Surgical Timeframe- First of all, a big thanks to the E-girls and John for providing coverage during the "surgical timeframe"! Thanks also to Dan "PR Dan" for providing updates when I was out of commission. And, Meow, Meow - my kitties and I thank Tom for adding kibble to the food bowls while I was gone! Finally, thanks for the hospital visits - it meant a lot to me!
The Hospital -John M. provided transportation to and from the hospital and was a trooper with the constantly changing plans - especially on the morning of surgery! The surgery time changed and I called John in a slight panic on Tues morning asking him if he could pick me up, like, NOW-ish! Luckily he was home and answered the phone and came right over. Even more luckily, I ran into my surgeon in the elevator so even though I was late and they were actually calling my house, she knew I was in the building. In fact, they whisked me right through and we started almost an hour earlier than scheduled. The last things I remember are my plastic surgeon drawing lines all over my torso and the anaesthesiologist saying something about injecting something that would take the edge off.
Terri met me in my room after surgery and took charge of getting me settled into my room. The hospital was completely full... I guess it was the pre-holiday rush to get procedures done. Because of this it seemed short staffed and it was really helpful to have Terri there to get me what I needed, including scoring me a meal. Apparently most people are nauseous after surgery.... apparently, I have different genes. I was starving.. and even the cold dried out hospital chicken tasted great! I scarfed it down under the puzzled looks of my nurse.
The next 2 days were spent getting as un-tethered as possible. First to go were the leg massagers ( to prevent blood clots). The massage part felt great. However, the itchiness did not feel great and I couldn't wait to figure out how to get them removed. Turns out 3 walks a day = no leg massagers so I got to walking ASAP. Next were the dilodid push button drip and the accompanying blood gas/heart rate monitor that kept going off anyway so I really wanted to get rid of those. Finally I kept just the IV stub for periodic antibiotics and got disconnected from the "tree". I didn't feel ready to leave on Wed afternoon but by Thurs 10 am I was dressed and packed.
Home for Thanksgiving- John and Judy brought me home and made me soup and got me settled. We sat out on the front porch in the ridiculously lovely weather and I was very thankful to be home. Lori took over in the evening to provide nightwatch duties - it was really helpful to have someone there for the first several nights at home.
Leftovers Friday and the weekend: Thanks to all who dropped by to say hi and deliver thanksgiving leftovers and other wonderful food for the week. I enjoyed having a taste of all the different turkey day preparations! I think the most "talked about" item was the pumpkin cheesecake - oh my, it was yummy. Lori took the opportunity to shop on Friday and generously provided me with my new favorite pajamas - super soft pink leopard pattern PJ's! Perfect for post breast cancer surgery! Judy took over "daycare" duties on the weekend including cooking, cleaning and more personal care. Judy got the brunt of the "medical" duties - it was indispensible to have a girlfriend to help out with those!
Progress through the week- Most importantly, I am very grateful to have all the ugly C-stuff removed from my body and am so glad to have surgery behind me! Surgery was the leg of the treatment journey that I have feared the most so it is a relief to have it over with. With the exception of some swelling on my right side, recovery seems to be going well. I had some better than expected preliminary pathology results and my arm mobility is much, much better than they expected. I still have 3 drains in... hopefully 2 of them will be removed tomorrow.
I've been walking around the neighborhood since Saturday and have worked up to ~ 3 miles/day. We have had some spectacularly beautiful weather and that has certainly helped me get out of the house! Hopefully I'll be able to continue in the cold!
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