Last blog with my mamms!

So I have been crazy busy trying to finish up my summer before surgery!

I will start with the weekend I was supposed to go on a great camping trip with the family as a last relaxing time before surgery. We headed out on the afternoon of July 12^th with the thought that I could enjoy some golf and down time. Well that didn’t happen. We drove up to the trailer (Pat and AJ headed out a few hours before we did), Mom went inside, brought the dogs out and closed the door. First, Broc and Baxter (her male) don’t like each other at all – so a dog fight happened and Mom stuck her hand in the middle and got bit. We decided to separate them but had to grab something in the trailer first – it was locked. With the keys inside. No spares around. We had been there for 10 minutes. So we called a locksmith who drove over and thankfully was very good at picking locks and 10 seconds later we were in! Anyways so after a non-eventful evening AJ and I enjoyed a gorgeous day at the Golden Golf Course on Friday morning (I shot 89 and AJ shot 79). We also got a call from our good friends, Monica & Jason that her water had broken that morning. We had told them that if she went into labour before his Mom arrived from New Zealand we would be around for support and help with the animals. She wasn’t actually due until August 1 and we thought they were lying as a funny joke while we were out of town. After they convinced us the baby was coming we tried to figure out when we would go back. Being the first child we all assumed it would be awhile – especially considering she wasn’t having contractions. So we went to Kicking Horse ski hill to enjoy a lunch and see if we could get a peek at Boo, the bear that lives there (we did!) On our way back down the gondola Jason texted us to say she was 6cm dilated and she wasn’t going home. So we went back to camp, packed up as quickly as we could and rushed back to Calgary. At 9:06pm on July 13 Jordyn Ava Kyono-Hughes was born.  Congrats guys! Gorgeous little lady!

After that exciting weekend it was time to get ready for The Weekend To End Women’s Cancers walk. The walk is for the Alberta Cancer Foundation and the money you raise is donated to the female cancer of your choice. So obviously we choose breast and are happy to say our team (The Rack Pack) raised $13,010. Nice job ladies! So this weekend consist of 2 days of walking. Day 1 is 33km and day 2 about 27km. With Mom on her poor sore planter fasciitis foot, Quinn being an all-star and myself complaining about everything (seriously how did I make it through chemo) we completed the whole 60km with a lot of tears and a lot of supporters there to greet us! It was a wonderful weekend with the girls and too great to see how strong we all can be when we do it together J. We also found a new friend that had nobody to walk with – Cynthia is an amazing young lady (a horticulturist) and we had a lot of fun asking (and bugging her) about different plants. So nice to meet you!

Other than thinking and preparing for surgery (get to that in a sec) we have been spending time with family and friends. Last Friday we spent out at the Cottonwood Golf Course with the Hart family. It was a great way to connect with the family and spend an afternoon – even if we did have to wait out a half hour storm in a shack. The following evening we spent at Kim & Corey’s engagement/house warming party. I love catching up with all the ladies; it’s a really great supportive group of people. Congrats guys! And 2 of those special ladies cooked up some frozen meals for AJ and I to help a little bit while I heal. You have no idea how much that means to us and how much that will help! Thank you so much!

So now let’s get on to the gross stuff. The surgery. For anyone that isn’t aware of the surgery I am receiving (I say that like I’m thankful HA) is a prophylactic bilateral mastectomy with a latissimus dorsi flap on the right breast and immediate reconstruction (kind of).  So that’s a lot of words that don’t mean that much so I will break it down. The surgeons will start with removing both of my breast and all the breast tissue – I am doing this so I never have to deal with cancer again. Then the plastic surgeon will take a 15cm piece of muscle/skin from my latissimus dorsi and replace my damaged scar tissue from radiation on the right breast. After that’s all done then they will insert tissue expanders underneath the skin/muscle. All this is happening in one surgery so I will be under for about 4 hours and in recovery about 2.5 – 3 hours after. It will be a long (sore) day. But well worth it. After I heal from surgery I will visit my plastic surgeon every week or two to have saline inserted into the tissue expander until the size I’m happy with (taking opinions now!) is achieved and at that time the expanders will be replaced with real implants. So after all that being said it’s probably going to suck. The flap part of the surgery is considered a transplant so I will most likely be in the hospital for up to a week just to make sure my body accepts the new tissue (even though it is my tissue to begin with). But if I didn’t do it and got another cancer I would feel so stupid for having that chance to change my life and not taking it. And after everything I have gone through with the ones I have – I don’t like them anymore lol so time for a new pair!

Any who – that surgery is tomorrow (Aug 7) at 7:35am. We are supposed to be at the hospital at 5:30. So I will check back in with my blog probably in a couple weeks! Thanks again everyone for your support through everything.