My nieces Jody and Rebecca came through for me - again. They bring so much love and life to me each time they are around and they make me LAUGH. This is my first photo without breasts. What do you think? I think I look pregnant. I have four drains, two on each side, to collect the lymphatic fluid. You can see the red-colored fluid in the lines that run from my incisions to the four collection bottles. The nurse had just emptied them right before this picture. I will have these drain tubes until I see the surgeon on October 11. Hopefully, at that time there will be very little or no drainage at all.
My support team consisted of Nancy, Jody, Debbie, Rebecca, Susan and Mom. I forgot to take a picture of Susan and Mom before they left to return to Dorrance. Drats!!!
I will probably go home sometime on Thursday if all goes well tonight (Wednesday) with pain control. I am no longer on IV pain medicine, but I am taking oral pain medicine. I have been walking the hallways to make sure I am stable on my feet and to speed my recovery. My chest and underarms are sore, but they seem to get better with each passing hour. At the time of this writing, I have only been out of surgery for 26 hours. I guess I am quite fine in my recovery!
This hospital is FULL!! I did not to leave the recovery unit until 2:00 pm today (Wednesday) because the hospital did not have any open rooms/beds. Five other patients and I spent the night in PACU (post anesthesia care unit) because of this. Normal protocol is to stay in the recovery room for 1 - 3 hours, but we stayed for 17 hours!! It was very quiet in PACU until 6:00 am when things started rolling for a new day of surgeries.
I guess you heard in the last post that my nodes were clean! Dr. Connor took four nodes on the cancerous side and one from my right side. She said there will be more pathology on the nodes, but the early tests indicated no cancer. The only restrictions I have on my activity for the next month is no housework such as doing dishes, vacuuming, laundry, and cooking. Can you believe that? Oh yeah, Dr Connor doesn't want me to referee any football games because I can not lift my arms high enough to signal Touchdown!! Double Drats...
That's all for now, but I do want to thank Nancy, Debbie, Susan, Mom, Rebecca and Jody for being with me. My Wednesday 'shout out' and my love goes to them. I also want to thank Nancy, Susan, and Debbie for the guest blog entry from last night.
Love to all,
Mary Kay
This hospital is FULL!! I did not to leave the recovery unit until 2:00 pm today (Wednesday) because the hospital did not have any open rooms/beds. Five other patients and I spent the night in PACU (post anesthesia care unit) because of this. Normal protocol is to stay in the recovery room for 1 - 3 hours, but we stayed for 17 hours!! It was very quiet in PACU until 6:00 am when things started rolling for a new day of surgeries.
I guess you heard in the last post that my nodes were clean! Dr. Connor took four nodes on the cancerous side and one from my right side. She said there will be more pathology on the nodes, but the early tests indicated no cancer. The only restrictions I have on my activity for the next month is no housework such as doing dishes, vacuuming, laundry, and cooking. Can you believe that? Oh yeah, Dr Connor doesn't want me to referee any football games because I can not lift my arms high enough to signal Touchdown!! Double Drats...
That's all for now, but I do want to thank Nancy, Debbie, Susan, Mom, Rebecca and Jody for being with me. My Wednesday 'shout out' and my love goes to them. I also want to thank Nancy, Susan, and Debbie for the guest blog entry from last night.
Love to all,
Mary Kay
8 comments:
You go girl!
Love, your breast friend
I knew it, I knew it, I knew it! Things are going your way. And you look good without breasts. I'm jealous, your golf game will be terrific. We will be in Manhattan for the game on Saturday and I hope to be able to stop by for a few minutes. We are bringing the Prowler (Jason's KSU fan bus) to the game so I will find someone who has a car I can borrow. I am so very proud of you; You and your family are an inspiration to all of us. Prayers have been answered and will continue to be as we all band together and thank God for his blessings.
I am so happy to hear things went well. I've been thinking about you a lot the past few weeks. Best wishes for a speedy recovery!
Oh -- I tried to text you the other day at the cell phone # I had for you -- here's a brief transcript:
ME: Hey! Hope all is going well!
NOT MK: Who is this?
ME: It's your son, Momma!
NOT MK: You must be mistaken. I have no children.
You are such an amazing person. I am just in awe of your strength in all of this. Hang in there.
Much love,
Mitzi
Uncle Ken and I are thinking of you and so greatful to God that he has given us this wonderful gift, "No Lym nodes involved". Does not get any better than this!
Will see you soon.
Give your main support team(Nancy) our love.
LaVern
Mary Kay -
Way To Go! You are kicking cancer's ASS!!
So glad to hear your lymph nodes are clean and you are on the road to recovery.
We'll keep you in our thoughts and prayers.
Andy Stanton
Yeah, we are so happy for you.
;>)
The Colorado Connection
Yeah, we are so happy for you.
;>) The Colorado Connection
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