The Surgery Report

This is a quick post just to let everyone know that surgery went great and I’m resting and recovering well.  The best news is that the pathology report showed no living cancer cells in the tissues that were taken from my body.  That means that my body had a “total response” to chemo: the chemicals carefully chosen by my doctor annihilated the evil cancer cells and didn’t leave a single one standing.  That’s a huge weight off my chest.  (Gotta love mastectomy puns!)

Thank you for all of the kind messages and gifts!  I’m up and around this week and hoping to get caught up on email over the next few days.  I’m so grateful to my parents and my in-laws for helping out with the kids since I'm not supposed to lift over 10 lbs and both kids are well over that mark. My amazing husband has done the brunt of housework without complaint and has also made me feel beautiful despite the fact that I'm bald and boobless. Finally, a big thanks to my spectacular friend, Penny, who not only helped with the kids but also fed us better than we could have imagined. Here is a sampling of the foods she cooked for us while I convalesced last week:

Dinner 1

Meatballs delicately cooked sous vide

Pasta with spinach-almond pesto

Butter lettuce salad with green herb dressing

Dinner 2

Barley with red wine and mushrooms

Lamb chops with carmelized garlic sauce

Sautéed baby spinach

Dessert

Mango-lime shortcake with Greek yogurt, mango honey and pistachios

Woe is me. I have been suffering ever so. 

A few of the ingredients were left over from a "Modernist" dinner that Penny and some friends and I were cooking the night before my surgery.  Since I had to stop eating after a certain time, I was very grateful to enjoy the beautiful flavors post-surgery, and I am grateful to Penny for doing so much cooking.  I’m fairly certain that delicious food helps a person recover faster.