Post surgery update

Surgery is behind me, another milestone passed. I'm almost a week out as of today. Waking up this morning, I felt the best since the operation. It's heartening, and I'll take it because--I won't lie--it's been rough. Kind of a culmination of pain, worries, and reality.

What do people do whose family and friends don't rally around them, buoying them up? I'm so thankful I am not in that situation. I know the love surrounding me and the millions of prayers being said on my behalf are the reason I am, surprisingly, in a pretty good mood most of the time.

But I'm not all the time, as Richard, Yvette, and Lon can attest. Those three had to suffer through my first "big" break down that spanned my first at-home shower and finished after Richard reapplied my dressings and stood by to catch me as I got dressed. Yvette had just arrived to Kimmy-sit for the day, and Lon chose that moment to call. :-) I was glad they were all with me. I've been basically OK since then. Ok, a few crying jags here and there, but no Niagara Falls, which is good considering...

...I have heard the surgery part is the "easiest" to many cancer patients. Really? Not for me. Maybe because chemo was not as hard as it could've been for me and it's in my rear-view mirror. Maybe because I won't believe this cancer is in remission until a year has passed and it hasn't popped up somewhere else. Maybe because I'm in pain, and maybe because I'm so reliant on others. I can't take care of myself. Can't lift, tug, push. (Can't clean. :-) heehee! Oh, darn.) I can dress myself! That's something positive.

Dressing yourself after breast surgery is not a given. I have a little advice for someone who comes home from mastectomy. Regarding a sleep shirt. Take your husband's very large, old t-shirt. Cut it from the neck down, in the back, about half way. Poke a hole in the neck area on either side. Step into the shirt, and then tie it together behind your neck with a ribbon inserted into the two holes. You see, you can't lift your hands over your head to put something on from the head down, and you don't want buttons or anything touching your skin, trust me on this, so you don't want a button down pajama shirt. You can always swipe a hospital gown. I like the shirt idea better. :-) It feels like you left the hospital in your dust.

Later this month (March 23rd) I will have my mapping appointment for the radiation therapy I will receive. I think my first radiation appointment will be March 30th. It's five days a week, for six and a half weeks after that. During those weeks I will be trying to get my strength back to use my arms properly. To be able to run--which requires pumping those arms! To do yoga, and other physical things. I want to feel fit in this body again, not to mention I have to think about work, i.e. pulling and lifting my bags and pushing a 300 lb trolley.

My right arm should not be an issue. But my left arm is minus most of its lymph nodes now. Dr D says he does not believe I will get lymph-edema. Yay! But what will the pressurization on the plane do to my arm? And what about infection? If I am understanding correctly, I have to be more careful with that arm now that the nodes are gone. Apparently they capture bacteria from cuts, etc., to staunch infection normally. Of course I have a success story to bolster my hopes. On surgery day, Mr. and Mrs. OAD came to see me. Apparently in the course of one of OAD's adventures, he had his lymph nodes removed from one arm. He's still running and lifting (and gardening according to Mrs. OAD :-)) with no negative repercussions. He's so cute. No one ever told him he had to worry about such a thing as lymph-edema. And, it turns out, he didn't! Maybe I'll be ok, too.

Today is my post-op appointment, so I better go get myself ready. It takes me a while :-). But the good news, I can do it!