home again

well yesterday was the first step in my treatment journey and I had the surgery to remove the affected lump and nodes from my armpit.

Thankfully I was one of the first to go through for surgery so it wasn't a massive long day of waiting like with my sleeve operation. I was wheeled into theatre around 8.30 (or so Chris tells me) and I was awake in recovery around 11am. Everything went smoothly and I woke up with a fair amount of pain in my arm and chest but the nurses said this was most likely due to my arm being raised over my head so long during the operation. Couple of tramadol cleared it up pretty quickly though.

I had a couple of visitors as soon as I was back in my room; Chris (naturally) and my new friend Mel. I hope I wasn't rude or anything cause I was still pretty out of it and don't remember much from our conversation but Chris assures me she is lovely.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, just hours of me and Chris taking turns napping and playing on our phones/iPad.

I was discharged this morning with a lovely drainage tube that will most likely be hanging around for a week or more (until I have 2 consecutive days with 30ml or less of fluid collected). So I will have a home nurse come each day to swap them out.

I got my first proper look in the mirror at my chest and armpit area and I was completely in shock and had a good cry. Lets just say that one looks a lot younger and perkier than the other. My upper arm is still quite numb and the doctor said this was due to the nerves and something during surgery (you can tell I pay a lot of attention when doctors are talking to me about my health eh).

I think I feel more emotional today than any day last week, it's all sort of hit home and I'm realising now how much I will need to rely on Chris and my family and friends to help me.

Speaking of Chris I feel so awful, today is our third wedding anniversary and he was stuck in traffic for over an hour to pick me up and we can't (well I dont want to) go anywhere. He's pretty happy sitting there playing the new COD game though.

I love the guy more than anything and I just want him to know how happy he has made me these last 5 and a half years and I am so happy and proud to be his wife.