Awareness. health update!

Since I cannot seem to sleep, I am going to do a update for those who actually care to read about what is going on in my life. Thank you. 

OK so, I had a lumpectomy last week. Before surgery I had a mammogram and ultrasound and a new lump popped up. So I had my wire procedure    and the radiologist found a new mystery lump that was not biopsied when I had my Biopsy. So they parked it with a wire along with 2 others. I later go into Surgery yada yada. Surgery is surgery all went well.

a few days later I go in to my Oncologist for a follow up and he comes in and says "I have some interesting news" He gives me my results as cool as a cucumber...and says everything looked good, one mass had cancer in it. But we believe we got it all.....uh, say what doc? CANCER? He tells me it was on the edge of the wall. My chest wall as I later learn from my sister in law who did research since I didn't bother to ask my dr questions because I was totally thrown off by the C word! SO he says my Plastic Surgeon should be calling me and us going over my options. Which include Mastectomy  breast reduction or Radiation. And since I had this "surprise" pop up, the insurance should most defiantly approve a reduction this time. (If you have no idea what i am talking about, read my previous posts) Ok, cool another chance at getting a reduction. BUT CANCER WAS IN MY BODY! SOME FORM SOME SORT OF AMOUNT OF CANCER WAS IN MY BODY! Do I feel assured that they removed it all? HELL NO. I am still scared. And today I learned that breast cancer runs in my family. ALSO, after speaking with my oncologist that day I said...all these mess is going on with my left breast, and NOTHING has been done to my right breast. SO he orders me to go get a mammogram and a ultrasound for the right. So I went and did all he said and there is a lump they want to analyze  so I am going to go get a MRI on tuesday. A should have had BOTH of my boobs MRId in the first place..but whatever. So I'm going to do that on tuesday and on wednesday I am going to chat with my Plastic Surgeon.

Wish me luck


PS....I am 27 years old....DONT LISTEN TO THOSE WHO SAY YOU ARE TO YOUNG TO GET IT...CAUSE I MIGHT HAVE. 

Biopsy Results

Biopsy came back negative.

 I have a follow up with my oncologist (july 30th)to talk about the biopsy and then to schedule surgery to remove the Fibroadenoma lump and maybe some others.  We shall seeeeeeee.

A few updates

Well. It has been a while since I have typed anything in my "blog" so I am going to try and keep this short but sweet! 

I left off that I was in the works of getting stuff together for a Breast Reduction correct? WELL. Thats not the case anymore. After visiting with the lovely Dr.Belz at PRMA. The insurance responded to the request and they DENYED the surgery saying it was cosmetic and they needed a run down of things I couldn't do be cause of my boobs. First off! Who are they to say it is cosmetic?! Are they not reading the paper work? Dents in my shoulders, pain in my back, lower back and shoulders?! etc. anyway  So in the denial letter they said if I felt the decision were to be appealed I could do that. Your damn right I wanted to appeal it and get a 2nd decision. Dr.Belz got involved and submitted the appeal for me and said for me to wait. The insurance got back with her after getting the appeal and they told her that she couldn't submit it and that I had to write one. SO I DID. She tried really hard to get this approved for me. About a week or so later I heard back from her staff and received a letter the next day DECLINING ME AGAIN. Mind you after everything the insurance had requested and said it all came down to the policy. After them wanting a list of everything I wasn't capable and photos sent and tears shed. They said our policy wouldn't cover it....couldnt they have told us that waaaaay in the beginning? OH and did I mention I went to physical therapy for a month?!?! And was told that my posture was bad! But I got nice massages from Sandra because one of my SI joints was out of whack. So it wasn't all for nothing! MOVING ON.

