This is an exciting week. I have my FINAL chemo treatment on Tuesday! It will be nice to have it over, but I have to say it's a little anticlimactic. I say that because of the fact that I haven't had such awful side effects.

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I am looking forward to getting my eyebrows and eyelashes back, though. In fact, in my latest round of losing hair, I completely lost the eyebrows. It makes it pretty difficult trying to draw them in. But I guess as long as I draw them ABOVE my eyes, I should be okay!

I ended up shaving my hair again last week. It was starting to get itchy, and since it had grown to about 1/2 inch long with a few sticking up to measure a full inch, I thought that maybe the length was making it itch. There were very few left again anyway, so shaving it actually improved the overall look. But the next morning it was still itchy. I realized that my scalp was probably just dry, so I put lotion on my head, and voila! No more itching.

Being a grease-head all my life, it's so totally foreign to be putting any type of moisturizer on my head. But with my oil glands zapped, I'm learning how the dry-skinned people live! Although the oil is returning to my face, I have to say I haven't missed it. But in this climate, thank goodness for moisturizers. Without them I'd be a prune by now!

The end of my chemo will open the way for surgery now too. My original biopsy did not have clear margins, and no lymph nodes were taken, so needed another surgery anyway. But because of the way the immune system drops it had to be at least one month past the last chemo before that could happen. I chose the option of having all the chemo first because my tumor was aggressive in nature. I was not comfortable waiting.

And during the chemo I had the BRAC test. Because that was positive, I've done a 180 in my thinking about another surgery. Instead of going in for the minimal amount, I've now opted for the bilateral mastectomy to lessen my chances of getting this disease again.

And because of that positive BRCA1 test, I am also planning on having an oophorectomy and hysterectomy. I was hoping to have everything done at once. (I'm a big fan of one-stop shopping!) But my visit to the plastic surgeon changed that.

There are ways to reconstruct the breast using muscle from your back. That wasn't an option for me since I use my upper body for everything. I also could have had reconstruction using the muscles in my stomach, and the fat in my belly. Hmmm. I was thinking that a tummy tuck would be okay. But the surgeon determined this was not an option for me because I didn't have enough tummy fat. Imagine that! My little pooch wasn't poochy enough! I left her office with a pretty big smile!

So, my only option was implants. Because of the implants, we've opted to wait on the ovaries and uterus. As the doctor explained, she has to be very careful when putting a foreign object under someone's skin. The risk for infection increases greatly. She considers the oophorectomy and hysterectomy to be "dirty" surgeries, and didn't want any extra bacteria or germs floating around when she's placing the pumps. I was a little disappointed, but I too want to be as cautious as possible. This one I can wait for.

The surgery will take about 3 hours. My original surgeon will do the mastectomy, and the plastic surgeon will insert a pump. I will have to come back every so often to have the pump inflated to the desired size. Then the actual silicon implant will be inserted, and then I'll have the new me! Well almost.

Later I'll have more surgery to reconstruct the nipple. Yes, even that is done these days. I have no idea what was done before, but from the pictures I was shown, my breasts will look nearly normal, except that the sag will be gone! Yes, there are benefits!

And to end I have to relate a story of a friend of mine. She came to me and said she had found a lump in her breast. After my original diagnosis she was diligent in her self exams, but had gotten lax after the first of the year. And now she's a little afraid. I tried to assure her that most lumps are fibrocystic. But I wasn't so flowery to tell her that it WAS nothing.

Women (and men) are getting breast cancer all the time. But the important thing to remember is that early detection is what is saving lives. Do your self exams. Once a month is okay, but why not every day?! It certainly doesn't take that long.

So until next time, keep getting to know your breasts!

Pam Daale
The Happy Cancer Patient

You can e-mail Pam Daale at Pam_Daale@TheDenverChannel.com.