffy.” I asked what time it was and it was 7pm! The surgery was about 10-11 hours. So not really knowing what “iffy” meant and being halfway out of it, I just was grateful there was no cancer. So back in my room, through the night, they check the blood flow with a Doppler. They were only checking the left side because Dr Hijjawi said to the nurse there was nothing to check on the right. They also feel to check temperature and the right breast started out cold. These checks were done hourly. As the night went on the right side began to get warmer, but they never checked with the Doppler because the doctor didn’t think it was necessary. The plan through the night was NPO after midnight and I would go back into surgery in the morning for an implant on the right side. (I was starving). Dr. Hijjawi came in Saturday morning, explained everything to me, he tried everything in the OR, heparin, TPA, microscopes, prayers, everything!!! The right breast had no life. So he Doppler’s the left, everything is great, he then Doppler’s the right and MIRACULOUSLY there was blood flow!!! He said, “you’re not going to the OR!” He called his partner, recorded the blood flow, it was really amazing. He ordered one hour Doppler checks bilaterally for another day. I also had Vioptics on both breasts which measured the amount of oxygen in my capillaries. It all looked good!! I earned myself another day of bedrest and an extra day in the hospital, but no problem, the good news was I didn’t have to go back to surgery and my doctor is a miracle worker!! Each day things continued to look good and discharge planning progressed. I am so grateful for the amazing team of nurses, doctor, anesthesiologist, and everyone else who spent a very long Friday in surgery. And I’m thankful for all my family and friends who continued to send good thoughts and prayers. And to make things even better, Dr. Reading just left me a message (1.25.18) that said I had a complete pathological response, there is no cancer present. I’m ready to recover and get on with my life! Bring it on 2018!!!
Thursday, January 25, 2018
Miracles do happen...
Many people have asked about my surgery (1.19.18). As you know, I’m an open book and up for talking about everything so here you go....
Friday, December 23, 2016
Surgery
On December 14, 2016 I underwent a robotic total laparoscopic hysterectomy bilateral salpingo oophorectomy. Look it up. :) I thought I would right a blog about my experiences, feelings, etc to answer some questions and make people aware. I hope my girls can benefit from it down the road.
Shortly after Jacob was born I was tested to see if I have the BRCA (Breast Cancer) gene as my mom and my grandma have both had breast cancer. I tested positive for BRCA1. This making the chances much more likely that I would develop breast cancer and/or ovarian cancer. At that time I knew I had to make some decisions, but of course I wasn't done having kids so things got put on the back burner.
I knew Macie was our last child so Miguel and I discussed what our options were. As ovarian cancer is a high possibility with having the BRCA gene and harder to detect we decided I would have the surgery shortly after Macie was born. I wouldn't say it was a hard decision, it was something I needed to do and being done having kids made it easier, but at the same time, of course it wasn't easy.
I feel like this is the start of new beginnings for me. Obviously I'm not going to be pregnant again, I can become more consistent about working out and lose some weight. Who knows, maybe ditching the ovaries, birth control, etc will make losing the weight easier? One can only hope. It's the beginning of new beginnings for my family. I will enjoy every stage and every moment with my kids. Our family of 5 will forever be a family of 5, how exciting is that?
Questions I often get asked....
1. Will you have a mastectomy?
Not in the near future, maybe down the road. Breast cancer is more detectable and I am monitored every 6 months with either an MRI or Mammogram. When people find out I have the BRCA gene, this is the first question I get asked. There are so many different opinions about this, but for now, I'm holding off.
2. So you are going to go through Menopause?
Well....yes, my ovaries were taken out. Is this something I want to do at the age of 37? Not really, but I supposed it will be better than getting ovarian cancer. I will deal with the side effects as they come and hopefully it's not an issue for me. There are worse things...
I must say that my favorite part of the surgery was the anesthesia. Crazy, I know. I had never had anything other than an epidural before. The last thing I remember was the anesthesiologist telling me to take 4 deep breaths (I had the oxygen mask on). I remember taking breath 3 and the next thing I know, I'm in the PACU with the nurse telling me I'm waking up. The surgical site was definitely painful as I was waking up, but I wasn't sick or anything. I was completely coherent and remember it all. I was drinking my diet coke in no time! Haha!! My least favorite part was the gas pains. I believe with the laparoscopic procedure they inflate my stomach with CO2 so in addition to regular gas pains, but body was filled with gas for 2 hours. Bleh. I also hate the fact that I cannot lift my kids. I feel like I have this disconnection with Macie because I have hardly even held her. I think I'll be able to at least lift her soon, but for now I try not to.
