Tuesday's Follow-up Appointment

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm not sure about you but, this week feels like a whirlwind!  I wanted to get you all caught-up with what happened at my follow-up appointment on Tuesday in San Francisco but, I haven't had time until today!

On Tuesday, I had two Doctors appointments.  One, with my Chiropractor (sleeping on my back, instead of my side has really tweaked it).  The second appointment was a follow-up appointment with my Surgeon, Dr. O'Donnell.

My appointment time was at 3:30pm in San Fran.  In anticipation of Thanksgiving/Bay Area traffic, we left the house around noon to ensure we would arrive on time if not early.

I'm really getting to like the drive into the city and it seems to fly by.  We ended up getting there 1-hour before my appointment time!  Remember: Dr. O'Donnell is very busy and will not see a patient if they are late at all - We have to be early.  It has become routine to arrive early and read my kindle for a bit.

Like always, the first person I see is the nurse, she takes my vitals and then puts me into a patient room.  Then, the resident comes in.  This is the same resident that I have always seen at Dr. O'Donnell's office.  He is also responsible for sewing me up after the operation, and removing my drainage tube too.  I gave him the update on how my leg is doing.  I told him that I'm not complaining I just want him to know everything so that he can tell me if this is normal or not.

• I have dense numbness around my incision, around my knee, and about 3 inches down my leg.
• The incision hurts.
• My nerve is pissed off, and when I touch my leg (where it's not numb), it hurts - it feels like electricity!
• My ankle is very swollen, not rolled - apparently just swollen from the surgery!!
• My arch of my foot feels like needles.
• My right leg is really swollen and its bigger than my left leg.
• I'm unable to straighten out my right leg fully or put much weight on it.

The resident reminded me that I had a very big operation.  That my incision is 8-inches long and it will take a while to be back to normal.  He told me that since I still have feeling in my right foot, that the nerve appeared to be working (excellent)!  However, that it could take up to a year for the nerve pain to subside.  He removed the gauze and the Tagaderm and inspected the incision.  He told me that my outer skin appears to be healed.  He told me that I can leave the gauze up and I CAN TAKE a shower now!!!!!!  So exciting!

(Dr. O'Donnell typing notes into my file)

Then, it was Dr. O'Donnell's turn!  He came into the room and seemed really happy to see us.  I immediately asked him how the surgery went for him.  Dr O'Donnell told me that the surgery went well.  He told me that they had a hard time finding the tumor at first.  He told me that the tumor was wedged in between my muscles and he had to search around using a 'hot knife'.  He told me that the tumor was resting ON my nerve.  He told me that in most cases he would have removed the nerve all together.  However, my tumor was not 'self-contained' as they originally thought.  However, it was compartmentalized in a specific area so he felt comfortable leaving the nerve in.

I asked him if I said anything funny while I was out, during surgery.  He laughed, looked down, while his face turned red, and told me no, that I didn't say anything!!  lol

Nate asked about the tumor board last Friday.  He asked what the conversation was. Dr. O'Donnell told us that all of the doctors agreed that the tumor was low grade due to a couple of factors:

1. There were no round cells in the tumor
2. There were no dead cells in the tumor
3. The cells had not metastasized

Dr. O'Donnell then told me that because the 'sack' that the tumor was is was so very thin, that the margins came back positive (this is another way of saying that they left come caner behind). He told me that the Sarcoma Tumor Board all agreed that follow-up Radiation is necessary.  This will consist of 5 Weeks of Monday-Friday daily radiation.  We asked him about our New York trip again, at first Dr. O'Donnell told us that its not advisable for us to have a break in treatment. Then, he told us that it would be fine.  We will talk more with my Radiation specialist.  We asked for a referral to the Sacramento area, so that we wouldn't have to travel far for treatment.

Dr. O'Donnell also informed me that they decided to monitor the nodule that was found in my lung with a follow-up Chest PET CT scan in January.  They will be monitoring my lung nodule for growth.  This makes me feel uneasy but, at least I know the surgeon is thorough and I am in good hands.

Dr. O'Donnell also referred me to Physical Therapy.  He told me that I will need three months of Physical Therapy twice per week.

We ended up leaving San Francisco at about 4:30 and decided to go over the Golden Gate Bridge, Nate knows that it's my favorite.  Check-out this sunset!

We pulled over in Sausalito and had dinner by the water.  I was a little under dressed for the dinner location with my sweatpants (I can't wear anything too tight on my incision just yet).  If your ever in the Sausalito area I highly recommend Le Garage.  It was delicious!

