And then I cried some more- Recovering now!

I wrote about how I felt the night before surgery last Monday. I tried to be brave and as much as I was at times, I have definitely been scared too. We left Marshall in Bloomington with my mom and headed to the plastic surgeon first thing Monday morning to get marked. The thought of that alone made me cringe. 

I cried a little bit on the car ride up. Glenn knew I was sad, but we rode mostly in silence. He wants to be supportive, while not over-bearing and he wants to talk about it if I do, but wants to make sure he doesn’t talk about it if I don’t want to. I’m sure it’s all confusing to him- when to say what to make the hormonal, emotional wife smile and not cry. 

And then I cried again when the nurse explained the surgery aftercare. I started getting really emotional. I was trying to smile and nod and not cry, but it was impossible. This was making it real and in just a few hours I was heading to the operating room. 

Once we were all registered, we headed up to my prep room and the nurses knew I was nervous and were really great about calming me down. My breast surgeon came in and gave me a big hug, went over the game plan and headed out. I asked the anesthesiologist if he could give me something to zone out before they took me back, so he gave me some versed while I was answering a few questions from the nurse and the next thing I remember is waking up in the recovery room. Apparently then I cried some more though and Glenn and I said goodbye after that but I do not remember one bit of that.

My mom and Glenn came up to my room as soon as they could and then my sister Shelby and niece Giovanna came to visit, along with Sarah later that evening. Emily and Andy came up in the morning with Coffee and Bagels from Einsteins, my fav. Gosh, I had good friends. 

I’ve been recovering at my parents house since Wednesday. It’s been fairly uneventful and my mom, sister, Grandma and Glenn have been very helpful. Marshall got to spend two full days with my Grandma (his mimi) and they had a really good time. 

Thursday night, I was nauseous with a pounding headache all night. In the morning, the headache was so bad I could hardly walk. I couldn’t take it any more so my parents Emergency Department. I’ve never had a migraine but am assuming this is what they must feel like.

They ended up giving me an IV with Toradol and Zofran and I felt better within 20 minutes. Even though I had drank plenty of water, I was apparently dehydrated. I also stopped taking almost all narcotics because I think the build of of them had something to do with my headache. I’m now just on tramadol and taking one loratab in the evening. I would deal with almost any pain to not have a headache like that again.

How it’s going now- I feel 9,000 times better than the first couple of days. But holy crap I’m tired and ready to rip these freaking drainage tubes to come out. They don’t gross me out but they are uncomfortable and make showering and sitting in certain positions uncomfortable. I’m have been hoping they would get to come out today when I go in for my follow up appointment with plastics, but I have a feeling it will take a few more days as the draining hasn’t slowed as much as they are supposed to to come up. They say it could take up to two weeks. Realistically, I’m hoping for Wednesday or Thursday. 

And I only had one minor meltdown yesterday but the rest of the day was pretty good.

I’m really excited to get through these first two weeks and move on. I’ll still be big time recovering for awhile, but will get much better each week. I have a weight restriction of  3-5 lbs for the first two weeks and then 10-15 until week six. It’s my natural instinct to just grab Marshall, so this very weird to not be able to pick him up. I’ve had lot’s of help so far and have plenty of help through next week as well. Kind of playing weeks 3-6 by ear. I can’t imagine going through this and being sick on top of it. I am very thankful for this.

I feel very supported and loved and am overwhelmed by the kindness of friends and family who have sent, cards, flowers, food and encouragement during this time. My mom has taken time off work to help and next week Glenn’s family is going to help us out. 

Alright- I don’t know about you- but I’m hella excited to move on from this and watch Glenn in Chicago next weekend. Everyone cross your fingers that these damn tubes are out!