In a nutshell, that's it. For the past few days I have been laying in bed at night thinking about things to write and chances are I've forgot to mention any of them, but I'll continue to add as things come up. Maybe I'll start a new blog just about this...who knows. Feel free to ask me questions, or whatever, I don't mind taking about it. I figure the more people that are aware, the better.
My advice to you today....GET A MAMMOGRAM! (It's not that bad).
Shortly after Jacob was born I was tested to see if I have the BRCA (Breast Cancer) gene as my mom and my grandma have both had breast cancer. I tested positive for BRCA1. This making the chances much more likely that I would develop breast cancer and/or ovarian cancer. At that time I knew I had to make some decisions, but of course I wasn't done having kids so things got put on the back burner.
I knew Macie was our last child so Miguel and I discussed what our options were. As ovarian cancer is a high possibility with having the BRCA gene and harder to detect we decided I would have the surgery shortly after Macie was born. I wouldn't say it was a hard decision, it was something I needed to do and being done having kids made it easier, but at the same time, of course it wasn't easy.
I feel like this is the start of new beginnings for me. Obviously I'm not going to be pregnant again, I can become more consistent about working out and lose some weight. Who knows, maybe ditching the ovaries, birth control, etc will make losing the weight easier? One can only hope. It's the beginning of new beginnings for my family. I will enjoy every stage and every moment with my kids. Our family of 5 will forever be a family of 5, how exciting is that?
Questions I often get asked....
1. Will you have a mastectomy?
Not in the near future, maybe down the road. Breast cancer is more detectable and I am monitored every 6 months with either an MRI or Mammogram. When people find out I have the BRCA gene, this is the first question I get asked. There are so many different opinions about this, but for now, I'm holding off.
2. So you are going to go through Menopause?
Well....yes, my ovaries were taken out. Is this something I want to do at the age of 37? Not really, but I supposed it will be better than getting ovarian cancer. I will deal with the side effects as they come and hopefully it's not an issue for me. There are worse things...
I must say that my favorite part of the surgery was the anesthesia. Crazy, I know. I had never had anything other than an epidural before. The last thing I remember was the anesthesiologist telling me to take 4 deep breaths (I had the oxygen mask on). I remember taking breath 3 and the next thing I know, I'm in the PACU with the nurse telling me I'm waking up. The surgical site was definitely painful as I was waking up, but I wasn't sick or anything. I was completely coherent and remember it all. I was drinking my diet coke in no time! Haha!! My least favorite part was the gas pains. I believe with the laparoscopic procedure they inflate my stomach with CO2 so in addition to regular gas pains, but body was filled with gas for 2 hours. Bleh. I also hate the fact that I cannot lift my kids. I feel like I have this disconnection with Macie because I have hardly even held her. I think I'll be able to at least lift her soon, but for now I try not to.
In a nutshell, that's it. For the past few days I have been laying in bed at night thinking about things to write and chances are I've forgot to mention any of them, but I'll continue to add as things come up. Maybe I'll start a new blog just about this...who knows. Feel free to ask me questions, or whatever, I don't mind taking about it. I figure the more people that are aware, the better.
My advice to you today....GET A MAMMOGRAM! (It's not that bad).
Wednesday, April 13, 2016
Macie's Birth Story
I wasn't sure what to expect with this pregnancy. I wasn't sure if
baby girl was going to come early with some element of surprise, come
around her due date or what would happen. Baby girl was due May 10,
2016.
At about 4am on Wednesday, April 13, 2016 (36.1 weeks) I woke up to a small gush of fluid. I went to the bathroom and saw that this fluid was bloody. I panicked a little bit and yelled for Miguel. I told him to get ready, we needed to go to the hospital. I called my mom and she came over to stay with the kids. Because of the bloody fluid I was a little bit nervous and in the back of my head, I was debating on whether I should go to Alta View where I was supposed to deliver with Dr. Smith or if I should go to IMC where there is a NICU. We ended up going to Alta View. I wasn't continuously bleeding or leaking fluid so I figured it would be fine.
