POST BRCA2BOOBS Pathology! (post 21)

Today I got up early and my amazing husband offered me a cup of coffee.  Let me tell you, I am not a huge coffee drinker but I do drink one cup a day until it was forbidden by the surgical team.  I get it, caffeine makes you bleed.  So I was off the sauce for a week, and then today 1 week post op, it was again an option.  The sweet elixir tasted so good.  Just a side note here, I have been working around constipation from the 3 days of pain meds I took, since I took them.  Well people, not after that cup of coffee.  I feel better for sure!

I bathed with the help of my husband.  I am an independent strong (many say) woman.  I married a guy who did't really understand how strong and independent I was.  12 years of marriage have demonstrated, to my husband,  that I don't really like to rely on others and that I rather complete a task myself rather than ask for help.  Having to ask my husband to help me shave my armpits, wash my hair, among other things was hard for me.  The fact that he self proclaimed he didn't know what he was doing, did not stop this amazing man from jumping right in.  He has been consistently supportive throughout this whole process,  He is right there if I need something, anything reminding me always not to do that myself.  Yesterday I had to ask the neighbor to open the jelly because I literally have no strength in my arms.  I am helpless without the people around me and the entire experience has been quite humbling.  

Today I put on nicer clothes than sweats and one of his big t-shirts, he combed my hair and applied my dry shampoo, and patiently waited for me to apply a little make-up.  He was patient as I shuffled to the car in a shirt that I prayed concealed my horrific drains, he helped me get into the car, and cautiously drove me out of town to see the Breast Guy.  When we got there I didn't focus on the word oncology as much as I had in the past, in fact I barely noticed it.  I waited for a few minutes and took note of the number of women in his waiting room.  So many women there to see the oncologist.  Today Julia Louis Dryfus announced she had breast cancer,  She said 1 in 8 women will get it.  1 in 8.  In my family there are 5 sister including me and my mom.  3 of us had/have cancer, and I am BRCA2 +.  This is affecting so many women.  

I got called back to the room and he said he had the pathology.  I asked him how he was and he said, "I,m alive, and so are you".  He said that pathology reported there were two different types of breast pre-cancer growing in both breasts.  he said unbelievable and that he though I had absolutely made the right decision.  He said this would have been cancer it was just a matter of when.  This journey of BRCA2 of mine is far from over but today, I was reminded that those drain tubes aren't so bad after all.  They are a symbol of the sacrifice I made for my family, what Angelina Jolie did for women, and why it is essential to advocate for your self regardless of your health care,