Home again

Well, I’m safely home. Bruised & battered admittedly. I did in fact come home on the day of the op, around midnight. We stopped on the way home at the 24hour Asda to collect a quick microwaveable meal as I’d only had a slice of toast to eat all day.

Yesterday morning was spent half dozing. I suspect it was partly the long day before, partly the last of the anaesthetic as my op had been in the afternoon.

In the afternoon, we had a return trip to Kendal as, in our rush to get home, we’d left my sandals at the hospital. I soon discovered just how many potholes there are on the road to Kendal & back. I ended up holding on to my breast to ensure it didn’t joggle around too much.

We came back on the country lanes as there was a long tailback on the motorway – rumour suggested it went as far south as an accident on the M62. After passing a stretch where some hedging had been done, a message came up to say our tyre pressure was low. We stopped at the golf club, partly to give me a break from the jostling, partly to check the tyre. There’s no sign of a flat. However, the Fox will go into Kwikfit to check later today – I can’t face another bumpy ride so soon, even if it’s only to Lancaster rather than Kendal.

I’m now doing my physio exercises to avoid a frozen shoulder. The Fox is doing the cooking – Spicy Turkey & Sweetcorn today. I shall have another quiet day.

Half my breast, beyond the dressing is clearly bruised. However, the pain level is on the whole less than that I regularly have in my knees. I can cope with it. At the moment I’m just a bit frustrated as I’m not to raise my left arm too high, lift with it or push down on it. It’s making the practicalities of daily life a little more difficult as I usually push myself up with both arms to stand. If the Fox helps me up, he usually pulls on one arm while I push with the other – impossible at the moment. It also means I cannot push myself in the wheelchair.

After the weekend the main dressing is to come off & I’m to have a shower, carefully patting dry around the wound. One good thing is that they managed to remove both the tumour & the sentinel lymph gland from just the one incision, not the two predicted.

I shall remain radioactive for another week or two so will need a doctor’s note if I’m travelling abroad. However, I’ve no plans to go anywhere. The blue dye remains apparent in my breast but nowhere else. My urine had returned to a normal colour so clearly the dye is working its way out of my system.

In another couple of weeks I will be seeing the surgeon again. Then I will hear the results of the tests on the removed matter & find out what further treatment, if any, will be needed. Hopefully I will then have a clearer idea when the whole business will be over & life will be able to settle back to normal. We’ll then try to work out some holidays. I suspect we will be ready for a break. France already seems a long time ago. We may even try for a few quiet days away in Britain once I feel more like myself again.