9 days down and drain free!

Got the pesky drain out yesterday at my post op visit. So after being told I could be off six weeks, then only four, I'm being told again it may be back to six. Dr Gill doesn't want me to rip out any of my stitches in there by pushing or pulling too much. I will know more on Sept 8 when I go for another visit. I have dermabond glue over my incisions under the breasts which will stay on another week to 10 days. Once that comes off, I'm suppose to use a silicone based gel to help lessen the color of the scars on my chest from my mastectomy, and the bypass scar. I'm not certain right now I will go forth with getting nipples reconstructed. I feel like my scar is so big there across the breast that it wouldn't look right. That's up in the air for now. So glad to get the expanders out and have soft natural feeling breasts in there. Tomorrow I have an ultrasound to check those ovulatory cysts again and talk to Dr Boyd about my labs I had done for her. It's hard trying to hang out and do nothing but rest when you feel so good. I'm having a bit of anxiety over being alone during the days my kids are at school and I'm all alone. I want to be productive and help out my family but I still have restrictions I have to abide by. I just need one thing to accomplish each day and I would feel better and not as guilty staying home.

Breast reconstruction surgery

My surgery went fabulous and I couldn't ask for a better recovery thus far. I checked in early at the hospital and they got me right back. Bad news was they couldn't use the port for my IV. Good news is they got the IV in my hand the first stick! I waited in Preop for about two hours before they rolled me back to the surgical suite at 10:55 and gave me happy juice. I always enjoy that happy juice, I won't lie! I woke up around 12:50, had some apple juice and crackers, got dressed at 1:30 and was out the door! No complications. Jaelyn, Mom, and Erik all were there with me during the surgery. We also had some other guests, Yolanda and her sister Inez. Mom and Erik spent a week with them when I was in ICU last year in the coma. They unfortunately lost their mom and now like to call my mom "mom" and me "sissy". I don't really know her that well because I was in a coma but Londa always seemed to put a smile on my parents face and was what they needed at the time. She has such a big heart from what I'm gathering as I slowly learn more about her. I got home a little before 3pm and the rest of the night just hung out in my chair being bored. I really don't have much pain but continue taking the medicine as a precaution. I'm only on one ultram and Tylenol so it's not that much to start with. I have one drain on the left breast that hopefully will come out next Tuesday in the office. It's super hard keeping my arms down by my waist. You never know how much you reach for things during the day until you are told that's a no-no. I went to bed around 10 and was up by 11:30 because I was itching. Took two benadryls and am currently waiting for them to kick in and make me sleepy. I'm anxious to hear about stage 2, the nipple reconstruction. Oh yeah, my cancer tumor markers, the CA 125 and CEA are going up and Dr. K thinks it could be because of the tamoxifen. I noticed as a precaution he is running a CA 27.29 which is used to detect metastasis with my next labs in two months, along with a repeat PET scan. Makes me a little nervous I have to admit. Besides the ovarian cysts, I'm not having problems anywhere else except for an occasional headache which I feel is due to caffeine withdrawals. We will see. Better be safe checking that out.