I find it hard to believe it has been so long since I sat down to write ....
I remember the weekend after surgery being a bit like waking up from a bad dream. Since it had only been a couple of days the pain was very real and the narcotic pain killers, though wonderful at removing any care I had about what I was feeling, also had an unpleasant side effect for me. They turned me into a cranky bitch.
When I was 'on them' I was a great deal of fun - kind of like I am normally only much more carefree :-). When they wore off I turned into an evil doer who snapped at everyone - well actually just at Jerry since he was the only one around. Fortunately, I am very aware of my behavior most of the time and when I made the connection after just a couple of days I backed off of them. Unfortunately that meant that I was in more discomfort than I needed to be.
I also tried to push things a bit. Dr. Edwards said it would be a long weekend and then I could begin to try normal ADL's (that's activities of daily living for you non-healthcare types). He did warn that I wouldn't be doing any heavy lifting, controlling 200 lbs. of dogs or be back to yoga for a few weeks. This wasn't quite the way things went for me.
I was disappointed that I didn't get back to things as quickly as I wanted to. I remember a tearing sensation at the site of the incision on my right side on Sunday - a complete accident if there is such a thing. I went to flick a bug with a fly swatter and that slight action was all it took. I'll never know what exactly happened, but that side --- my right, of course ---- seemed to heal much slower.
All the reading I did indicated that the quicker I could begin use these muscles and my arms again, the quicker I would gain full range of motion and strength. Not one to wallow in too much pity for too long, nor to accept limitations, by the end of two weeks I felt I was 80% back to normal. At the end of 3 weeks I was at 90%, hauling wood, pulling weeks, mowing the lawn and walking dogs. There was still some discomfort, but nothing that was severe and it waned each day.
My follow up appointment with Dr. Edwards was on 5/23, so between the 12th and then I removed dressings (probably sooner than requested) and pulled off steri-strips. There was only one incident where a spot at the original incision site started to bleed slightly. Otherwise, I was healing great.
Dr. Edwards gave us the good news - not a thing to be found in the lymphnodes and clear margins around the tumors. There were good prognostic indicators everywhere. The next step was to meet with the medical and radiation oncologists.
On to the next scene in my dream.....
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