Its been too long, or so I've been told. I have had many requests to continue this blog, and so, I am succumbing to the pressure :-)
There have been several things happening in Julie's recovery process, and all are going well, praise the Lord. On Friday the 20th of January, Julie went in for reconstructive surgery - the purpose was to remove the expanders that were put in immediately after her mastectomy, and replace them with normal, gel implants.
The surgery went well, although its clear that Julie's body is working hard at healing itself. The plastic surgeon had a bit of difficulty removing the old expanders as her body had started to "absorb" the foreign material and was adhering to the expanders. He had to detach almost 80% of her pectoral muscles to get the old ones out and the new ones in, but at the end of the day, it went very well and she is on the road to recovery. (Yes, he reattached them.)
It was very hard on me because I was not at the surgery - I was traveling for work. This was the first thing that we have not done together. Thankfully her mom, Katy, came to stay with the girls for about 10 days and was an enormous help.
So, lets talk about the important stuff: hair. Much to her joy, Julie's hair is starting to grow back — slowly, but growing nonetheless. Its actually starting to get soft and soon her head will no longer be cold! Its a bit bitter sweet for me because she is so beautiful right now, I don't want anything to change.
I've had a lot of questions lately about her (and the family's) state of mind. I would sum those emotions up as relieved and encouraged. We are very grateful for God's provision and his strength in getting Julie through 3 surgeries, 6 months of chemo and countless side effects. Julie is happy and excited about her recovery and getting back to some normalcy in life. We have felt strengthened by the countless prayers and support of friends, family, (and complete strangers) and are looking forward to living life to the fullest going forward.
We are trying to figure out what to do for Spring break - we'd like to get away with just the 4 of us for a celebration and a time to catch our collective breaths and talk about what the next year holds for us as a family. There are other big changes on the horizon, with Sarah soon heading off to college and Hannah becoming a teenager later this year...
From here, there will be visits to the oncologist every three months for blood tests and exams. Julie has started endocrine therapy (tamoxifen) and starting Pilates, and of course, closely watching her diet. There are also other changes regarding cosmetics and other environmental things that she will be researching and making changes to in order to minimize any potential chance of recurrence.
Thank you all, again, for your prayers and support. And look for more waxing eloquent in future posts!
