The Journey Through the Tunnel Ahead
It is strange to me that they say that they have removed the breast cancer from my body during surgery – but I look at about 6 years worth of cancer treatment ahead of me (chemo, radiation, reconstruction and Tamoxifen) that I don’t feel like the cancer is gone (at this point it is a total gamble, it could be gone completely, or it could be hiding somewhere). These leaves me a bit bewildered as I have the first step down,...
The Adventures of Being Drain Free
I got my final drain out Monday the 14th of February (a.k.a. Valentines Day). I was a bad breast cancer patient, I went in without an appointment or approval to come in. I really wanted to get the drain out. I had meetings pretty much every second of the day, so I figured I could possibly pull off getting the drain out if I went in early. No appointment meant a long wait (which was my own fault), and made me late for meetings, but...
“Resting” and Recuperating
I am not the best patient at being patient I think. The entire “sit still and get better” worked for a few days. Mike has certainly cut back on my physical requirements around the house and has been so incredibly helpful (so cute that he gets me a mug down for my coffee and has the machine filled up for me and ready to go every morning when I wake up). I get cabin fever way too easily and have already been out shopping...
Getting Wiggy With It
My mom and I went ahead and did the “cranial prosthesis” shopping, aka wig shopping. The store we went to actually had a lot of very nice looking wigs – we discovered that the wigs tend to show off a full head of hair. I have always had pretty thin hair, so they looked a bit funny. We stopped shopping brunette pretty quickly (dark hair and skin that doesn’t tan = ghostly white, just doesn’t look great on...
Dealing With Some of the Sad Things on a Good Day
A few people have worried that I am not going through the natural mourning process related to cancer and the surgery and treatments related to it. I just wanted to let you know that I have certainly spent my fair share of time mourning the loss of my health, my ability to keep my life and career at the same level in the coming months and of course the loss of my breasts. Being diagnosed with breast cancer is not a joyous event, it...
Death to the Spirometer
It is true, I am planning destructive mayhem for my “Incentive Spirometer” I am not sure if I should be attempting to light things on fire or create small combustible piles of destruction in my medicated state, but this thing is up for its own demise in the coming days when Mike is not looking. Imagine open wounds on your chest (ok “open wounds” is a big exaggeration here, but there are wounds), held down with...