On Thursday I had my follow-up with the plastic surgeon. It was super fast! Everything has been healing up nicely, and I told him I was thinking about how I forgot to take any pain medicine that day as I was walking in for the appointment. (I ended up taking some later, but I haven’t had any now for almost 24 hours!) He told me I could start peeling off the remaining tape over the incisions which I was so happy about because it was getting very itchy! He also said that I will have one last follow-up appointment with him in 4-6 weeks and that would be it. The surgery waiver mentioned that the silicone implants may need to be replaced in 10 years, so I asked about that. He said only if they give me trouble, and the brand he used for me has the least amount of trouble on the market right now. That’s comforting news!

Yesterday I had another echocardiogram to check my heart. Dr. Corum (my oncologist) wanted me to get it checked before my next antibody infusion on Monday. Herceptin is one of the antibodies I’m getting that can potentially cause heart problems, so they want to check it every six months or so. The tech was really chatty and fun – one of those people with a big personality and even bigger heart! She was very interested in the Soap Challenge Club. She got emotional when I told her about the secret challenge that the members did for me in May when I was having my mastectomies. Unofficially, she told me that my heart function looks fine as well – hooray!

Last night Kent and I finally got around to watching the movie Living Proof. We purchased it about a month ago from the recommendations in my breast cancer support group on Facebook. It’s about the doctor who developed Herceptin, and the process as well as the obstacles he faced to bring it to the market back in the late 1990’s. Truly remarkable, yet heart-wrenching to think about how different my outcome would have been without this treatment. Even though they don’t mention God in the movie, it seemed pretty evident to me that His fingerprints were all over it. I am so grateful every day for all He has brought me through!! He loves us all individually so well!!