On the mend!!!

Yesterday, I was back for another post-op visit. It felt like a sci-fi movie. I got the last of my two drains taken out and phew! What a difference! They were so painful and annoying. They were each about 10 inches of plastic tubing that were wound up inside by body. Marchus said he could see them sliding under my skin as the nurse pulled them out. Ick!!! I then got 50cc's injected into each expander. Bizarre! They find the valve with a mini stud finder magnet that locates the metal disk inside the expander. That's where they put the needle in to inject the saline. Marchus said he could see my chest rise as the nurse did it. Such a weird experience. I feel like I am part bionic woman and partly that Barbie doll that was around when I was a kid that when you moved her arm, her boobs grew.

This morning, I felt like I'd spent the night doing bench presses. My chest was sore from the expanders being expanded but a little ibuprofen and a wonderful saran wrap-free and drain-free shower and I'm much better.

It is incredible to realize how knocked down I was just last week. I think that it was really sobering to feel so terrible. I have never experienced such pain and weakness and going through that really amplified all of my fears of the cancer taking me down. It was really an emotional struggle as well as a physical one. But as my husband and family members kept reminding me, I am more removed from having cancer than I was pre-surgery and I am getting better, not worse. Even so, maintaining a positive attitude was more of a struggle post surgery than ever before. Now that I'm feeling better, the positive energy is returning.

Last night, we attended Adam's school Christmas performance. It felt great to be out in a normal setting and to watch proudly as our sweet boy stood on the stage singing Christmas songs with his classmates. It was emotional just to be there and I felt so blessed that I was feeling good enough to attend.

This time has given me the opportunity to also reflect on how much care I have received from my dear family. I am so fortunate. They did everything to help us out and were so intuitive about what needed to be done. This is not a path to walk alone. You need a team of supporters. I know that other people are not so fortunate and don't have such a great team. If anyone you know ever has to go through this, don't wait until they ask for help, just help - whether you take them a meal, offer to spend time with them making them comfortable, organize their medications, do dishes, pick up groceries, anything - pick a task and do it. Asking for help when you are struck down and fighting for your life is really difficult. Don't wait to be asked. Just do it. See, I AM feeling better - I'm getting my bossiness back. Ha ha. :)