Hello all, J,
I am back from the second surgery. The DFSP surgery went off without
incident. The doctor said that the margins were clear although it was a
very small margin. But the path report did not say anything about it
being clear. I am willing to take the docs word because that helps me
put this behind. Although he said i should check in with him every 6
months.

The lymph node pressing against my trachea- which was there for about a
year of more turned out to be benign. That is pretty cool -although I
wonder why it was hurting me and growing bigger consistently. Anyway-
i'll forget that.
The surgery itself was so much easier than last time- i did not get
infections and they did not mess up my sewing back, no drains etc., One
small hiccup was my blood pressure, it was LOW- 70/47 or somethin like
that for nearly a week. I just drank a lot of fluid, stayed off
barbiturates and  ate salty stuff. Seemed to do the trick. But I've
settled on a new low blood pressure it seems. My endo checked it
yesterday- 75/50 or something like that. Also my protein was low- the
attending stopped short of called me malnourished and hastily ammended
her comment to "not getting enough protein"! :)  But ofcourse, I hardly
eat anymore- just dont feel hungry.

The surgeon once again ignored the sub-occipital area and claimed there
was nothing there. Fine- I say I'll ignore it too.

The cancer thing is hopefully behind me at least for the next few years.
I still have the bizzare breathing symptoms that started this whole
saga. Although they did reduce quite a bit after the RAI. I still get
left sided head-aches etc., I am going to take a break from doctors
after this and will try to do what my endo said, eat.
He also said we can go ahead and have a baby! yay! hmm... that means
more doctors -no ?

Thanks so much all of you. I hope to take a break from the internet
medical sites for a few months and when I am less skittish/afraid about
cancer -come back and try to do what you all have done for me. Hopefully
it will happen.

Hugs
Anita