@jessie_morales: 48 hours. That's all the time between walking into appointments as the person I was before surgery...and waking up to a completely new chapter. The day started with final markings from my plastic surgeon. Then a seed placement in my lymph node, dye injections, and a few last moments with my husband, mom, and mother-in-law before heading back for surgery. A double mastectomy. Lymph node removal. Tissue expanders placed for reconstruction. Three drains. A recovery room that lasted a little longer than expected because of pain and nausea. And then home. The truth is, there is so much that happens behind the scenes of a surgery like this. The appointments. The waiting. The fear. The decisions. The people who show up and hold your hand when you don't have the strength to hold yourself together. One of my lymph nodes still showed cancer after chemotherapy, so my surgeon performed an axillary dissection and removed additional lymph nodes for testing. Now I wait for the next steps while focusing on healing one day at a time. Today, I'm sore. I'm tired. I'm learning how to move through life with drains, expanders, and a body that looks different than it did just a few days ago. But l'm also grateful. Grateful for skilled surgeons. Grateful for my family. Grateful to be on the other side of surgery. If you're preparing for a mastectomy, in the middle of recovery, or simply walking through a hard season, this is your reminder that you don't have to do it all at once. Sometimes the goal is simply to make it through the next hour. And then the next. And eventually, you look back and realize you've made it through 48 hours you once thought would be impossible. #breastcancer #breastcancerawarness

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2026-06-23 02:15:11

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