So I decide I still want to get the lump removed so I make a appointment with Dr.Miller again fro The Start Center. In between that time I am still getting mammograms and ultrasounds done on the boob with the fibroadenoma lump in it. My gyno calls and talk to me about 2 new lumps and he isn't worried about them. Ok awesome whatever. I'll take your word for it doc. WELL Last week June 23rd I go see Dr.Miller.He too btw was flabbergasted about the insurance thing and how they denied me. He even called Dr.Belz while I was getting undressed or dressed in the room.  He looks at my paper work and is curious about the masses. He even calls the STRIC center down Medical Drive from us and asks one of the radiologist theres opinion. They say they would want to do a biopsy. GREAT.  After getting off the phone he does an exam and he can't feel them. He says he wants two biopsies done. WONDERFUL. I know what that means! Needles! 

One week later today. My husband and I went to Women's Imaging Center to get my biopsies done. I have to tell you. Out of all the surgeries I have had, this scared me more because I was going to be awake! I cried a bit I have to say! The radiologist said there were 4 new masses and that he was going to sample two of them. One of them has grown within the last few months...for those who haven't had a biopsy on their boob heres how it went for me....if you don't care...skip passed LOL. After waiting and filling out paperwork I was in a room with a nurse and she did a ultrasound of my boob and had me fill out some papers. I went and waiting in my cute lil pink gown top with Dwayne (hubby) for a few minutes till the called me back again for the procedure since the Dr. was with another person. They call me back. You lay on a table. You get cleaned up they turn all the lights off except one and they point it where they are doing the biopsy. I'm turned on my side with a towel under my left side. I cried a little when it was all about to happen. The doctor comes in and is really nice and soft spoken. I wish I could remember his name! He walks me through everything he is doing and is about to do and how it should feel. Now you are going to feel a little stick and burning. I actually didn't feel like. Then I am numb and they do a little incision  so they can put the core need in. Then he does the biopsy. You hear clicking noises like a staple gun when he takes the samples. also feel a little pull or it was just from my boob jiggling haha. I'm thinking wow, that wasn't so bad! And it was quick! The 2nd biopsy they went in on another part of my boob. He numbs me and after he tells me "let me know if you feel this" and I am thinking ok...he didn't say that the first time. And sure enough I felt him make the incision. My skin wasn't numbed enough! I said YA...felt that! So he numbed me again. did the biopsy. And also, after the biopsy they insert "markers" by the mass they biopsy for future stuff. Its done. then they clean me up again and bandage me up. I must had bled for a while cause they nurse was hold my boob for quite a while. 

I was soooo worried for really nothing. I think I am going to have more pain afterward then I did during the procedure lol. Motrin and Ice packs for the next few days. I should have results on Tuesday they said. I'm not worried about it though. Wow. What a change of events. go in to get a lump removed...that turns into a possible breast reduction...then that gets shot down, so its back to getting the lump removed..then biopsies....BUT I will still be having this old lump taken out. Hopefully that will be the only thing that will be removed. We shall have to see when I get the results next week. 

So much for keeping it short but sweet huh?

Here we go again.

I thought I would write about my newest adventure. 
Back in I guess October or November my hubby and I were laying my bed and I was stretching my back and felt a lump in my left breast. Honestly I was freaked out as anyone would be. When Monday rolled around I called my GYNO and made a appointment to get the lump checked out. He did a exam and his own Ultra Sound on my breast. He didn't want to do a needle biopsy due to the fact that the mass has more solid then liquid. So he sent me to get a Mammogram and another Ultra Sound through Stric. After he did the ultra sound we went into his office and we discussed what I wanted to do about the lump. He thought it was a Fibroadenoma lump which is not cancerous. Its called a Benign tumor. lol. Scary sounding right? I said if I could I would want it removed. SO I went a few days later and had a mammogram and another ultrasound. This was my first mammo. And let me tell you. It was not bad at all! I don't know what is with all the horror stories! ANYWAYS. After I had the ultra sound and mammo done. The doctor there at Stric wanted to talk to me. YIKES I thought. When he finally came into the room. He too said he thought it was fibroadenoma. Ok fine, I still want it removed because its a solid lump and you cannot see whats behind it if there ever was cancer growing there. SO a few days later my GYNO called wanting me to come since he had the results. I went in. Told him I wanted it removed. He referred me to a Oncologist by the name Dr.Miller at the start center in San Antonio...


