Kellie's June Update

Tomorrow will be 3 weeks from my hysterectomy. This surgery is the result (after 2 ultrasounds, numerous Dr. visits, a second opinion, etc…) of the stubborn cyst that was discovered in my left ovary this past January. I’m very happy to report that the biopsy on everything that was removed (and they pretty much removed it all) was clean, nothing was abnormal. Yeah! But, the recovery from this surgery has been the most difficult yet.

I think my expectations regarding the recovery timeline were unrealistic. I felt that since I had already experienced similar procedures (2 C-sections) and was always ahead of recovery schedule for my other surgeries, that this one wasn’t really going to take the 4-6 weeks I was told that it would. Now, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was closer to 6-8 weeks or more. In addition to the unrealistic expectations, I think I hit my threshold as far as recovery goes. I’m just tired of recovering, plain and simple. Last week I was getting really frustrated, not down or depressed, more angry and bitter. I needed gentle reminders from my husband, my mom, and a few friends that it had only been two weeks and in their eyes, I was doing great! Then Clint and I compared notes and found that even though I felt the last two weeks went by like two months, he felt like they passed by in a only a few days. So, after that I tried a little harder to be patient with myself.

I think there was another factor that also contributed to the inconsistent, two-steps-forward-one-step-back recovery that I’ve been having, and that’s my heart. Around the time of my last update, I was having different procedures done to figure out what was causing my heart palpitations. I experienced “fluttering” in my heart last summer and found out that it was a side effect of the chemo treatments and shortly after chemo was over they went away. But at the end of last year, I would notice a heart flutter every once in awhile, not several times a day, or even daily, but I did notice them. After the first of the year I began to notice them much more and by the time I saw a cardiologist in May, it was happening several times a day.

So, after and EKG, wearing a Holter monitor, having blood drawn, and an ECHO it was determined that I have a low EF ratio, which is referring to the squeeze of my heart and how much blood remains in the left ventricle after it pumps out to the aorta. To put it as simply as I can, a normal EF ratio (ejection fraction) is 55-70 percent, which means 55-70 percent of the blood is pumped out of the left ventricle. I’m pumping 45-50 percent out. They believe this heart “damage” to be a result of the chemo treatments. I was aware at the time that there could possibly be damage to my heart, but at the time it seemed minor compared to the thought of dying from cancer.

I was put on a medication about a week before surgery. One of the side effects of this medication is that it can lower blood pressure and heart rate. I already have very low blood pressure, in the week after surgery I was experiencing a lot of dizziness. Then my already low dose was reduced to less than half, and that seems to be working for me. It just wasn’t pleasant to have to deal with that on top of the recovery I was having.

Fortunately and finally, I hit a turning point three days ago. Since last Sunday evening, I have felt consistently well and have also been feeling consistently better. Last night was the first night in almost three weeks that I was able to sleep solidly and soundly through the whole night. I have also felt good enough to take walks around the neighborhood each morning. I will soon be off driving restriction and the first place I plan to drive is to Orem, to visit the best hair dresser ever, my husband’s aunt Deneal. I’m excited to see what she does with my hair, which is still growing out but seems unruly and difficult to style. Though yesterday I did style it for the first time in almost 3 weeks, and it looked good.

The boys and I have a lot of Dr. appointments coming up in the next few weeks, follow-ups, check ups, etc… I hope that they find everything to be status quo and I have nothing worrisome to report in later updates. Of course, I would like to leave you with a reminder to do those self-breast exams as well as scheduling for the other screenings you need for your age. There has been a lot in the news lately about how life expectancy has gone up and cancer numbers are actually down. Let’s do all we can to keep that trend going!