For those interested in the back story, here is the entry about my Birthday Boob Biopsy, a gift to myself.
I didn't write much about the follow up to that, I said "here's to the nothingburger" that I thought it would be. Well, it was a little more of a somethingburger.
The biopsy results showed I had Atypical Ductal Hyperplasia. The breast health doctors assured me that it was not cancer, but, if left alone and ignored, it runs the risk of developing into cancer down the road. Recommendation was that we remove the ADH area.
The surgeon described it as a golf ball sized amount of tissue et al. I joked that in my already small and wee boobies, a golf ball is a significant amount of tissue but okay. Gotta do what's right and healthy.
We picked a date.
I got COVID-19.
I rescheduled the date.
We got the house rental all set up a month and a half before we needed to and my surgery was scheduled in the midst of moving time.
I realized how much I'd need to do before the move and if I had surgery the beginning of February, I'd be unable to accomplish things. Plus, I was still reeling from feeling tired and drained post-covid).
I rescheduled again.
It's kind of a normal thing for me to postpone and reschedule things that are self-care related. The calendar is never right. There's always a thing, or someone needs to do something, or I need to do something. It's a complicated life. I feel like I spend so much time doing absolutely nothing, but that time is rarely in a long enough stretch that it makes sense to get a hysterectomy or boob surgery or anything that will knock me on my ass for more than four days. And work. Holy cow, I missed two solid weeks and a lot of stray hours from Covid. I don't want to say I'm the carabiner that holds our team on the side of the mountain but wow. It was a lot of me not being there.
So the rescheduling was at a good time.
This Monday, I kept the appointment, I had the surgery, and we got the mess removed. Waiting on the results of the pathology right now.
How do I feel? Sore. Right into my armpit, just like with the biopsy. I'm so glad we got in the house, got the dog, are semi-settled, and things are cruising along because there is no way I could have done this during the month of February.
Dog has been a constant bed companion. He's a cuddler, so he likes to be close. Which is something I wish I'd had during the Covid recovery period.
I'm up and about, but not allowed to lift things. I will get The Boy to pick the laundry basket up and put it on the bed and I can fold the contents. I'm sure that will make me uncomfortable but it'll keep me busy. I can do dishes, so I'm keeping up on that because my men are just not good at keeping up with it. We don't have a lot of space for the dishes to dry so you have to wash a few at a time until they are all done, and then there are more. It actually gives me something to look forward to. I can walk out to the kitchen and wash some plates or all the glasses that have accumulated. Accomplished!
Sleep has been alright, Monday I went to bed and pretty much slept through the night, and most of Tuesday. I got up around 1pm and made it to the living room to hang out. Bed at 9pm Tuesday, but woke up at 9am and decided to be up for the day. I spent time proofreading a book for my friend Matt and got halfway done.
Last night was rough. I had some serious restless leg going on, and my boob hurt. No position I could put myself into was comfortable. I was ready to give up and go continue reading Matt's book but I wanted to be wide awake and clear headed for proofing. I then realized I had not taken the pain medication at 9pm when I headed to bed. It was after 1:30, I didn't want to get out of bed, I was semi-trapped by Dog, but wiggled my way up and out from under the covers successfully while only making a few pained noises. The pain medication helped, and I was able to fall asleep.
Doug dropped his phone under the bed at 7:30 and needed to get the broom to get it, so, I got up, showered, and got ready for work.
My boob is swollen and tender. There is a steri strip over the incision so I haven't seen it yet. The doctor said not to pull it off, that it would fall off on its own. I'll take his advice on that and wait. Not seeing a lot of bruising, just swelling that is reminiscent of when I would breastfeed the children and we'd go too long between feedings. Firm and tender, uncomfortable for sure.
The doctor told me to take two weeks off and I laughed. What on earth would I need two weeks off for? It isn't like I'm riding the metro and commuting, or schlepping a laptop bag over my shoulder (God, that would hurt so much right now). I work at home in Guster T-shirts and yoga pants. So he told me to take a week.
I opted to take three days, and today's the day I'm back. There's a lot to do. I read all the slack messages during my time out and there's so much happening. So. Much. I'm trying to wrap my head around how so much can change and happen in 3 days.
So, into the fire we go, I guess. But as the saying goes... "But first, coffee."
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