My kids are coming home!!!!

Ok, I can't seem to get the pictures and stuff next to the writing on the right over there --> so I tried inserting a picture into the text. We'll see. I don't like trying to figure out what's wrong with computer stuff, so whatever. Anyway, Max & Cannon are coming home today!!! I'm so excited to see them. They are mama's boys and sorry Rick, but they will continue to be for a while and I don't care. They will be spoiled for a bit. :) We rented movies to watch in bed with Max, and I can get up and down to the floor with no problem, so we should have plenty we can do. And we have lots and lots of books. Yay!
We got the pathology stuff yesterday, well a brief version of it from the doctor. The tumor was freaking huge, but apparently really doesn't matter. It would be wonderful if they looked at it and it was small, but more for peace of mind. It was 4.5 cm, which is more than twice what they thought. Yeee!! However, it doesn't change treatment, nothing, so it just doesn't really matter. There were 5 lymph nodes that were removed, and cancer was found in three. My understanding is that if its not in all 5, it's cool. The stage of cancer now goes from borderline 1-2 to 2-3. If it had been in one more lymph node, then I would have been stage 3, but I'm stage 2. This matters to doctors for some reason (we meet with surgeon tomorrow, I'll ask more about this), but my treatment would have been the same regardless of the number of nodes it is in. I will have eight chemo treatments every other week starting mid September ish. We meet with the oncologist on the 29th. Because the tumor was bigger, if it was deep enough, then we may have to do radiation as well, which will happen after chemo. Radiation is more of an inconvenience than anything else, having to be about 35 days in a row, everyday except weekends and holidays. The whole process takes about 10 minutes, if that, and side effects are skin irritation and tightness, that sort of thing, no injections, no nausea, so whatever. I have a few questions for the surgeon tomorrow. I would love to take these drains out, but I guess we'll see. I can move my arms a bit more, which helps with the little irritating things. And I haven't had much pain. There's always a comfortable position I can find without pain, just sometimes takes longer than others to find it.
The little irritating things crack me up. In the hospital when there was more aches and pains, everytime I lifted my head from the pillow it caused pain, so when I wanted to turn my head, I wouldn't lift and turn, just turn. This sounds minor, but that meant laying my head to one side my ear was always folded over. I know, major surgery, pain, morphine, nausea, and the annoying part is that my ear is folded and I can't do anything about it... I'm gifted. I also couldn't scratch my head. At one point I pulled a Grandma Hazel and scratched my head with my fork which felt sooo good. I believe Grandma got booted from a nursing home for this maneuver, but they let me stay. This turning on the pillow and not bathing also meant I had some sweet hair. Seriously sticking out everywhere. This part didn't bother me, just the ear thing. I put one of Brent's shirts on by myself yesterday. It was slow, and it had to be Brent's shirt so the arms were low enough to get into, but it worked! I have had my hair washed twice, (oh my God, that's amazing!!) and I haven't taken any drugs since yesterday afternoon. I think I'm healing!! (I'm singing that one). Overall, I'm feeling really, really good.
I'm not excited about chemo, obviously. I've heard stories of those that do great, I've heard stories of transfusions and hospitalizations. I have no idea where I'll be on the spectrum of this. ("Everyone handles it differently") I'm just trying to focus on healing right now, and I'll get ready for chemo after I meet with the oncologist. We'll see... I'll try to write again after we talk to the surgeon and get some more info.
I've checked every comment on here, and am flattered its sent to so many! From Ireland to Alaska, Georgia, Southern California, right on!! If you have other questions, or stuff you want to know feel free to ask, I'm obviously not shy about this sort of thing.