In all it looks like I haven't fully kicked Cancer's Ass!  My journey will continue until I'm Cancer Free!  Please pray that the Radiation Therapy goes well.  Pray that the side-effects are minimal and that it is still ok for us to go to New York.  Pray that I will be Cancer-Free.

On this day and everyday, I am very THANKFUL for the support and love from friends and family.

Thanks for Reading!  Happy Thanksgiving!

My incision, my now FAT Ankle, and my sister's Hero!

Lazy, lazy Sunday.

I foresee football, and working on Nate's stocking on the horizon for today!

Early Morning Visit

I love that I live 1 mile away from my family!  This morning, I got a text message from my Mom and sister that they were coming over to see me.  In about 5 minutes they were knocking on my door!  There is nothing like big belly laughs fist thing in the morning!!

My Incision

I keep getting questions about my incision.  So I figured I would post a picture without the gauze.  My apologies if you get grossed out easily.  Isn't it nasty? ...and BIG?

My Ankle

So.... I rolled my ankle!  My right ankle.  The SAME ankle that my incision is on!  hahahaha!!  I can't stop laughing about it though.  People who know me, know that I am most prone to clumsy accidents and this news wouldn't surprise anyone!!  I've been trying hard to get off my crutches.  I've been trying to use one crutch (Thinking this is better than two).  In doing so, I rolled my ankle and now I'm back to two crutches!!  Fat knee AND a fat ankle now, good grief!

College Paper

My youngest sister Ali is in college.  About 4 weeks ago she told me that she was writing a paper about me.  She told me that once it was completed she would e-mail it to me.  I pressed her for more information but, she wouldn't tell me the topic or anything.

(My gorgeous sister)

About 3 weeks ago she e-mailed me.  Attached was the paper she had written!!  It touched my heart and it meant so much to me that she wrote this.  I want to share this with you all, so cut-and-pasted it below.  It's not very long, I hope you'll read it.

Hero Myth

​The Monopoli Family is truly the definition of "one in a million." From sentencing mine and my Sisters, Jennifer, 10-year stalker to prison, to my nephew having a condition that only happens to 2 babies a year, resulting in having half of his lung removed at only 3 days old, to now where my oldest sister has just been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, that with all the cancers combined, hers is below the 1%. A lot of people would view this as the glass half empty, but this has only brought our family closer. My sister Jennifer is truly my hero, and she has touched so many lives and has granted people the strength and courage to fight. Her separation from society occurred when she first found out about her rare cancer living in her leg, resulting in only telling family members about the news. She began to transfer into the second stage of heroism by transitioning her view on her condition, which then changed her outlook on what is actually occurring. Jennifer has now entered the third and final stage of heroism. She has reentered into society by keeping everyone updated on her journey and progress with sarcoma cancer by posting on her blog.

​The first step in heroism is becoming separated from society. When Jen first got the news about her tumor, Doctors didn’t know what to think of it. At first, they believed it was just muscle. Her “muscle” was carefully watched and then increased to 9cm in just one month. On September 11, 2013, just one day after her three year wedding anniversary, she received the news, and she was then diagnosed with sarcoma cancer, one of the rarest cancers in the world.The news was just shocking, how could this be happening to us? Trying to be more optimistic, we continued to pray and believe that everything happens for a reason. Until she knew more about her cancer, she withheld from telling friends and posting updates about her life through social media. She began to become separated from society. She never intended to, but with life changing news like this, being with your family is the only cure.

​By being with the support of your family, your outlook on things will change. Entering the second stage, Jennifer began to transition her view on her condition, and finally declared war on cancer. When one person in your family has cancer, your whole family has cancer, and having an army like the Monopoli family is her greatest asset into this long and treacherous war with sarcoma cancer.  Her outlook on life began to change. She is now a firm believer that everything happens for a reason, and you can conquer anything you set your mind too. When she explains her diagnosis and the seriousness of the cancer, she does not look worried or scared, instead all I see is a fighter in her eyes. Since she has become diagnosed with cancer, I have never seen her more at her full potential than what I do now.

​Finally, as Jen became more comfortable with her diagnosis, she had then reentered into society by sharing her blog on social media sites, and updating friends and family about her crazy past month. She keeps everyone updated with the help of technology, and her words are nothing but positive and kind words. One can tell in her writing that she is neither outraged about her circumstance nor does she look for people to feel sorry for her, but she is ready to battle a lifelong war with cancer. As she stated in her blog, she has assembled the best army, and she is ready to defeat cancer.