We got to Alta View, I told them my history, they confirmed that my water had broken and told me I was admitted and we were having a baby today. Still in a little bit of shock, as baby girl was still 4 weeks early, I was nervous. I hadn't received the Betamethasone shots like I had with my previous pregnancies and I just felt like something wasn't right. I informed the nurse that generally my labors go quickly, I don't push for long and the baby's come pretty quick. Knowing this, I wanted to make sure I got the epidural fairly early because I didn't want to miss the opportunity.
I got the epidural and they decided to start Pitocin. My contractions suddenly slowed down and I wasn't progressing as quickly as I usually do. Something wasn't right. I kept feeling these small gushes of fluid so I called in the nurse. I was gushing blood. They had checked me and I think I was about a 3 so slightly progressing, but still not very quickly. I continued to gush and when they did check me they had pulled out some clots. The nurse was on and off the phone with Dr. Smith, keeping him updated. They ended up turning off the Pitocin and just waited to see what my body would do. I was scared and I explained to Miguel what was going on. I knew that if this was the start of an abruption, it could be bad for me and the baby. During this whole time the baby looked awesome! She was a rockstar! That is mainly why they waited and watched for so long is because the baby was doing so well. Dr. Smith finally arrived around 12:45pm. He checked me again and felt a bulging bag, my water wasn't completely broken. He broke it and it was very bloody. They had been measuring all of my blood loss and I don't remember an exact number, but it was a fair amount of loss. Dr. Smith briefly talked to me and I told him I wanted a c-section. I knew what could happen. I didn't want to completely abrupt. I wanted to get baby girl out now! Once it was decided to have a c-section, things happened fast!! They had Miguel ready, gave me more mess in my epidural and had me in the OR and baby out within about 15 minutes. I was pretty out of it and shaky, but they brought her over to us to see and then she needed to go get some oxygen. Miguel did great too! The c-section was the best thing to do and thankfully we did, everything turned out just fine.
At about 4am on Wednesday, April 13, 2016 (36.1 weeks) I woke up to a small gush of fluid. I went to the bathroom and saw that this fluid was bloody. I panicked a little bit and yelled for Miguel. I told him to get ready, we needed to go to the hospital. I called my mom and she came over to stay with the kids. Because of the bloody fluid I was a little bit nervous and in the back of my head, I was debating on whether I should go to Alta View where I was supposed to deliver with Dr. Smith or if I should go to IMC where there is a NICU. We ended up going to Alta View. I wasn't continuously bleeding or leaking fluid so I figured it would be fine.
We got to Alta View, I told them my history, they confirmed that my water had broken and told me I was admitted and we were having a baby today. Still in a little bit of shock, as baby girl was still 4 weeks early, I was nervous. I hadn't received the Betamethasone shots like I had with my previous pregnancies and I just felt like something wasn't right. I informed the nurse that generally my labors go quickly, I don't push for long and the baby's come pretty quick. Knowing this, I wanted to make sure I got the epidural fairly early because I didn't want to miss the opportunity.
I got the epidural and they decided to start Pitocin. My contractions suddenly slowed down and I wasn't progressing as quickly as I usually do. Something wasn't right. I kept feeling these small gushes of fluid so I called in the nurse. I was gushing blood. They had checked me and I think I was about a 3 so slightly progressing, but still not very quickly. I continued to gush and when they did check me they had pulled out some clots. The nurse was on and off the phone with Dr. Smith, keeping him updated. They ended up turning off the Pitocin and just waited to see what my body would do. I was scared and I explained to Miguel what was going on. I knew that if this was the start of an abruption, it could be bad for me and the baby. During this whole time the baby looked awesome! She was a rockstar! That is mainly why they waited and watched for so long is because the baby was doing so well. Dr. Smith finally arrived around 12:45pm. He checked me again and felt a bulging bag, my water wasn't completely broken. He broke it and it was very bloody. They had been measuring all of my blood loss and I don't remember an exact number, but it was a fair amount of loss. Dr. Smith briefly talked to me and I told him I wanted a c-section. I knew what could happen. I didn't want to completely abrupt. I wanted to get baby girl out now! Once it was decided to have a c-section, things happened fast!! They had Miguel ready, gave me more mess in my epidural and had me in the OR and baby out within about 15 minutes. I was pretty out of it and shaky, but they brought her over to us to see and then she needed to go get some oxygen. Miguel did great too! The c-section was the best thing to do and thankfully we did, everything turned out just fine.
