Breathe In, Breathe Out....repeat (a lot).

Today is a good day.

Finally a chance to catch up on what's been happening in the wonderful world of breast cancer. First and foremost, today is a day that finds us enjoying the simple things in life.

Like breathing.

Yep, good ol' fashioned ventilating.

Breathing in, breathing out and not having to fight to get some air in the lungs. It's amazing how compressed you feel when you're waiting for the Doctors to tell you that the operation is over, that the cancer has been removed and that your loved one is recovering. It is difficult to describe how much pressure you feel while you're waiting for a glimmer of hope that this can be beaten. I spent 40 years waiting to find the right person to be in my life and I was completely overwhelmed with the thought of losing her barely 4 years into our relationship. I have no concept of how people feel that have been together for 45 years when cancer decides to interrupt the plan. I was lost, alone and absolutely terrified. I had friends and family supporting from all sides and I felt so incredibly alone that I can't describe the feeling. Thank you, one and all, for all your emails, phone calls and support.

So here's the catch up in a nutshell. (Ketchup in a nutshell, let it go....). November 12th, 2007 was the second operation by Dr. Parnell. This one removed excess tissue in Leslie's left breast that indicated positive for cancer. The operation is called a lumpectomy and is done to make sure that there is no cancer remaining in the breast surrounding the original tissue removal. (You remember, the one that started this whole ordeal back on October 25th.) The amount of tissue removed was roughly the volume of 2 golf balls. The original lump was the rough size of a golf ball. Simple math lets us calculate that there are now 3 golf balls worth of tissue gone from Leslie's left breast.

Let that sink in.

For anyone looking at your fingers and counting I will write very slowly for the remainder of this entry. Three golf balls worth of my wife are not where they belong and this is just the beginning.

The new tissue was sampled for cancer by the pathologist and was found to be negative. For those of you that have been through this and heard that word, you know that it is the absolute greatest word in the English language.

During the operation they also inserted the medi-port for the chemotherapy that will begin in roughly 4 weeks. So far that has been the source of the greatest discomfort from the operation. The medi-port is attached to a vein in Leslie's neck and is inserted under the skin in the neck and chest. Very clever but, at this point, annoying and painful in its' own right.

The final segment of the surgery was the lymph node removal and biopsy. As I mentioned, it was found negative for cancer. That is very exciting news since it means that the cancer didn't make it's way into the lymph system. Since it was contained in the breast then the chemo and radiation can be focused at the source. Bob will die! The incision made by Dr. Parnell to obtain the sentinel node is right in Leslie's arm pit. Very painful place to have a cut and it sure limits the amount of movement that she has right now.

Leslie went to work today and made it till around 11am. She got very flushed and tired and came home early. I don't think anyone is begrudging her leaving. The people she works with have been very supportive and understanding and that makes a tremendous difference in the recovery process.

Ok, that's enough for one day. I'll fill in some details over the next couple days. Thanks for reading.

Bye bob!