What a week! On Wednesday I was ready to write to you all to let you know that I was progressing very well and had achieved some great milestones. I had managed to get three pieces of that dreadful tape off, I got on a sports bra for the first time, and I was out and about on my own - I headed to PetSmart and Costco! Very exciting events. Also, our little Peanut had a urinary crystal and peed all over my duvet and quilt - so I hauled all of that stuff to the basement and washed it. Duvets are really heavy when wet (and quilts are heavy even when dry)!
Sadly, I never got to make that post because by Wednesday evening I was in so much pain that I could barely walk. I tried a couple of Aleve but that did absolutely nothing. The entire surgical area (we're talking three separate incisions/holes!!!!!) was more painful than the day following surgery. It was oozy and inflamed and swollen. Perhaps I overdid it just a noodge. (Jane, none of these exclamation points is redundant. They are all meaningful and required to express my complete dismay at having than many incisions:))
I took a pain pill (Thank you D - you know who you are even if someone else has to read the post to you) and went to sleep. Thursday however wasn't much better and things got much worse through the day, despite the fact that I sat around on the sofa reading all day with almost zero activity. At 15:00 I picked up Logan from school and just the process of showering and dressing was incredibly painful. I called the "We Care" clinic and asked to see the nurse.
The lovely Beth had a look to see if my incisions were infected. She removed all the tape! That stuff is horrible. Everytime I moved it would pull and poke at some sensitive part of my underarm. The tape would fold in on itself and stab me at the incision site! yuk. Beth rinsed everything out and told me that, while she didn't think I had any infection, everything was inflamed and the drain site was not healing well. Leaking at this late stage is apparently not a good thing. Beth put a simple gauze over the drain site and suggested I see my family doc just to be sure. She also asked me to tell Mirsky that the drains are a pain. Poor Mirsky!
Thursday night was Glebe's music night and it was a great show, but I only managed to get through it with a little pill and little movement.
By Friday things were getting much better and dad schlepped me around running errands and wouldn't let me do much. I made a big pot of chili for Syd's chili dinner fundraiser and basically chilled. Friday night I was well enough to catch Hey Rosetta at Bronson Centre.
Lesson learned however. It is better to have some limitations on what I can achieve in a day and what I can do on my own than to be in terrible pain and basically totally dependent on everyone for everything! Intellectually a simple proposition, but very difficult to implement. I hate this part of cancer. Between that and the incredible boredom, this may just be more difficult than I thought.
It is now Sunday morning and I think that getting that tape off has made the world of difference. The site is grotesque but seems to be healing much more rapidly now that it is getting more air and not being repeatedly stabbed by sharp tape. I still have no feeling on the underside of my arm which creeps me out - but that may be only temporary. All in all, much improved. If anyone has any suggestions for what I can do with my mind over the next while - please let me know! Love to everyone.
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