pleased to meet you, hope you guessed my name, oh yeah

Portia, aka Portia the Healer, has been successfully installed as my wing woman. No punctured lungs, or any other scary potential side effects. Just a little (ok big) bump where she's sticking out to make her presence known. Apparently I don't have enough fat on my chest to conceal her... #humblebrag. To that I say, I am not ashamed of my Portia. She is here to help! Feel free to stare.

pre op smiles

meet portia. and some extra glue.

this is what she looks like underneath

and this is how she connects to my blood vessel.

This surgery was a lot harder on me than the lumpectomy. A lot more pain. Enough to where I woke up in the night and couldn't get back to sleep, so I went into the living room and read for a few hours. I've had a few people give me books, and I have loved them so far. The one I'm on right now was sent to me by my mama. It's called, "The Middle Place" by Kelly Corrigan.

Kelly was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 36. She has two young daughters, a husband, two older brothers, and her parents all of whom wish they could protect her from the cancer. "The Middle Place" refers to that time in early adulthood where you are stuck in between being responsible for your own family, and still feeling like you really NEED your parents to help you get through the tough stuff. The chapter where she told her parents her news hit very close to home.

I have had this book two days now, and I'm already halfway through. It's that good. Well, that and I had a few bonus hours of reading time thanks to my new friend Portia.

So - treatment updates. We have a chemo start date. If everything goes according to plan, we will be starting June 10th which is a Tuesday. After that we will be switching to Friday's, every two weeks. If we have no set backs with low white blood cell counts, then I will hopefully have my last chemo on September 19th. We are hoping for 8 rounds total, plus I think we might have to do a little bit of radiation for a lymph node that has been compromised. At the end of those 8 rounds we will do some scans and such to be sure we have gotten everything. If not we will tack on some more chemo with a newer drug that is a little harder on your system. Please pray that the extra chemo won't be necessary!

I am feeling a lot better about things now that we have a plan of action! I know that chemo will be completely horrible, but I'm ready to face it knowing that it's getting rid of the cancer. 12 days til it's go time.

Love y'all,
Jess