Soaking, Reflecting, Good News & Visits

June 18, 2011

Well, the weather isn’t so nice today – not sure I’ll even go out for a walk. I forgot to ask Dr. I if I am able to shower yet, so I’ll treat myself to a candle light soak, reading (by flashlight), chocolate covered caramels (do you guys really think I eat candy?) and coffee.

First, I washed my hair in the kitchen sink. I am bothered by hair in the sink and food prep area, but that’s the easiest way, zonder shower, and I can clean it up. Thank goodness for short hair. As I clean the sink, I reflect on the half moon shape that one hair forms, looks like a rounded breast without a nipple. Do you think I need something else to think about? Anyway, I wiped the sink out, moved on to running the bath and pouring potions into the water, getting set up for my soak. Why is it that there isn’t enough counter space in the bathroom for all this extra stuff?

 I have to remove the dressing from the drain site – we’ll see how that goes. The office nurse applied that quite securely. Ouch, that hurts. Guess it looks good there. Could be a trick to replace it.

I’m nearly done soaking when the phone rings. I finish up and go check the answering machine. It’s Dr. I calling about my final pathology report. A little twinge of anxiety passes through me, then I call him. He had called the pathologist to talk about the findings. Definitely benign. Play that B9 on your bingo! 0 mitotic activity – no cellular division going on; no necrosis of tumor tissue – still getting good blood supply; measurements of excised tissue surrounding the tumor varied due to location and size; final measurement 8 cm x 6.5 x ?. It had grown 1.5 cm since the first measurement in just 4 weeks.

Dr. I wonders how the breast tissue is looking today. Nipple is kind of dark, to the right outside of the areola is darkish pink. I think maybe it looks better than yesterday, not sure in comparison to what he saw on Thurs. He thinks it sounds normal considering the tissue injury and wonders when I have my follow-up appointments with Dr. C and with himself. I thank him for calling, and I thank God for this physician.

I had tried to shave my armpits and find that I didn’t do such a great job when I check with the 10x magnifying mirror! I reapply a dressing to the drain site – it will come off easier than the last one! Dr. I says I can shower now. Looking forward to it!

I finish getting ready for Aunt Judy’s visit. It was good to see her – we chat and enjoy each other’s company. When she leaves, it’s time to get some lunch. 

I go to the local Woodstock Wine & Deli in search of Barbeque. No barbeque today due to the rain, however, there are pulled pork sandwiches inside. I order and go sit with Tak, the 85 year old owner of the place and sit to chat about Mr. Wiener, local politics, and whatever else comes up. I saw the back side of the head of the fellow serving wine tastings – looks like Jerry. Jerry had a wine shop and tasting room up on Russell St. in N Portland and was a friend of friends. We had my 50^th birthday party there. With white hair and beard, he is quite distinctive looking. I ask Tak who his wine guy is and he says “His name is Jerry”.  I tell him I know who he is. After awhile Tak calls Jerry over and we talk Polly, Steve, Olivia, La Carafe, Pasqual and restaurants. Small world. He’s doing wine tastings for now at the Deli. Polly, Olivia, Steve, Scott, Bill – let’s go to a wine tasting at Tak’s soon.

As I walk home from the Deli I kinda feel like my right chest is near exploding. It’s tight and uncomfortable. Makes me wonder if everything is in the right place. I have to trust that it is for now. Guess this is my pain signal. I don't think I mention earlier or later that an expander was placed under my pectoral muscle to stretch the tissue that will be used for reconstructing my breast. Pretty much my entire breast is numb and though I've had basically no incisional pain, I can feel the pressure of the expander.

Time to catch you up on the rest of the riveting chronology of events. Stay tuned!