Saturday 12.15.2007

We got up about 0915--believe it??

I was surprised that we slept so long, but it was gloomy this morning, and we tend to sleep longer when it's not so bright in the morning...

We had breakfast, and I sat on the sofa and put the heating pad on. After a while, I decided I'd better go outside and exercise before the snow starts in earnest. I was just a little flaky out, the temp about 28 degrees, and a little wind. I stretched, bundled up, went out. My breast is sore this morning, and the bump above the underarm incision is definitely there. And I wasn't sure I really wanted to go out, but I thought I'd better do it while I can. From what little bit I'm reading, it seems that I may be knocked over a bit, and I want to go into the treatments as strong as I can.

It was cold, but I warmed up ok; I just took it easy. I was feeling good about my slow pace, and noticed I would speed up now and then, and then it wasn't feeling as good. So I'd back off, slow down, consciously controlling my breathing. I thought I was going really slow, and I'd never get done, and had to remind myself that it's just one step at a time, and you'll get there... Sure enough, I did. And I felt ok, too.

After I cooled off, I went in and showered, then inspected myself. Hm. Incisions look much better today, not as pink, and the breast doesn't seem as swollen. It is still swollen, and heavy, but not as much. The area on the areola that has been hurting is still tender, sensitive, sore, and looks to be blanched out as the dye is fading. I wonder why that is. That incision on the breast is firm around it-- scar tissue? swelling? lymph fluid? The area above and on the side where the tumor was removed is softening some, and is tender and sore. The underarm incision--I get closer to the mirror--is still reddened, but less; firm, and sometimes feels picky, prickley, abrasive, abraded. Is that the nerve waking up? Above the incision and forward is the swelling that bothers me the most. It's full, so full it makes like a fold at the incision. Maybe I'll try a photo of that tomorrow, if it's still there. I believe that is the area where the 7 cm x 5 cm x 1 cm slab of tisssue was removed for the collection of the 17 lymph nodes. I look at it more closely--since that skin is numb, the wound is not tender at all. I touch it, then I see that there is something like a small whitehead in the incision line. What's that..?? Hm, I run my fingernail over it, it's something hard. I do it again, and it seems to come out a little. Ok, I'm gonna pick at it now. I end up pulling out something about 1/4 inch long, off white in color, kind of firm, not crispy. I thought it might be waxy feeling or something, but it wasn't. It looked like it might have had a fuzzy or something sticking out of one end of it. Darn, where it that microscope when you want to use it..?? I showed Dan, I think he looked, politely, and wanted me to go back to whatever I was doing. Then I pressed all around it, maybe something else will come out. A small little ooze of thick sticky gray stuff came from the little hole, and nothing more from that. The clear stuff was still coming out of the opening of the incision, but hardly any, and I couldn't encourage anything else to come out, so I left it alone. That incision is firm and slightly reddened--more so than the other, but much less than yesterday. The hole that the drain went in is healing well, just a little pink. The underside of the breast is still a little dusky, off-color. Interesting. Good thing I've got the generic Keflex.

Dan helps me again with the ace wrap, and I finish dressing and get on with my day, which consisted of food prep, food consumption, and computer time. I leave to go to Jackson.

Mom is quiet in her recliner, and watches me move around the room. I help her with dinner, get her ready for and tucked into bed, and leave to go to a Christmas Party. It's snowing pretty good, it's really beautiful with the seasonal decorations in the neighborhoods. I see my friends at the gathering, we hug, smile, chat, and eat, and it's time to leave. I clean the car off, again, and head home. It takes about an hour, the roads are ok if you don't try to go too fast for conditions.

Daniel is still up when I come in, he greets me with smiles and hugs. He's such a wonderful guy. I am truly blessed to have him. He goes off to bed about 11:30, and I write my blog.

And I think that's all I have to write, other than I realized I hadn't had any pain med today. So I took a couple of tylenol just for general principal, because I hadn't had any today. And I'm off to bed.