Post Surgical Report

Here's the email message that I sent to all the folks on my list today. I know they gave me some Decadron as a pre-med before the surgery today, and I expect that's what is making me so perky right now. I figure if this works like it did during Chemo days I will be dragging my rear tomorrow, and will truly be lounging on the sofa watching movies. Today I had a bit of a "House"-a-thon and also played Sudoku on my new Iphone, a real guilty pleasure. Tomorrow, movies. And veggie chips...another guilty pleasure that I have decided I deserve to indulge in at this particular time. Thank goodness we have Trader Joe's here in Nashville now.

Hi all,

Had my surgery today to replace my  expanders with permanent implants.

Ouch! Fortunately, I have Percocet.  Never used to like that stuff but in this instance, I’m very grateful to it.  An ice pack is helping too.

Surgery went smoothly and I was home by  noon. I figure I’ll be on the sofa most of the weekend but have had the energy  to do a bit of emailing and to paint my nails. I have to be careful to keep my  arms down and not to lift anything over 10 pounds, and I’m actually trying to  keep it to 5 pounds today. But already I am noticing how nice it is to have  those boulders out of my chest.

Dave is taking fantastic care of me  and I know he is very relieved to be able to do it. Mom saved the day back in  November and it was very special for me to get to spend that time with her,  but I am very happy not to need to ask for emergency help, to be able to  handle this ourselves, Dave being well enough to provide the care-giving  without compromising his own health. I prefer to have family visits when I’m  well and able to go have fun! And any of my out of state friends, that goes  for you too!

I’ll be updating my Facebook pages, both the personal one  and the “Adie Grey is Kicking Cancer” page, and also my blog, but I won’t keep  emailing gory details. You of course may check the postings or contact me if  you want to know more, but I don’t want to wear out my welcome! I’ll even post  some pictures when I’ve got the bandages off...clothed and discrete ones of  course!

Thanks always so much for all of the well wishes and supportive  emails. It helps me massively to know you all are out there thinking good  thoughts for me. I’ll try to respond to everyone personally in the next few  days. With the supportive energy I could sense all around me, I was amazingly  calm going into and all through this experience. That felt really good; thank  you again.

Those of you here in the mid south, I hope are safe  from the storms. Thinking good thoughts for you all.

Wonderful Weekends

I really really love my weekends and they are really really too dang short! I love my job, but I miss having more discretionary time. Saw a friend who I haven't seen in a long time at a party today; we talked about the up and down sides of working for "the man" as opposed to working for yourself. It's great to have the benefits...insurance, paid time off, etc...but it is a price to pay for no longer having the authority to simply choose to sleep in today, or to travel at a whim. I function much better and sleep deeper when I fall our around 1 am and sleep until 9:30. That approach will not work with my job schedule. I have to adapt.

But I did get to have lots of time with friends this weekend, the monthly game group met last night with much hysterical laughter involved. That is one smart group of women. I kind of crashed out suddenly around 11 pm (I may stay awake until 1 am on my own time, but am not necessarily coherent in those late hours!) and had to leave quickly to feel good about driving home, but then got a bit of a second wind when I walked in the door. I hope those ladies know how much I appreciate and admire them. I don't feel like I ever say out loud the thoughts I have from the heart. With the heightened awareness of the frailty of mortality, I aim to say my inner love messages out loud but never feel that I adequately succeed.

Dave is better every day; we took a walk today up at the agricultural center nearby and he did okay, but pooped out sooner than he used to. I'm glad he's on the mend, but he still has a long way to go to regain the strength he needs for our trip and for a healthy life in general. I'm hoping he may go for cardiopulmonary rehab at my center, but knowing him, he'll want to do it himself. Backing off and giving one's loved ones the space to make their own choices is a very zen aspiration and often very challenging, but in the long run, necessary. Last Thursday was our 26th wedding anniversary; we had a lovely meal and I will post pix of that soon. The whole weekend has felt celebratory.

I'm working on reducing my animal protein consumption. I don't really know how to think like a vegetarian, but I'm doing okay in my creeping toward that goal. I can't bear the thought of veganism as I love my yogurt too much, (and eggs, and cheese) but I think I can reduce the reliance on these foods along with reducing my meat intake. I know I generally feel better when I'm eating mainly fruit and veggies. But I stay hungry a lot and have to plan well to avoid snacks that are likely to spike my insulin and to get adequate calories. I had hoped to take part in a clinical trial of Metformin, a diabetes drug, to prevent recurrence of the breast cancer which I intend to have not recur anyway, but the drug approval process has been so long-winded that I am now no longer a candidate as Friday was my one year anniversary of diagnosis. I'll have to find other ways of controlling my blood sugar as that is a major predictor of survival.  Lentils are a very exciting discovery; I've always loved them, rarely cooked them. Friday  I came up with a great lentil dish that was easy and is still yummy as leftovers. I can see that there are tons of variations I can enjoy with them.

I am eagerly anticipating my upcoming surgery, April 15th. My understanding is that it will be a very easy procedure as it is being done in an outpatient facility, not even at the hospital. Yahoo! I'm hoping that means no intubation, and a twilight sleep type sedation. And a nice, not very knocked out week off of work. Fingers crossed. Our niece Bethany has tantalized us with the prospect of a visit during that time, and it's been ages since we got to really hang out with her. I'm hoping it happens, and looking forward to sleeping as late as I want!