The gloves are off!

The fight is done and the cancer is fired, outta there, see ya!!!!!!  God had this one all the way :-)

Happy Friday to all!
I am writing on behalf of Patti, Mike, and our family to let you know that Patti is doing very well after a long day under.

Patti told me that her and Mike walked the dogs this morning before she headed out to the hospital, and that she felt relaxed about the surgery.  She kept saying, "God has this one" (smiling right now as she was so calm and collective as she said that).......okay, some if the calmness might have been the chill medicine they were feeding her too- (see attached picture of Patti :-)  Seriously, she was really ready to go and was calm before the drugs set in - she just wanted that cancer out of her and now.

Before I go on, I have to mention that the gown and bed controller Patti used had"paw prints" on them (see attached photo).  I titled the picture, "Meant to be - paws for Patti"  You can see the paw print on her gown, which is right over her heart too!  It gave her this neat feeling of peace :-)

So, on to the day!  They took her in by 10:45am and sent Mike and I to the waiting room.   Mike and I commandeered a nice corner area of the waiting room and set up camp for the day.  Mike was able to take in a movie on one of my computers while I worked on my other one.  I planned that as I figured he would need something to do for 4 hours too! 

Mark joined Mike and I for lunch at Café Community Memorial, and then we waited............and waited.........and waited.  I cannot believe I actually was pacing for a bit as I was with the understanding that they were going to give us a progress report halfway through (in between the mastectomy and reconstructive parts).  I was wrong :-/   but for good reason - things were going very well and they just kept going.

The surgeon was not able to see us right after the surgery however, the reconstructive surgeon spoke for both. 

He said that the surgery went REALLY WELL, emphasizing how well it went, and that he was pleased with the results.  The biggest initial news we could have received was about the nodes........

NEGATIVE!!!!!!!!!!!   YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This was very important for Patti (and all of us!) however, we have to wait until Tuesday-Wednesday of next week to be sure that the node they took out has no hidden agenda (no cancer hiding within). 

We will hear more on this when the doctor sees Patti in the morning.

At this point, Mike and I had a big smile, went up to see Patti, who was VERY groggy, who also told us to go for a while so she could sleep, and we left the hospital knowing that the hardest part is done.  (sigh)  It's been a long few months and glad we are ready to move on to the healing.

Thanks to all of you for your prayers, well wishes, and for being there in spirit - Patti has a lot of reading to do when she's up to it, as we saw many who were thinking about her all day.