I guess I should have been writing this blog as the events unfolded because now I can't remember when the days and months were that I did all this LOL.

In December my Mother in law and I met up and went to the Start Center on Medical Drive. What a nice building that is BTW.  Went to the back and talked with the nurse going over basics and whatnot. The Oncologist (Dr.Miller) came in. Super nice guy. I had to disrobe from the waste up and he examined my left breast. BUT before he even got to the exam he immediately said I needed a breast reduction. Really Doc? Ya think? I am a 26 year old with zebra stripes and my nipples pointing south.... Once the exam was over we discussed more about the breast reduction then my lump. He was pretty positive it was (is) fibroadenoma. He said in order to get a Breast Reduction I had to go see a Chiropractor or a Physical Therapist and get a referral from them as well as my gynecologist so that I could give them to the Plastic Surgeon. Ok Doc, sure thing. I will get right on it cause I have wanted these boobs off since middle school. 
Called my Gyno and they mailed me my referral for the Plastic Surgeon. Easy as that. My second referral would not be so easy. I went to a Physical Therapist and it ended up being ridiculous. Loved the people there, but the whole process was unreal. I went for a consultation about why I was there. I ended up having to do all these things with my arms and legs and bending down and whatnot. Not to mention in my bra and undies....oi. So after all that was done the PT said I have to come in 2 times and week for the next month. WHAT! really? On top of that I evidently had issues with my body. No joke..So I had to come in for the next month getting a massage for my SI Joint. Which was pretty nice.Since what massage doesn't feel amazing! And then the last 30 mins I would do stretches which were POINTLESS. You can't fix things that have been going on since I was in Middle School. You aren't going to fix my posture till I have this weight off my body as well as my chest. But I guess all this BS was for insurance purposes.....still stupid though! Sorry I am being blunt. But it was stupid. Once that was done I wanted to throw a party LOL. Now was the time to call my Plastic Surgeons office and set up a appointment. After sending my referrals, one from my gyno that came in the mail. And one from my PT that I had to go get a week after therapy was over I had a appointment to come in for a consultation!  YAY. Getting closer and clooooosessseeeerrrrr. 

February 21- I remembered a date! 
                      Went to to the PRMA offices and took my pre-filled out novel of paperwork to the secretary. Once back in the office I talked to one of the nurses about specifics and whatnot. After a while Dr.Belz came in we chatted after more specifics one of them being that I SMOKE. NO NO NO.  I cannot have surgery for at least 8 weeks because of the risks that come with smoking and surgery. So as of last night I smoked my last smokie. She examined my breast with the lump in it since her and my Oncologist are going to get together and knock out two birds with one stone. lol. She measured my breasts and tried to estimate how much each one weighed. She then asked me the BIG question. What size do you want to be? I am a 42 DDD right now. My hubby and I discussed what size and we choose C. So I told her C and she agreed also. She thought a C was about the right size. I don't think I have been a C in over 10 years. We talked about recovery and those things. But we will really get into that when my pre-op appointment comes up. Insurance won't respond for 4-6 weeks she said and I have to stop smoking for 8 weeks before surgery. So I quit last night. Not the first time. Plus I will have to have a urine test done to confirm there is not nicotine or such in my system. I was told diabetics and smokers are a higher risk during surgery and more likely to have a hard healing process. Who wants that. SO I QUIT.  Now I am just waiting to hear from the PRMA office. It sounds like it will be a while so I have time to prepare and think. 


I am not a good writer, so hopefully you understand my blabbing. 

