Post Surgery Update

I had started writing this post earlier this week but never made it back to it, so I'm starting from scratch!

Surgery was about a week and a half ago now.  The process didn't exactly start out as expected.  We had been expecting surgery to go for about 4-6 hours (and in fact my surgeon had indicated he thought it would be in the 5 hour range for me).  Well it ended up taking 7 hours.  Then as I was slowly waking up in the recovery room, I hear my doctor talking about my blood flow numbers.  Apparently there was an area in the tissue transplant that wasn't receiving adequate blood flow. So he turned me straight around and took me back in for another 2 hours.  Yep, that would be 9 total hours of surgery.  I was rough by the time I made it back to my room to be sure.  Sore throat, sore body, and drugged.  My mom, dad, sister, brother in law, niece and husband were waiting for me when I arrived at my room.  I think I scared them a little. =)  Nick knew I was in rough shape and could see I was worried about the night, so promised to return early the next morning.  Gratefully I had a wonderful night nurse who really did make all the difference to me in that difficult first night. She was kind, funny, and on top of caring for me.  She even made sure to get me a massage through the complimentary service for cancer patients for that next morning.

Aside from the fact that it is quite literally impossible to get a good nights sleep (or even a nice nap for that matter) in a hospital, my recovery went decently well.  The first couple of days were rough since they wanted me to work towards getting up and moving and my body was just not there yet.  But by day three I was working well towards their goals, and could have even been released half a day early if I'd wanted.  But I knew I wasn't quite ready to manage myself at home and my family definitely wasn't ready to have me home unable to easily make it to the restroom on my own. One more night was perfect.

I arrived home on Saturday and was doing surprisingly well.  After feeling like the bionic woman with an IV, central line (that's an IV in your neck), catheter, leg pumps, blood pressure cuff, oxygen/pulse monitor, blood flow monitor, Doppler monitor, and five drains, I miraculously went home with only two drains in my body. I could walk quite well and wasn't feeling too much pain.

So now, here I am one week post release and feeling good.  I'm weaning myself off pain meds and trying to walk more.  Unfortunately both of those things have left me a little more sore. But my energy and strength seem to be really good.  Also, I'm really happy with my physical results from surgery so far.  Of course I won't know the full results for awhile as the swelling goes down and my body adjusts and heals, but I feel good and like what I see so far.  My doctor also seems happy with the results and several of the nurses told me how great he is (I heard perfectionist used several times). In my opinion, no one knows better than the nurses who work with (and after) the surgeons.

Onward and upward from here! I've been pleasantly surprised at how good I've felt so far.  The trick will be to avoid overdoing it.  I think I may be dealing with that a little bit right now. I am grateful I did what work I could in advance of surgery to strengthen my muscles as I am feeling the benefit of it now.  I just have to keep my focus on eating well (and the sugar/carb cravings I've been having this week are definitely not helping!) and slowly advancing towards getting my body back into motion. I think it may also be time to look into the writing challenge I've been wanting to do.  Something a little more productive than watching trashy tv and movies! lol

The best part of all is that I am starting to experience a little sensation of emotional closure on cancer.  I didn't expect that to be the case for me, but as I "get my body back" I do feel that I am walking away from that process. And so begins 2014- the year of Karey. ;)

Surgery is here

Tomorrow morning, in approximately 9 hours, I will be drifting off to sleep for the biggest surgery I have ever had.  The final major piece in my cancer journey.  I'm feeling nervous about being away from my babies.  And nervous about the results.  I've felt so uncomfortable in my body for so long now, and have only just started to feel comfortable again since both the expander and implant were out.  I hate the idea that I might not continue feeling comfortable in my own body.  And yet, the results could set me further along the path to feeling not just comfortable, but proud.  Here's hoping that is the result!  Although I've spent the week feeling excited, I've been aware of a constant anxiety also plaguing me.  They are very similar emotions of course. I only realized the anxiety was there once I noticed I was stress eating. =)  Well with a few things left to do before tomorrow I'd better get to it, but I am asking for thoughts and prayers and good vibes and juju for a smooth surgery with outstanding results and rapid healing.  Not too much to ask right? ;)