First of all Bonnie had an ultrasound last week (it's all a blur maybe it was the week before that) and they were looking for the tumor in anticipation of her surgery (yup that was today but more on that later!). The ultrasound technician at Mercy was very nice and as she looked and looked she was unable to find any kind of tumor. Finally after several minutes she was able to locate the clip* but no tumor around it. We were able to look at the ultrasound from August with the big old tumor and then the same area again with NO tumor. How cool is that?? As nasty and yucky (yes that is a technical term) as the chemo was it seemed to have done the job and really gave a heave ho to that tumor.
After the ultrasound we went off to see the breast surgeon, Dr. Molin who explained that the surgery would be very minor and she would just take out the clip and some surrounding cells and then just a few lymph nodes. Now remember when Bonnie saw the first breast surgeon she assured Bonnie she would definitely have to have a mastectomy so she really has come a long way in this roller coaster ride.
With the good news about the tumor Bonnie has had a couple of good weeks and has been very busy getting the new H.B. Cafe 2 ready to open. The Cafe is located at the new Goodall Health/Quest Fitness facility and opened last Monday, it is open Monday through Friday from 7am to 2pm. It is a very nice Cafe and seems to be another excellent business for Bonnie. Back in October Bonnie was looking to hire someone to manage the Cafe and I was looking for a job so she hired me to do the job. Now we plan all the doctor appointments in the afternoon so I can still go with her to all of those. Also we planned the surgery for today because the Cafe is closed New Year's Day and then the weekend so I will be around for a couple of days to help around here while she recovers.
With all this talk about the surgery I should tell you again that it was today and went without a hitch. Everyone was so kind and helpful which made it even better for Bonnie. The surgeon made two small incisions, one for the breast tissue (is this too much information??) and the other for the 4 lymph nodes they took out. She had very little pain and she will take Vicodin every 4 hours until tomorrow and hopefully by then she will be ready to just take extra strength Tylenol and Advil. For now she is sleeping in the reclining couch and has her two dogs sleeping right on her, I will wake her in a few hours to give her more Vicodin just to keep ahead of the pain as was suggested by the nurse.
Presurgery
So as 2009 comes to a close Bonnie has made great progress in stomping out the cancer in her body. She is a real fighter as you all know and has been a champ through all the treatments. She will still have to have radiation but that will not begin until early February so I am looking forward to her healing from the surgery and then feeling pretty good for a few weeks before the next phase.
That's all for now.
Happy New Year!
Helen
*The clip was put in back in August, it is the size of a rice grain and inserted in the middle of the tumor so later they can find where the tumor is or was.