How it all went down

I drove to the hospital because my hubby was so tired because he came in from Eagle Pass and his days and nights were all messed up. We check into the hospital and waited to be admitted. They call us into a office and we are in there giving information for about 30 minutes, i happened to look behind me and my Grandma and Aunt and Uncle are standing there waving at me. That eased my nerves a bit knowing they were there and they were so chipper at 6am in the morning haha. So we finish up in the office and come out and greet my family who by the way drove in the previous day from Odem TX and Beeville TX, basically a 3 hour drive. so the lady who took our info was already having us follow her into the room where they have me get in my gown and start the IV and such. So I had to leave my family in the waiting room aside  from my hubby cause he could come with me in the back. Everything was happening to fast. So I'm in my own little area curtained off and there are other people awaiting surgery as well in their curtained off areas. I'm lying in my bed in my backless gown, (you know the one) and then it hits. I didn't want to do the surgery anymore. I was so gung ho about getting it done, I didn't realize how serious it was going to be. About 3 people come in asking all these questions and what not. My nurse comes and tries to start my IV but she punctures through my vein and then couldn't get into another one...(what a way to start the morning..especially a Monday morning and your having neck surgery) so she has another nurse come in and she has no problem getting my IV squared away. My anesthesiologist comes and gives me a talk to about my "margaritas" he's going to be giving me to get party going. The first one will make me relax and the 2nd one will knock me out cause I'm having to much to drink....or something like that. So he put in the first IV margarita and suuuuuure enough it hit me quick and I was relaxed! Oh and I needed it because I kept crying once I realized I didn't want the surgery anymore since I was so nervous. (How old am I again) A little before then my family was allowed to come in and say bye and good luck and stuff. So once the margarita was given to me they were ready to roll me into surgery. Like I said, it was happening so fast, I swear we weren't even in the hospital a hour and I was already going into surgery! I get rolled into this room which I am familiar with because I have been in a few surgery rooms. I hear Michael Jackson on the radio and I said a loud "Nothing like going out to some Michael Jackson." haha. They put me on the surgery table, which was nerve racking since I was so "drunk" and I had to move myself over to the table! No one gave me the count down to lights out cause I woke up having to use the bathroom really bad. I had a oxygen mask on and it was really hard to speak and speak loud at that. I kept telling my nurse I had to go to the restroom really bad. long story short they did a catheter. Some people hate those, but I love them. Makes things so much easier especially after surgery. I lay there for quite a while and for some reason I can't sleep but I can't keep my eyes open either since I still have the "margaritas" in me, so i just close my eyes and listen to the things going on around me. I think I was back in the room that I was in before surgery! Eventually they move me and we get somewhere in the hospital and I swear I heard my uncle say "eh, just leave her there." haha. I get into my room and try to visit with my family before they leave back to the coast. I'm super glad they came to visit me even though it wasn't as long as I would have hoped for. So to speed things up I have a reaction to the morphine or something because I threw up twice and almost fainted on the toilet. I don't know how other people are after surgery but I couldn't use the potty and had to have another catheter. After hours and hours all of a sudden like 6 people came into my room and said they were moving me to another part of the hospital, and I am still kind of out of it and am totally freaked out! They  moved in into a smaller room in the telemetry part of the hospital where they were going to monitor my heart closely. that freaked me out, I thought I was going to have a heart attack or something they way it sounded! I was so scared! And at this point I was able to use the restroom and every time I would get up to go walk to the restroom, someone would come in and see if I was ok because my heart rate would go up. No guys, just using the potty! later i had to go get a x ray of my chest to make sure everything was working well and something wasn't causing my heart rate to go up the way it was. But everything came back good on that, THANK GOD! My doctor had come in previous to all this i believe (I can't pin point since my hubby isn't here and i was still out of it) and he told me how the surgery went and he said it was more difficult then other surgeries he has done since my nodules on my thyroid were so large, AND he had to remove one of my 4 parathyroids because there were nodules on it! What a shocker. So i stay two nights instead of one because they were monitoring my heart rate. On the last day my doctor came in again to check on me and to remove the drain from my neck. It was painless. I was discharged that night and my hubby took me to my dad and step-moms house because they were going to be watching me since my hubby was going back to work in eagle pass. So I get to my dads and i start feeling tingling in my feet and legs,then it went up to my face and hands and arms. I was super freaked out. it wouldn't stop.  I could not sleep at all and when i would doze off i would string out of bed sweating to death. So my step-mom came in and said she would lay with me in bed to maybe make me more comfortable knowing she was there. nothing changed, the tingling was over whelming and scary and i dozed off again yet to me woken up with my nose gushing with blood. We got it to stop, and i told her I wanted to go to ER. It was 3am in the morning. So we went and they were great there. Took my blood and stuff and gave me some medicine to calm down and it would help me sleep. It worked like magic. everything was pretty much the same after that, no more tingles though! I had a hard time sleeping for about a week till I got home and slept in my own bed, I was still having HORRIBLE night sweats though. i didn't have to sleep elevated anymore, which was great because I always sleep on my stomach. And btw the entire time after surgery i never had a problem with my neck, it didn't bother me or anything. I was very very hoarse though, I still don't have my voice back completely  which sucks. My scar is healing good and its connected to my other scar that I have had since I was about 6 or 7 from a previous biopsy. I'm feeling normal again, I just every now and again get muscle cramps which is do to one of my medications I think. I have gone to the doctor for a check up and he removed my stitches and sent me to the blood lab to get labs done. When I was in the hospital I took 3 different meds I think...and even when I got out I took them, I have to take 14 pills a day now, but there are 4 different kinds. I was taking a heart rate pill but I don't have to take it anymore. I wonder when I can get off this calcium because the pill is the size of a toilet paper roll! I probably left out a lot of stuff. But I didn't want to write a novel! Any questions comment on here. 

