Liberation

I’ve now progressed to the more demanding physiotherapy exercises. These involve getting my arms above my head. It was a relief to find that I could happily stretch as far as I can without any extra discomfort.

With this in mind I feel the time to get back to try living as normal. So today I had a shower & washed my hair. There are still some steri-strips across the incision. Even getting wet doesn’t seem to have loosened them. I patted them dry as best I can. As far as I’m concerned the hospital can take them off when I go there next week, that is if they haven’t dropped off on their own accord as the instruction sheet suggests they will.

My breast remains a colourful sight. The nipple area remains the blue of the dye though the natural flesh colour is starting to peer through. The area from the nipple to just beyond the incision is a mixture of reds, purples, yellows & greens, just one giant bruise in other words.

Yesterday I cooked my first meal – a Greek stifado. It was wonderful just to be handling ingredients again. Admittedly I was a bit on the go slow, but I’ll soon get back into my stride I’m sure. The only thing I really did differently from before the op is that I just took out the potatoes I wanted for the mash, rather than move the whole bag to the sink for peeling. I thought that might be a bit heavy at the moment. We’d bought a new large sack on Wednesday.

In the afternoon we went off to the chemist to get our regular pill supplies. I pushed myself around in my wheelchair. Freedom at last! Independent moving! We later popped into a local supermarket for a couple of items & again I pushed myself. It made life so much easier than the Fox having to push me with a trolley attached at the front – it makes for a very long unwieldly push - as we’d done on Wednesday. The Fox happily carried the basket & stretched for higher items – so much simpler.

All this liberation has done much for my morale. I’m leaving the surgical stocking until the weekend, when they can go in the wash. I’m still wearing my new, full support bra at all times, though it did feel wonderful to have it off for a period while I had my shower.

I will admit I am still feeling the need for extra rest. Most days I’ve either had a lie-down at some point or a very early night. But then that is only to be expected. It’s only just over a week since I had the op.