​When I think of a hero, I think of someone who has strength, bravery, and is ready to overcome anything. I instantly thought of my sister. To me, a hero doesn’t need super strength, but mental strength to overcome anything. They do not need bravery in a sense of saving the world, but being able to fight till the end of the world to achieve what they desire. My sister has become so many people’s inspiration to keep on fighting, no matter what you are going through. There is always a light at the end of the tunnel, your journey might just be a little longer than others. I never knew what bravery was, or what it took to become a hero, until I saw it in my sister.

Isn't this the most inspiring paper?  I just love it and I will keep it forever!  I sure hope the Professor gives her and A!

Have a great day!  Thanks for reading!

Love you all!

It WAS a YELLOW Wednesday!!

I hope you are enjoying your Saturday morning!

Last week, before my surgery, I thought it would be fun to ask friends and family to wear yellow on the day of my surgery.  Yellow is the support color for Sarcoma cancer.  What a great opportunity to bring awareness to the rare disease and allow friends to show their support for me!

I asked people to post the pictures on Facebook, e-mail, or text them to me.  Selfishly, I thought it would be so fun that when I 'came-to' on the day of surgery that I would see all the friends who were supporting me, even though they couldn't be with me!  I had no idea what I was in for!!

I woke-up after surgery and didn't remember much about how I got into the hospital room.  I woke up, surrounded by family - all wearing yellow!!  My husband told me, "You've got to see all the people on Facebook who wore yellow today."  About 1 minute later, I fell asleep.  Whenever you are waking up after surgery, I'm sure anyone who has had surgery can relate, you fall asleep a lot!!  Later on, when I had my own room and everyone had left for the day, I hopped on Facebook and I saw photo after photo, of friends wearing yellow.  There I sat in this foreign hospital room, by myself, in pain, and I cried.  Tears just rolled down my face!  It meant SO much to see everyone who remembered to wear yellow! Thank you.  I loved it SO much!!

Thank you again to everyone who dressed-up themselves, their kids, their families, dogs, yellow pedicured their feet, who had friend's of friends wear yellow!!  Here are some of the pictures, I'm sorry if you don't see yours below, I tried to get them all!

It WAS a YELLOW Wednesday!!  I loved seeing all of these photos!  Thank you ALL so much from the bottom of my heart for your support!  Thank you for reading!

Im Thankful For

I hope you are all having a geat day!

Thanksgiving is next week - It will be here before we know it!

Thanksgiving is right around the corner it got me thinking about what Im thankful for.  Here's a short list.

My Mom

I am so Thankful that my Mom was able to get a couple weeks off from work to help me.  I can't walk, barely use the restroom, and I haven't gone down stairs in my own home in a week, I can't make my own food, can't feed my dogs, can't clean-up my own house, I can't even fill up my own water cup (You get the idea). However, because my Mom has been home with me everyday since I got home last week, you wouldn't be able to tell that I wasn't mobile.  Also, my husband is able to excel at his job because he doesn't have to worry about me being home alone.  Im a very independent person, at this point I would be very frustrated by not being able to do much but, because my Mom is here, everything is ok!  Honestly, she's and Angel and I couldn't do this with out her.

My Husband

He's amazing, I am so Thankful for him.  He has sone so much for me with his only motivation being that he wants to see me happy.

My Kindle

In preparation for being on my booty for a while, I ordered a bunch of books from my Kindle.  I started with Divergent last week and I finished it in a week!!  It is the first book of the Divergent series.  I read it in less than a week!  From the moment I picked it up I couldn't put it down!  I loved the Hunger Games when I read them 3 years ago and I have been searching for the next series that would reel me in!  If you like the Hunger Games, you WILL love this series!  Yesterday, I started the second book and Im already hooked again!

Sewing

I am so Thankful that my Mom taught me to sew when I was in Junior Highschool.  I love being able to create something out of nothing.  I am a HUGE fan of traditions!!  There was a tradition in my house growing up... One in which my Mom sewed everyone their very own Christmas Stocking by hand.  I knew one day that I would make them for Nate and I.  I've started Nate's stocking and it does a great job keeping my hands busy!

My Office Team

I have a great team of employees!  I am so Thankful that I have them to take care of my clients when I am unable to.  I look forward to the day I will be able to drive again and be in my office.  I miss my Team and my clients!


Thanks for reading!  I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!