My rock through the entire thing

yucky drain!

drain is gone!

At my dads

where the nurse punctured my vein

23 days later today!

blood work

Last week I went into St.Lukes and had MORE bloody blood work done. They took 4 vials. Tomorrow is the big day! I hope it goes well, now that its here I am more nervous. I will keep whomever reads this updated after surgery!

What's going on.

I know no one probably reads this, but I feel like writing about whats going on in my life. 

Two weeks ago I went to see my Gynocologist for a yearly check up (more like 4 year check up). Before my "exam" he felt on my neck and said my nodules felt really large and asked if i had ever noticed that my neck was really big, I said No, I thought it came along with gaining weight. So after the exam we meet in his office and he recommended my to a ENT in San Antonio named Thomas Nau to see about getting my neck checked for thyroid. He also wrote me up paper work to get my blood tested for thyroid problems and a few other things. So a few days later I went to the hospital here in Boerne and got my blood work done, and later went to my appointment in San Antonio so see the ENT. 

So here I am at the ENT doctors office getting my ears nose and throat checked and he checks my neck, and says he wants me to go get a sonogram done of my neck and we will go from there, so I walk over to the radiologist and get a sonogram done of my neck, man was that uncomfortable haha. 

The next week I call the ENT doctor to see if they have my results in because I am impatient. Sure enough they did and they want my husband and I to come in and have a chat with doctor Nau. Thankfully my husband Dwayne was able to come with me since his job is unpredictable and he is on call. So we were able to get a appointment the next day and went in and he basically explained what was going on with me to Dwayne. Dr Nau explained that my thyroid is working fine according to the blood work. But since the nodules on my thyroid are so large that he wouldn't be able to do a "fine needle aspiration biopsy" because since some of the nodules are over 4 cm and he didn't want to take the risk of doing it. So the next thing would be removing the entire thyroid. And hearing the family history of thyroid cancer and tumors he just wants to remove the whole thing.And he said if I do have thyroid cancer it would be the best cancer to have if you were to have cancer because it is slow moving. But the longer I wait to have surgery my neck would only get larger and evidently its big enough already. So now I have a surgery set for December 10th. How exciting, another scar on my neck! BLEH! I'm not really worried about it, I'm just worried about another scar on my flippin neck. So I will keep you updated how the surgery goes :D  

ALSO. I have no idea how common thyroid problems were till it up in my life. Now Brooke Burke is going to have surgery too because she has thyroid cancer, and it was interesting to hear her speak about it and hearing the same things that I have said and our doctors have said the same thing. 

brooke talks of her TC

Below are scars of thyroid removal. so not looking forward to this!

My neck right now.