Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Ready for surgery...

Good evening!!

I have had the most amazing 2 days!!  It's the night before my surgery -- it's late but I wanted to share some good news with you.   Actually great news!!!

On Monday I had a marathon day of appointments at MD Anderson.  Here's what appointments I had.  Mammogram, blood work, EKG, chest x-ray, echocardiogram, anesthesia assessment, meeting with my sweet research nurse, appointment with Dr. Hunt (Surgeon) and then finally appointment with Dr. Green (Oncologist).  Whew!!

The great news is that the mammogram showed that the original mass is no longer identified by mammography, but that these findings can be confirmed with breast ultrasound.  That was yesterday.

Well today I had the breast ultrasound...the ultrasound tech apologized for taking so long on the ultrasound but she said it was hard to do an ultrasound when it looks like there's nothing there.  The Radiologist then came in and confirmed that there no longer appears to be a mass.

Amazing!!!

Of course if there is any cancer left in my breast it's coming out tomorrow with the mastectomy.

Today I met with Dr. Skoracki (plastic surgeon), he feels confident that he will have no problem reconstructing my breast.

Yesterday I met a lady up at MDA that was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer 6 years ago and has been cancer free for 5 years now.  Praise God for that!!!

My Mother-in-law (Mom) and Father-in-law (Dad) came in today.  Mom is going to come to the hospital with Jim, Linda and of course me.  Dad's going to stay at the house and hang out with the kids.

I will be checking in for surgery at 11:30 tomorrow (Wednesday) morning and surgery will be at 1:30.  Please pray for Dr. Hunt and Dr. Skoracki, the Anesthesiologist, the nurses, the nurses' aides, anyone whom I will come in contact with tomorrow.

I will be having a mastectomy on my left side as well as a lymphadenectomy (removal of all my lymph nodes under my left arm).  The tissue that Dr. Hunt takes out will be sent to pathology and they will get back to me with their findings in about 2 weeks.  Then Dr. Skoracki will place a tissue expander in my breast.  Surgery begins at 1:30 (central time) and will last about 4 hours.  Please pray for me.

Once Jim has gotten word that I am out of surgery he will let y'all know by posting something on here.

I will be spending Wednesday night in the hospital and will come home Thursday morning.

This is such an exciting time!  I can't wait to be able to say after my surgery that I am now cancer free!!!

Thank you Jesus for allowing me to be on this journey.  You ARE the Great Physician!  You have given me so much throughout this journey.  Not only have You been with me -- You have given me the most amazing support group of family and friends.  I love you Jesus and I trust that You will not leave my side tomorrow or ever.  In Your Holy Name I pray, AMEN!!!

Good night prayer warriors!!!

I love you!

Love and blessings from the top of my heart,

Moni

www.caringbridge.org/visit/monimonk
www.monkmoni.blogspot.com

2 comments:

  1. God is so good! Praying precious girl!

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  2. Thanks for sharing your story Moni. It's very inspiring. Indeed, there's always hope when we cling to God. I hope many will be moved by your story.

    Terry Bayer

    ReplyDelete