I've been sleeping with Angelina...
Joanne's mother has a history of breast cancer so she had herself screened for the BRCA2 gene about two years ago. Since then she's been going in for some very detailed testing every six months. In May the doctors found something they wanted to investigate further and so we had a pensive month as she lined up this and that appointment, waited for results (all clear), etc.
It seemed clear that this pattern could be repeated quite frequently -- if the regular screenings found anything we'd be dropped into this wait / test / wait cycle again. She also has excellent health care through United, who knows what could change in the future, and so she decided a couple months ago to go ahead and order up the Angelina Jolie combo beginning with bilateral oophorectomy, bilateral mastectomy, and then breast reconstruction.
She began the process on Friday and was in surgery for 6-7hrs, followed by two nights in the hospital. She's home now, on the couch, I'm in the recliner or working at the dining room table, while the pups help me with nursing duties (they aren't very good at it, frankly). She has some very strict movement and lifting restrictions for a while, as well as 4x drains that we hope will be taken out in a week or so.
After her taking such good care of me in the last 18 mo (shoulder surgery Jan '12 and fractured back in Feb '13) I'm definitely due to play Nurse Ratchet in the Strauss house 
Anyway, you guys as as much my family as anyone, many of you have met Joanne and so I just wanted to give everyone a heads up about what's going on in my lil corner of EN. 
Comments
Hope Joanne's recovery goes well. That is a difficult and Brave decision she made. And I would agree, that you probably owe her one...or two..maybe three...and a fourth to be named later.
Thanks for the good thoughts, I'll be sure to pass them along.
Joanne's mom has had breast cancer twice but had a rather "easy," if there is such a thing, time of it and is now 100% clear. As such, I think Joanne has a under appreciation of how bad this can be. My mom, however, died of cancer in 1993 after battling it for two years so I'm very familiar with how epically shitty it can be. I've been gently encouraging her to make this decision.
It's going to be a loonngg road but it's very clear how lucky we, as a couple, truly are on a number of levels.
All our best wishes. My mother in law died of breast cancer at age 36, so it's a topic we're sensitive about too.
Been in your shoes about 4 years ago! Michelle was diagnosed, had a single mastectomy, and reconstruction. You have a long road ahead of you brother, but woman are definitely the stronger sex and seem to recover pretty quickly. Once the tubes come out it gets easier and definitely don't let her lift anything. Michelle was a bit stubborn with this and it set her back a few days.
Please tell Joanne she is in our thoughts and prayers as well as you and the wonder pups.
Stay strong and spoil the crap out of her.
For a couple days she was wearing my shorts and one of my big Hawaiin shirts, hanging a black pain med back around her neck, looked like a camera bag. I joked that I could lend her a pair of black socks and shoes so she could complete the Chinese tourist look
The 3x/day antibiotic pill must be taken with FroYo...really!
Niels
Rich...my prayers are with you and Joanne. JT & I lost our Mom to breast cancer.
Rich - I'm so glad Joanne came with you to the Tahoe Camp. I loved meeting her. I can see her smiling at the bottom of Brockway sitting in the car. Cheers to a brave and fast recovery! You have many Angels!
Sheila
All, thanks for the well-wishes! I'll be sure to pass them on!
She's going a little crazy, not being able to drive, being stuck in the house, and not really able to lift anything. We've had dinner out every night, seen a couple movies, the dogs are well walked. Kinda disturbing though to come home to my wife looking at pics of nekkid women on the internets
, as she learns more about what to expect over the next few months.
Let me know if you or she has any questions that we can answer for you!
Best wishes for a speedy recovery.....and an amazingly hard,brave, and good decision. Hang in there...all of you! Healing thoughts.
Hey Rich and Joanne!
Prayers are with you tomorrow! And seriously if you need anything, I'm close by! Don't hesitate to reach out!
Fingers crossed in the meantime.
She's mostly recovered from the surgery. Today was her 2nd session of filling the expanders. Last week's session was a little rough on her, she was in a good deal of pain for a couple days. At this point we both realize that this will be a long process so we're just being patient and working the problems.