Feeling Good on Day 4

I woke up today feeling rested and normal.  Wow!

Had to laugh when I read Mary Jo Cartledge-Hayes' Facebook comment on lumpectomy: "like having a splinter removed"!

Well, not quite, but not too big a deal either.  

It's great to look down and realize that the cancer is not there any more.

I'm wondering why they don't give women antibiotics after a Wide Local Excision (lumpectomy).

I know we are not supposed to overdo antibiotics and make bacteria more resistant to them, but after being cutting open, I would have appreciated some help for a few days.

Maybe that's why I wasn't tired on Day 1 post-op but was very tired on Days 2 and 3.  Maybe those were the days when my body was fighting off a lot of germs.  

Now I'm feeling confident about getting on the road to Colorado tomorrow after my post-op appointment with my doctors.

Sleepy Day

I never got out of the house today, not even to check on my new vegetable garden.

I slept until nearly noon because I napped yesterday evening from 7 to 9 pm and then stayed up until the wee hours.  

At about 2 am I wondered why my right underarm hurt as much as the left one, where the lymph node had been removed.  Upon investigation I realized that the surgical vest has straps that can be lengthened.  They were still at the shortest position though I have a long torso.  I loosened them and felt a lot better on the right side.  

Yesterday was pain-free, but today my left underarm did ache as if it had been cut open, which it had.  Cold packs helped; pain pills did not seem warranted.  The small breast incision did not hurt.

I just wished the surgical vest had come with instructions: 

• Wear for the first 24 hours?  
• Wear 24/7 until my post-op appointment?  
• Wash, dry, and wear again if desired?

With the still-tight underarms it was a strait jacket, the most uncomfortable part of the WLE experience.   

Breakfast in bed at 1 pm was a treat--grits with cheese and bacon chunks from Ellen.  What a comfort food!

Reading every inch in the LAT and NYT about California Chrome at the Preakness was the best part of the day.

I spent a few hours at the computer, making a first post-op appearance on Facebook and in the EEWC-CFT community group as well as checking my email, that first duty of every 21st-century citizen.

Then I talked to my cousin Becky on the phone, slept a a few more hours, and took my first bath since Friday.

Becky was a bridesmaid at my wedding in 1972 and is also the survivor of thyroid cancer in her late 20s.  She's inspiring!

Day After

I didn't sleep much last night.  

Foot cramps--using the toilet after drinking so much cranberry juice--not being sleepy.

About 8:30 am I finally got up, feeling woozy, and ate a bowl of oatmeal.  I checked on my vegetable garden and watered it.

No pain at all--just a slight ache.  No excuse to use the hydrocodone pills.

At 9:15 I walked the dogs, just around the block.  Made it.

At 9:45 I woke John up and told him that Pet Affaire won't groom Na'ilah if he doesn't get her there by 10 am.

He did it.  

I rested, puttered around the kitchen.

John drove Roz to work at 1 pm.  He brought me a skinny peppermint mocha venti from Starbucks--but he forgot to ask for it to be decaf.  I stayed up all day, wired.

On television we watched California Chrome win the Preakness in Baltimore--yay!

Ellen came by at 3 pm, and I proudly showed her how clean the garage is.  She brought grits made with cheese and chunks of bacon--delicious!

I showed her my surgical vest, and she pointed out that it was inside out--so that's why the zipper had been stabbing my collar bone all night.  We changed it, and I was surprised to see the big blue splotch on my breast and the two separate patches over incisions, one on my breast and another under my arm.

After I got the vest back on, I asked her to take a couple of photos to document my garb.

I slept from 7 pm to 9 pm, then got up and talked and wrote in this blog.

Marie called and I had a great talk with her.

Goodnight!