I am now two weeks post-op. Recovery is going well, albeit slower than I had anticipated. I continue to experience fatigue, lymphedema, and intermittent pain, but I am making progress, one day at a time.
On the brighter side, all my scans have finally come back clear! And in an unexpected, almost unbelievable turn of events, I learned that I had been misdiagnosed. A tumor board at a second-opinion cancer center confirmed that I did not, in fact, have the specific type of cancer I had been receiving treatment for. The original diagnosis carried a higher risk of recurrence than my newly confirmed diagnosis, and the treatment plan moving forward should be considerably easier to tolerate.
I couldn’t believe the news. Truthfully, I still can’t.
I don’t entirely understand how this happened, and perhaps I never will. But I’ve decided that I don’t need to understand everything in order to accept something good. For once, I can simply receive the news with gratitude and allow myself to feel hopeful about what lies ahead.
The thoughts, prayers, positive energy, and good vibes sent my way seem to have been answered in the most wonderful way.
For now, my focus remains on healing. I still have a surgical drain in place to collect fluid from the incision site. I empty it three times a day and carefully track the output, looking forward to the day when the fluid decreases enough for the drain to be removed.
This is where I find myself today… healing, regaining my strength, and slowly shifting my attention from surviving the past year to envisioning the years ahead.
There is still much recovery to be done, and undoubtedly more challenges to navigate. But for the first time in a long while, the future feels less uncertain and far more promising.
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