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Wednesday 5 June 2013

Update...Update....Update....lots of fun stuff going on.

Wow, it has been almost a month since I wrote my last post on this blog.  I think in a way that is very good news, it means that I am feeling good and nothing bad or unusual is happening with my post surgical recovery and on going chemotherapy.

However, in the last week I've heard from more than a dozen people asking why I haven't written, and for an update, so in all fairness I owe it to you my loyal followers to let you know what has been going on.  Plus writing always makes me feel good.  Sooo....... here goes..... enjoy!


As of the last blog, I was still recovering from Surgery and certainly not very happy about how long it was taking to feel normal again.  I can't say I've come much further in that journey.  My abdominal wound has now healed into a dark red line that runs around the entire front of my body.  The wound itself no longer hurts, but the scar tissue has become stuck to the fascia underneath so I am still unable to stand fully erect.  I have been receiving massage and physio in the area to try and increase the stretch and loosen the skin.

As for my breast, underarm and right arm, that is a different story.  My arm is still numb until just below the elbow and it aches all the time.  I have very limited movement with my right arm and almost zero strength there.  Although I have been doing both physio and massage for three weeks now I still cannot seem to make any serious headway.  Every time I move my arm past about the 80 degree mark I feel the tissue tearing underneath my armpit.  It is so frustrating.  The breast has healed relatively well however the top part of the incision is not sitting properly so this will be fixed in the next surgery.  Yes, I have to have a second surgery on the breast area.  I am not sure when yet, possibly near the end of the year.  The reason for this is to match up my new breast to my existing breast and to add a nipple.  How odd that they can actually add nipples and apparently they look pretty darn real. 

I am still undergoing chemotherapy every three weeks and will continue to do so until the end of August.  The Herceptin is easy for me to tolerate and so far I haven't experienced any serious heart damage.  My next Echo is tomorrow afternoon so I'll know more then. 

Mostly my days of late have been filled with promoting my book and working on the "Cancer Warrior" campaign.   I have just come home from a multi-city book tour in Northern BC which was a terrific success.  Each venue drew a progressively larger audience and my presentation became more fluid as I went along.  

The only area where I am having a bit of a challenge is in raising funds and awareness for the "Cancer Warrior" campaign.  We are only at 14% of our goal with less than 30 days to go.  It would be so disappointing to not reach our goal as so many people have put a lot of work into creating the Warrior Bags and content for the "Cancer Warrior Handbook".  If you haven't had a chance to see what it is all about and see if you can help, please take a minute to look now by clicking here.  

Oh and to everyone who is in Squamish, I hope to see you at the book signing tomorrow at 6:30PM at the Public Library.

On a totally unrelated subject I'd like share with you some of the fun photographs from my trip up North.
  

 



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