Thursday, June 19, 2014

We could use a good dose of boring around here

When my parents were visiting in May we talked about how our family could really use a boring year.  We have had anything but boring for the past four years.  We have had our share of fun and exciting things like my sister's wedding in Senegal and our trip around the world in 2010 and the birth of our niece Abigail in 2012 and of course the triplets last October!  But we have also had plenty of sadness as well as you know.  In 2012 my mom and I both found out that we have a nasty genetic cancer syndrome called Lynch Syndrome. Then in April of 2013 my mom was diagnosed with the second cancer of her life and had to have a kidney removed as a result.  And of course this April we suffered the tragic loss of my little brother Matt.  And in comparison to all of those things, this current issue is very minor and hardly seems worth making a fuss about except that we have three babies so everything becomes a much bigger deal.  So what's the next?! Well tomorrow, I am having a total hysterectomy.

This surgery is a good thing, because it virtually eliminates my risk of getting endometrial or ovarian cancer.  My risk without the surgery is something like 80% so I will like my odds a lot better after tomorrow.  I'm happy that the surgery is laproscopic and am hoping for a fairly quick recovery.  The best case scenario recovery is probably two weeks or so. It will be hard to not be able to be as actively involved in taking care of our little trio, but thankfully my mom arrived today and will be here for two weeks to help. On the plus side, I am looking forward to being home with the babies for a while! I've been back to working full time for the past month or so and it feels like too much. I felt like I had much better balance when I was working about 25hrs a week so we are going to look at the budget and see if there's a way to make that happen moving forward. Michelle has had a hard time finding enough time to get her work done with me working so much so we just need to find the balance point that works for us.

Besides the usual nerves related to surgery I'm feeling a little anxious about the aftermath of this procedure and dealing with hormone stuff. I'm opting to do hormone replacement therapy but really don't know a lot about it other than that it seems like a lot if people have trouble finding the just right levels and type of delivery (patch, pill, etc) that works for them. And I'm a little nervous about potential side effects, but I guess we'll deal with those things as they come. I was feeling a little sad and worried about not being able to breastfeed after the surgery, but am hopeful that I will be able to continue based on some things I've read.

So, wish us all luck tomorrow and in the coming weeks. We have to be at the hospital at 5:45 tomorrow morning so my mom and Hope will be on baby duty starting with the morning wake up feeding routine!  Hopefully, since my surgery is so early, I will be able to come home tomorrow late afternoon/evening.  I'm hoping to make it home before bedtime tomorrow so I can kiss those little munchkins good night.  I'm sure going to miss these little cuties tomorrow!
   

2 comments:

  1. Hope all goes well with your surgery. We are missing your mother here but it is so good that she can support you!
    Aloha, Kate

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  2. I hope everything goes as smoothly as possible, Mari!

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