Cancer has faded into the background, and work has come crashing into the foreground. I started this blog partly as a communication tool, but more so as an outlet for me; a way to keep a record of my thoughts while I dealt with all this. So it’s a good thing – a GREAT thing – that this blog has languished, and I make no apology.

As you can imagine, I have an enormous backlog of things I could be writing about. Hair, for one; there is a LOT to write about on that topic! And I’ve come a long way with managing my lymphedema. It’s taken a lot of acceptance and understanding of what it’s like to have a chronic lifelong condition; and some practical day-to-day experience to figure out what works for me.

Since I never intended for this blog to fade out the way it has, I hope to write posts on all those things and more, ultimately concluding the blog more intentionally by turning it into a fundraising page (for which I have several ideas). But today, the reason I’m blogging is because I wanted to mark the END OF AN ERA (duh duh daaaaah)!!

At some point early on in this whole thing, shortly after I learned that I’d need chemo, I figured out that I’d most likely be done with all this shit by Christmas 2017. Well, I’m thrilled to announce that here we are: today I had my last reconstructive surgery! There have been other milestones along the way with my cancer experience that have seemed more obviously milestone-y (certificate-worthy, even!) – the mastectomy itself; the last chemo infusion; the last radiation session. But this truly is my last major task on the breast cancer to-do list, and I’m thrilled to have it done.

As significant as this milestone is, as evidence of how much cancer-related bullshit has faded into the background for me, I quite honestly forgot to tell almost everyone about my surgery today. Apologies for that, and another reason that I’m writing all this down now.

Everything went fine today. I’m confined to bed for now since for some reason this surgery has been very oozy, and I’ve got the bed covered in chucks that I miraculously saved from my post-partum and potty training days. I guess there’s a down side to no drains.

Tomorrow I will post more details, I promise.