The surgery should take about 5 hours and if all goes well (which I'm sure it will!) I should be able to go home the following day (a two day stay in the hospital at the most!). I realize that everyone is very different regarding recoup time, but I'm hoping for the 'fast track' of recovery and hope to be up and mobile within a few days! From what Dr. Lee has told me from her experience, I will likely be more 'tired' than 'sore'. One of the most important things for me to do will be to make sure I don't try to 'overdo' it! Many women (after mastectomies) feel so good they forget to limit their upper body movement and end up making matters more difficult for themselves.
I've been reading lots of 'helpful tips' on what to do ahead of time, like moving items I use regularily from upper to lower shelves, do some extra cooking/baking the week before surgery and have things ready to thaw/heat up easily, give the apt. a good cleaning, etc., etc... I've also gotten back on track on walking/running and am doing some Pilates here at home to get my body ready for the ordeal. Being as fit as possible going into any surgery is a great way to help your body get ready to heal :) I've always been a really great/fast healer... so I don't have any worries in that area!
I had a very nice talk with my primary doctor, Dobrina Okorn yesterday. I had called on Tuesday in hopes of getting in to get a prescription for something to help me sleep and was told she had 'absolutely nothing' available until next week. I requested a message be passed along to her, simply stating my name and that I would only need a few minutes of her time. Literally seconds later, her nurse called back and set up an appointment for the following day. I expected to have an 'in and out' visit with a prescription in my pocket and instead had her undivided attention for about 40 minutes :)
We talked about all that's happened since we first met on Aug/13/08. Though that was the only time we'd actually 'seen' each other, she gets copies of all of the reports sent to her and had called on a couple of occasions to see if I was okay and if there was anything she could do for me. After talking for a while yesterday she suggested I take a mild antidepressant as well as a mild sleep aid. The antidepressant is something that is routinely prescribed for people having trouble sleeping and as well will hopefully help my chemicals get firing on all cylinders to help me cope emotionally with all of this. And since I've coincidentally, seemingly ventured into the beginnings of menapause (night sweats that constantly wake me up) the sleeping meds should help me sleep through the night. *funny I feel pained by saying I'm entering menopause... I'm slowly getting used to saying 'I have Breast Cancer'... perhaps that will get easier to say too??*
E X H A L E...
Right now it is actually a relief to have a date for surgery and to feel 'a little' more comfortable about accepting that this is all happening to me. Like most things in life, the first steps are the most difficult...
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