I Have Returned..Hello Again!

I don't know how much I'll blog but I've been FB liked into returning. Nothing like positive enforcement bullying. I haven't paid much attention to what's been going on with Steem. I got pretty busy last summer with my business of selling my jewelry & stone online & then by end of September I started having chronic pain issues which landed me in the ER.

Sterling silver wire wrapped Celestite Crystal.

I had initially been schefuled a procedure beginning Oct to have an ablation procedure of my uterus to end pain & other female problems. I had postponed it because i had received housing voucher approval & was trying to move. The ER visit brought everything to a screaming hault. My body & health needed to be put first.

The housing agency allowed me to stay where I was at, with roommate, due to my upcoming surgery. My surgery was rescheduled for Nov. 27th. It was the soonest they coukd get me in. Due to the pain, I had decided to ask for a hysterectomy. Get rid of the root of my constant pain & problems once & for all.

By this time, everything with my jewelry business had come to a screeching hault. I also, thanks to a local aggressive dentist, now had chronic severe facial pain on a daily basis for which no answers as to cause could be given. For this i was referred to a neurologist who couldn't get me in until beginning of Nov.

I existed daily with the help of high doses of ibuprofen, which i would have to give up a week before surgery & replace with Tramadol.

Thanksgiving arrived with me starting with Tramadol which really didn't work n turned out I was allergic too, & changing to low dose Oxy. Don't worry. I didn't become addicted.

Generally speaking i don't like taking narcotics because for me they are depressive & pretty much knock me out. The low dose of Oxy turned out to be fine tho, & it even managed to do a thorough job of relieving my severe facial pain. (The visit to the neurologist pretty much determined my problem was severe TMJ).

Surgery went from being a minor to a major with them having to open me up -sliced practically hip to hip- in order to remove what needed taking out. Complications further ensued. Recovery was slow. I woukd wind up v8siting the ER sooo much during this time, thst the EE staff came to know me on a first name basis.

On my last ER visit, I was admitted & placed on a floor where I was semi isolated from gen pop. I had a wound in the surgical area & was chronically leaking a fluid. There was a possibility of me being contagious- only slight.

It was determined a had a seroma & a drain was placed with a catheter inserted into the seroma thru my abdomen to increase & encourage draining.

Meanwhile, I was preparing mentally for an upcoming biopsy that was scheduled on a breast lump i had found-found literally the week before surgery!

Diagnostic mammogram & ultrasound had been inconclusive. My biopsy was scheduled Jan. 2. Starting the NY off with a bang! I was extremely stressed over the biopsy: concerned mostly about pain as the breast area wasn't the place that takes needles easily IMO.

The whole ordeal took about half an hour. Four samples were taken. Just over 24 hours later, I was in my Drs office where I was given the news that my lump contained cancer cells.

Initial reaction to my new diagnosis was shock n fear. I cried.

The official was infusive duct carcinoma.

As it turns out, it's one of the most common of breast cancers.

Thanks to the fluid drain, & Drs orders that i basically couldn't do anything, most of my time has been spent running to Drs appts, lying on the couch turning into a TV potato, J coloring shells. Yes. You've heard that right. Coloring sea shells.

Shells painted by me!

I found the idea on Pinterest & am now officially obsessed.

As of right now, things have improved drastically with the seroma & they will be removing the drain tomorrow. I will also know more about the cancer lump & what the next step will be.

That's pretty much it in a nutshell! Will update as time permits!

LU ANNE

*all photos are property of me