What a Week!

As I was typing the title for this post, I realized that I'm exactly 4 months post-op today! Kinda weird how it snuck up on me and with the roller coaster week I've had it is probably fitting.

So, this morning I weighed 199.8. 1998 might have been the last year my weight started with a "1". So there ya go. Seriously though, what a moment. What a surreal moment actually. I'm still wondering if I misread it.

This time last week I had lost just over 60 pounds. Great milestone to hit ... and my approximate half way mark of excess weight to lose. Crazy, right? Crazy that I had that much to lose and crazy that I've lost that much already!

This time on Wednesday, I took my wedding rings off because they kept slipping off and I was afraid I would lose them.

This time on Wednesday I was dealing with some reality about a new health situation that I'm not happy with. More about that in a minute.

I saw the nutritionist yesterday and she was very pleased and very encouraging about my progress so far. Good feeling leaving there with a gold star!

I saw my surgeon on Wednesday afternoon for a post-op check up and another little issue. He was very pleased with the 62 pounds I had lost so far. He was very pleased with my record keeping of my protein intake, water intake, blood pressure, and blood sugar. I'm a stellar, exemplary patient.

The other issue, the rain on my parade .. I found a lump in my breast back in November. I couldn't tell if it was the same one that's been raining on my parade since 2010 or a different one. It felt different. So I got in to see my GP and she added a diagnostic element to my annual mammogram I had in December.

The radiologist ordered an ultrasound that was done while I was there for my mammogram. After an exam and an extensive session of ultrasound the radiologist suggested that I see a surgeon and have a surgical biopsy done. So, rather than a needle biopsy they will actually remove the whole mass and send all of it for pathology. (This area was biopsied with a needle back in 2010 and the results were benign.)

So why surgery now? Because the darn thing looks a little different on the underside now. It has fingers or branches. The radiologist called it funny but not funny like cancer, just funny. My surgeon called it weird but not weird like cancer, just weird. The report called it suspicious but not likely malignant. We'll go with funny and weird for our purposes here.

So at my post-op appointment (for my gastric bypass) I got to talk about my "mass". My surgeon agreed with the radiologist. He normally would want a needle biopsy but because of the shape and weirdness of this he's afraid a needle would sample the top part but maybe not get the bottom part. And if the bottom part is cancer they would completely miss it. He wants it out. Know what that means? Yeah, me wants it out too.

My mom, her sister, and their aunt have all been hit by breast cancer. So you have to know that it has always been in the back of mind. I've been vigilant about mammograms since I was 35. I've been moderately vigilant about my self exams. I've had a biopsy and multiple diagnostic mammograms and multiple ultrasounds. When I found this lump it was the norm. Let's get it checked out and looked at and move on. And I'm not one to worry until I have something to worry about. I'm either a woman of great faith or excellent at denial. You decide. Ha. Perhaps a little of both?

So anyway, as aggravated as I am and as inconvenient as it will be, I'm having this out-patient surgery next Thursday, 1/21. I guess they will tell me that day how quick the pathology report will be back. I am cautiously optimistic. I'm not worried. My mother does enough of that for all of us. (Love you Mudder.) Should be an easy and quick recovery.

That same day, after the appointment with the surgeon, Trinity walks in and hands me a couple of shirts she's decided are too big. (She went through a phase of wearing looser shirts.) Thought that might soon fit me. Try then. They fit me then. How FREAKING AWESOME IS THAT?

So even though I've got a little desert of testing coming up, overall this has been a terrific-ly wonderful week. I'm such a blessed girl ... 

He's been drawing me close. I've felt it. He's shielding me. The song "A Shield About Me" has been on repeat for me the last couple of days...

Thou oh Lord, are a shield about me

You're my glory

You're the lifter of my head.

from:

"You oh Lord are a shield about me, 

You bestow glory on me and you lift up my head."

- Psalm 3:3

He continues to increase and I continue to decrease. In many, many ways.

Be blessed and be blessings y'all!