3 Month Update

I have had several people ask me when I was going to post again. Three months have passed since the last time I posted an update. As you can see my hair is starting to come in better. It is very gray so I colored it as soon as I could. The bangs are still very short so I keep them pulled back so you can't see them. Some people said their hair came in curly. Mine is still straight. It looks a little curly in the picture but it is just scrunched up with hair gel. My energy is slowly getting better. I still have to take a nap once or twice a week. I started taking the Tamoxifen, estrogen blocking medicine, at the end of December. The main side effect I am having is hot flashes. They aren't fun but they aren't too bad. I have also been having some additional problems sleeping.

At the end of December I saw my OBGYN that found my cancer. I was excited to see him and thank him for basically saving my life. I have also had a check up with my Radiation Oncologist, Dr. Harris. Everything looks good.

A big part of why I haven't written anything is because I have been very busy with a project I decided to do. I have had several people ask me advice about how to help someone that they know who has breast cancer. There is so much to tell them that it is impossible to remember everything so I decided to type up a "tip list." I thought it would end up being about 5 to 10 pages long, currently it is 50 pages and isn't finished yet. I keep thinking of more things that need to be added. If anyone knows of someone who is currently fighting breast cancer and would like a copy of my tips of what helped me, email me at candytatton@yahoo.com, and I will send it to you. I also took a list of "questions to ask your doctor" that someone gave me and added a few more to the list. This list really helped me to know what to ask when I met with a new type of doctor for my cancer.

I have also tentatively scheduled my reconstruction surgery for July 21st in Charleston, South Carolina. I wanted to do it in May but my surgeon said that that is too soon after radiation. She is going to be in Chicago in June and the first two weeks of July. I have an appointment here in Utah with her in April to get things finalized before surgery. Hopefully by then we will have the approval from the insurance company. Rikers Hospital where I will have the surgery is already covered in-network with our insurance. We just need to make sure that they will cover Dr. Massey as in-network also. I have to go to South Carolina which is Dr. Massey's primary location, for the first surgery because the I-Gap procedure is more complex than a DIEP procedure and a bilateral requires two surgeons operating simultaneously. David and I will be in South Carolina for approximately 10 days. I was hoping to do the second surgery here in Utah, but Alta View Hospital where she operates in Utah, will not take my insurance at all, so I will have to go to South Carolina for that surgery also. That surgery is scheduled for some time in October. I am working with a few organizations to help pay for the airfare and a place to stay. I hope everything works out as planned.