Still Loopy Post-Surgery

They took the drain out of my belly this morning but I still have these funny square sponges on my nips. Just call me SpongeNips. hee.

I can’t lift anything. It doesn’t hurt my boobs, but my belly is SO SORE!!! The nurse described it as a giant papercut. Ouch! I have a funny corsety-girdle thing I am to wear for a few days. Maybe ’til my followup appointment on Thursday, I’m not sure. I should probably look at my discharge instructions, eh?

While under the influence of the loverly morphine last night, I became obsessed with a makeup infomercial: sheer cover. I spent half the day trying to figure out the product’s name.

All in all, this was a pretty darn good surgical experience. I had zero post-surgery vomiting (score!) and my throat wasn’t sore from the breathing tube. Although the nurses and Tom told me that I was quite the comedian when I was in recovery…apparently I

a) told the nurses that my husband’s name was Kevin (?) and

b) kept shouting “cancer, shmancer!”

Christmas Day 2005

We’re having a very lovely holiday, extremely grateful to have eachother and our health and happiness.

I have one more surgery to go (cosmetic/reconstruction), on Tuesday. It’s just an outpatient surgery and I’ll be home the same night. But from then on, I am resolute: no more surgeries this year! In fact, I am considering making “No Surgeries in 2006″ my new motto.

Happy holidays!

Periodic Update

I’ve been feeling really great lately. I keep saying that if it wasn’t for the surgical scars and the crazy short hair, I wouldn’t know I was sick this year. The hair is growing back so fast. It’s actually just about long enough that I would feel comfortable not wearing a wig in public. I still wear wigs out of the house, though; it’s warmer that way! The color is not so much white anymore as it is silver. Pretty uniformly silver, too.

I had a checkup with the oncologist this past week. We decided that I won’t need to do a CT/CAT scan again until April–hurray! Maybe now I can find some flavored contrast to buy on the internet or somewhere before the next set of scans. I asked if he thought we should just go ahead and do the other oopharectomy if I’m still in chemopause next spring; he said he really doesn’t feel any particular urgency for me having the other ovary removed THAT soon. And also said that he thinks I’ll come out of chemopause anyhow. It’s just so frustrating not knowing if I’m in permanent menopause or not, though.

Mom is getting ready to do the gene testing to help her decide if she’ll need to do an oopharectomy too or not. Now two family members (me and another close relative) have tested positive for BRCA-1, so I think we’d all be surprised if Mom doesn’t also end up having it.

In News of the Boys, I think we should just go ahead and declare this the Year of Hating Santa. We’ve taken them twice this month to see Santa and it’s all good until they get in his lap. Then the tears commence! They like him well enough on their Christmas DVDs and little toy Santas and things, but I guess something about Santa Up Close and Personal is just too much for them.