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
Four Months
At four months Madison…
-weighs 13lbs 6oz (38%)
-length 24.41 inches (49%)
-head circumference 15.6 inches (9%)
-eats 6oz formula every 4 hours
-sleeps through the night (for the most part)
-wears size 1 diapers
-wears mostly 3mo clothes
-loves to such on her hands
-tries to eat everything, rattles, blankets, etc
-is a very good baby
-loves to grab blankets and pull them up by her face
-blows bubbles
-loves Jacob. She just stares at him and smiles and laughs
-loves bath time
-cuddles with mommy at night
-smiles and laughs when daddy and Jacob sing Que Bonita
Jacob talking to Madi at her 4mo check-up
4mo check (before the shots)
He is such a sweet brother
Giving Madi a hug telling her that she is going to be ok after she gets her shots
LOVE
Like I said before…Jacob is the most caring, loving, sweetest kid I know. When Madi got her shots and let out that big scream, Jacob freaked out and climbed under the chair. He was crying, not just a little, but huge crocodile tears rolling down his cheeks. He was devastated that Madi had to go through that. He did not want her to be hurt. This picture is right after, I gave Madi to Jacob to hold and he is hugging her. You can see a big tear on his nose. I started getting a little teary too. He truly has the biggest heart. I LOVE my kids so much!!!!
Thursday, December 4, 2014
Three Months
At three months Madison…
-loves to put her hands in her mouth
-eats 4-6oz every 4 hours
-wears size 1 diapers
-drools
-imitates mom trying to blow bubbles
-wears 3 month clothes
-smiles a lot
-jabbers more and more
-giggles for the first time on 3 mo birthday
-sleeps through the night
-is a very good baby
-is very alert
-loves to look at her giraffe when in the car
-grabs blankets and pulls them up by her face for comfort
-sleeps best when swaddled
-loves to cuddle with mommy
-loves mucho kisses from daddy
-loves big brother
-loves to put her hands in her mouth
-eats 4-6oz every 4 hours
-wears size 1 diapers
-drools
-imitates mom trying to blow bubbles
-wears 3 month clothes
-smiles a lot
-jabbers more and more
-giggles for the first time on 3 mo birthday
-sleeps through the night
-is a very good baby
-is very alert
-loves to look at her giraffe when in the car
-grabs blankets and pulls them up by her face for comfort
-sleeps best when swaddled
-loves to cuddle with mommy
-loves mucho kisses from daddy
-loves big brother
Sunday, November 30, 2014
Karate
We signed Jacob up for Karate for a month.
He loved it and learned a lot! He got two black stripes on his white belt.
Jacob, we are so proud of you!
Monday, November 10, 2014
Two Months
At two months Madison…
-weights 10lbs 13oz (38%)
-length 22.24 inches (37%)
-head Circumference 15 inches (23%)
-eats 4-5 ounces every 4 hours
-wakes up once at night around 3-4am
-smiles
-clasps hands
-tries to jabber
-sleeps best when swaddled
-loves to grab and hold blankets
-loves her big brother
-could sleep for hours and hours in her car seat
-is very alert
Madison,
We love you so much!!!
At her 2 mo check-up (before the shots)
Friday, October 31, 2014
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
October 2014
LOVE!
I love these kiddos.
This is Jacob's Bear, Princess Olivia. He wanted her wrapped like Madison and notice she has a bow in her hair too. He also tried to breastfeed her. :)
Fun at The Aquarium.
GO UTES!!
Saturday, October 4, 2014
One Month
At one month Madison…
-loves to clasp her hands
-loves her hands by her face
-loves to grab onto things, shirts, fingers or blankets
-is very alert
-loves to look around
-loves when Jacob sings to her
-sleeps 4-5 hours stretches at night
-likes to be held
-takes 3-4oz
-is still wearing some newborn clothes, growing into 0-3 months
-loves to cuddle
-has lots of facial expressions
-likes bath time
-loves her big brother
-loves mommy and daddy
-loves to clasp her hands
-loves her hands by her face
-loves to grab onto things, shirts, fingers or blankets
-is very alert
-loves to look around
-loves when Jacob sings to her
-sleeps 4-5 hours stretches at night
-likes to be held
-takes 3-4oz
-is still wearing some newborn clothes, growing into 0-3 months
-loves to cuddle
-has lots of facial expressions
-likes bath time
-loves her big brother
-loves mommy and daddy
Madison,
Where did the time go? I can't believe you are already one month old! We love you more than you will ever know. You are the sweetest baby girl and bring us so much happiness.
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