Hey babe, it's Kyra!

Hey babes!💕

I cannot believe I’m writing this, but I am officially 5 weeks post-op from my liver resection! It feels like both yesterday and a lifetime ago at the same time. So much has happened since surgery day, and I feel like I’ve lived 10 different lives in the past month. There’s a LOT to catch you up on, so let’s get into it…

We got to the hospital for a 5am check-in Friday morning. The night before, I barely got any sleep. I worked a full day Thursday, then still had to go home to pack for my hospital stay and two additional weeks in Houston. On top of that, Wednesday night I stayed up finishing my sugar cookies for the medical staff (I had to!!), and decided to self-tan at 3am after finishing them because I did not want to look pale and sickly under hospital lighting! What can I say… I’m just a girl🤭✨

After getting everything packed and the house ready for all of Stevie’s sitters, we hit the road and didn’t get to Houston until after midnight. I slept for a few hours, then was back up around 3am to shower, have my mom braid my hair, and head to the hospital!

After check-in, I went to pre-op where they started prepping me by placing an IV in my left arm, and I met with the anesthesiologist who injected nerve blockers into each side of my stomach to help with post-op pain. I had my final check-in with my surgeon and her fellow, and then I was ready to go. I got rolled into the OR around 7:30am. I wasn’t nervous at all — I knew I was in great hands, and honestly I was just ready for the best nap of my life!

My family got the text around 8:30am that surgery had started, and my surgeon didn’t come out to talk to them until around 5pm. LONG surgery. They originally said about 6 hours max, so once it started going past that, everyone was definitely getting a little nervous.

But — surgery went very well!!! They ended up removing 12 lymph nodes (more than the 6 we originally thought), my gallbladder, and the left lobe of my liver. They also tested my common bile duct during surgery, and it came back negative for cancer cells— so I got to keep it!!! Huge win.

After surgery, I was taken to the ICU, and my family came to see me around 7pm… and I was still completely unconscious!! I genuinely thought I’d at least be awake enough to say hi, but nope — out cold. I even still had a breathing tube down my throat.

I vaguely remember a few moments. At one point I think I started choking on the tube and remember hearing my mom calming me down, then feeling it get pulled out… and then I was right back out lol. Apparently later, when Johnna told me she loved me before going to sleep, I mouthed it back. Literally so cute of me💖

I woke up around 2am in the dark ICU room and was SO confused. I couldn’t see anything because I didn’t have my contacts or glasses (I’m -5.5 so I’m literally blind without them), and I felt wires everywhere and was struggling to raise my arms! For a second I thought I was restrained to the bed and was like omg what did I do that they felt the need to restrain me!?? But nope — they had put in ANOTHER IV in my right arm, so I just had a lot going on lol.

Then I felt something on my neck… I tried to call for Johnna but barely had a voice, so I called her on my phone… only to realize she was literally a few feet away lol. She told me they had put an IV in my neck and I was like… EXCUSE ME??? hated that!!! Bigggg hate.

The next morning I woke up feeling okay and immediately wanted to get up and walk. The ICU nurses were like “love the energy,” but I made it to the edge of the bed, stood up for a second, and was like… actually I might pass out. So no walking that day lol — just bed to chair.

Later that evening I was moved to a regular room out of the ICU and they removed my catheter, but all of my IVs stayed INCLUDING the neck one… and they remained in the entire hospital stay… I really did not mind the arm ones, but HATEDDD the neck one!!

In my regular room, I finally started walking laps around the floor and got to see myself in the mirror for the first time. I had about 6 laparoscopic incisions across my stomach, a drain coming out of my right side, and then… a surprise 8-inch C-section-style incision across my lower abdomen where they removed my liver. That scar was WILD to see and made moving around so much harder. I now have a whole new level of respect for women who have C-sections and then take care of babies immediately after, because I was struggling. Johnna remembers them saying it would be basically a C-section scar, but I DID NOT lol. But it’s okay, just another scar to add to my collection✨

Pain-wise, I was pretty well managed in the hospital, but my biggest issue was not being able to pee after they removed my catheter. I felt like I needed to go, but nothing would happen. So every few hours they would scan my bladder, and if it was too full, they had to use a straight catheter to drain it. Not once… but every day. Horrible. I cried the first time because I was so scared it would hurt, but it honestly wasn’t as bad as I worked it up to be. Still — 10/10 would NOT recommend.

By Tuesday, when it was time to be discharged, they told me if I couldn’t pee on my own, I’d have to go home with a catheter for TWO WEEKS. Absolutely not. My body said “lock in,” and just a few hours before discharge… I peed!!! I have never been more proud of myself🤩

But once I got discharged, the real recovery began… and it was ROUGH. Way harder than I expected. I had intense back pain (from laying in bed + constipation from meds), and I barely slept for over a week. The pain meds weren’t cutting it until we adjusted them, and then things finally improved. By the end of week two, I was finally sleeping WELL again.

But then came nerve pain from my incision (fun!), but new meds helped with that too and things slowly got better over time.

Johnna took care of me the first week in Houston, then my sister Cassidy and Sam the second. My parents came in and out with food and support. They were truly the BEST nurses, and I’m so grateful. It was a hard time, but also filled with really sweet, fun moments.

Going back to Austin felt emotional. Something so big had just happened, and it felt overwhelming to leave that behind and go back to “normal.” But I was so excited to be home, see my friends, and most importantly — Stevie. Who, by the way, ignored me at first and made me CRY because he was more excited to see Johnna when we both got home! But it was okay, he warmed up eventually🙂‍↕️

That first week back, I had in-home nurses aka my mom and best friends rotating shifts while Johnna worked during the day 💕 I was getting better at moving around, and honestly it was amazing to be so taken care of. I never even had to read the directions on any prescription bottles because they were on top of everything!

And now — you’re basically caught up. I’m moving so much better, only have occasional pain, and my incisions are healing great. At my follow-up last week, my surgeon told me to give it one more week before going back to work and starting to slowly exercise. One of my doctors even cried when I left because she was so happy with my progress and my outcome💕

And now for what everyone wants to know…

Pathology results.

The results are AMAZING!!!

All 12 lymph nodes came back negative for cancer. AND when they tested the portion of my liver they removed, there were only very low levels of cancer cells — basically meaning chemo did exactly what it was supposed to do.

My surgeon feels very confident that this could mean “cancer free” for me… which is absolutely WILD to even say because just a few months ago, non of this even looked possible. We use “cancer free” lightly because to be confident they like to see no new growth for at least a year or two to really be considered in remission, but this is the best step towards that.

My oncologist’s office followed up with me today about starting chemo again, and my first infusion back is scheduled for Friday the 24th! It’s honestly been such a nice break to not have to worry about chemo, but I’ll do anything to make sure all the cancer is gone for good.

I know I end my blog with a thank you message every time, but seriously thank you. I had so many people reach out to say they were thinking of me, asking for updates to make sure I was okay. Friends and family take time out of their lives to visit me and literally nurse me back to health. So many people who donated to my recovery fund while I’ve taken leave from work, and literally done everything they could to support me in some way. I am BEYOND lucky to have the life I do and the best people in my life. So thank you💕

Xoxo,

Kyra💋✨