Sunday 13th September: (PRE OP.)
My close friend texted me. Asked me if I fancied some wine in the evening. Said ok. Went out to shop and bought a bottle. She arrived later. Also with a bottle. Had a bottle of wine... each. Got COMPLETELY drunk! I don't drink as a rule. Last one I had was several months ago, so only takes 2 glasses and I'm on the floor. Trouble was the next morning I still felt 'over the limit' so had to ask my boyfriend to drive my kids to school - oh dear :-(
Monday 14th September: (PRE OP.)
Night time. Have managed to avoid thinking about the surgery until now. Start doing what I usually do when I don't know about something - I start to research. I know, I know, not a good idea, but I couldn't help myself. I was told that I would be having a partial mastectomy and segmental lymph node biopsy. So I read up on all of that. Fine.
Then I clicked 'Google Images' and typed in 'Mastectomy'. I figured that I needed to know what would happen to me 'just in case' I woke up and my whole boob had been removed. I mean, you never know what they'll find when they open you up right?
OK. Now I'm prepared. Time to sleep...
Tuesday 15th September: (DAY OF SURGERY)
In the hospital. Surgeon came in. Marked me up. Marked the lump on my boob. Also marked under my arm. He's a nice man. Anaesthesiologist came in. Quick chat. Another nice man. Starting to feel comfortable. An hour later, I was escorted down to Theatre. Anaesthesiologist nice man put some stuff in through the back of my hand. "Now the good stuff" he said. "Think of something nice" he said. "Sunflowers" I thought...
Woke up. Can hear "10mg of Morphine" and "I've put a '1' down on the pain chart because of the morphine". Can feel my right arm being contracted by the blood pressure monitor. Can hear the bleeps and buzzing from it. Every minute it seems. "How did it go?" I groggily asked the morphine man. "Operation went well" he replied. "How do you feel?". "Yeuch! Sick" I replied...
Back up to my room. Feeling really sick. Combination of the morphine and the general anaesthetic I was told. Really groggy. Boyfriend had ordered me some dinner (based on the surgeon's suggestion pre-op). Dinner! Forget it. Want to vomit. Sleep....
Couple of hours later, woke up. Still really sick. Don’t know why they bothered with the morphine. Hasn't touched the bloody pain and just makes me feel sick. Nurse comes in. "You should really try to eat something". I conceded. Two sips of water. A mouthful of toast. "That's enough" I said. Slept the rest of the night with the odd minor interruption of blood pressure checks every couple of hours. Boyfriend out for the count in the chair next to my bed. Nice to not be on my own...
Wednesday 16th September
Very light headed still. Hungry. Breakfast arrived. Ate everything! Still nauseous but a little more perky. Wondered about my boob. Looked down at my gown. Thought 'sod it' and looked under. 'Phew! Boob sill there'. Painful, but there. Reconstruction is excellent.
Sudden realisation hits me: More pain from my armpit than the boob. That was unexpected. Don’t know why. Guess I had only been thinking about the boob.
Throughout the day, very light headed. Tried to go for a walk. Nurse said I should. Nearly fainted. Helped back to bed by boyfriend and nurse. Hmmmm… not good. Then later, physiotherapist arrives. Getting me to do some arm exercises. Nearly faint again. Jesus, what’s wrong with me? Another blood pressure check. Paid more attention this time. Not good. Low. 95 over 58. No wonder I’m bloody dizzy! Surgeon came in. Quick chat. Happy with everything. Not concerned about the blood pressure. Just a side effect of everything. Said I should stay another night. Cool. Not ready to go home yet, so happy about that.
Thursday 17th September
Woke up. Still light headed but feeling much better. Feel like I could go home today. Blood pressure was up a bit before I went to bed, but a bit low again this morning. Not feeling faint though. Doing short walks up and down the corridors on my own now, without acting like the drunk I was on Sunday night, so not too worried. Surgeon says I can go home. Dad and boyfriend came to pick me up. Happy ‘anniversary’ boyfriend says. ‘Oh yeah! 8 months today’ I thought… ;-). Kiss…
Today
Been waiting for this site to come back on line. Gave up a couple of days ago. After coming home, felt worse for a day or two. In a lot of pain, so stopped checking. Boyfriend’s been fantastic. Took last week off work to look after me. Made sure I rested, which, let me tell you, is no mean feat for anyone!
Kids came back from the ex on Sunday. Friends and family have been fantastic. All have offered to help. One friend made me a huge Shepherd’s Pie so I didn’t have to cook. Mum and Dad have made dinner a couple of times. Boyfriend’s been helping round the house. Kids even helped me bath and wash my hair yesterday. Have received loads of flowers - in fact I’m thinking of opening a branch of Interflora lol! I’m very lucky to have the support I have.
So. Weekend over. Boyfriend back at work. Kids gone to school. House nice and quiet..... Mmmmmm. Thought I’d try the site again. Coooool! It’s back. Couldn’t log in. Had to reset my password. My previous blogs seem to have been transferred over with formatting problems, but hey, they’re still there, so that’s good! So, here it is. My latest one. Hmmm. Just looking at it. Well, it’s a long one, but so much has happened since the site went down. Hope it’s not too long/boring xxxx
