A Pound of Flesh
I’m now five days post-surgery, and of course the first question everyone wants answered is, “How are you feeling?” And the short answer…
I’m now five days post-surgery, and of course the first question everyone wants answered is, “How are you feeling?” And the short answer is: “Pretty good, actually.” I’ve had very minimal pain. The waves of tiredness or grogginess after general anesthesia have been lessening. I don’t have much discomfort or restricted motion so I have to consciously remember that I’m not supposed to lift things. I’ve had an allergic reaction to the surgical dressings, which so far has been the greatest annoyance from the whole procedure.
My husband has spent this week of his spring break caring for me, doing all the laundry, caring for sick child home from school one day, caring for the dog who had to have surgery on Friday, driving everyone around, going on walks with me, and caring for sick child on Saturday. (Sorry, babe!) I also have to shout out thanks to friends who brought fabulous meals over, sent cards and flowers, and my sister-in-law who sent a huge box of amazing chocolates. You all speak my love languages. [Note: My love languages include food, walks, chocolates, and conversation. And my spouse cleaning up the 3 am vomit. I’m multilingual.]
In my post-op chat with the oncology surgeon, he said, “We’ve taken about 500 grams of tissue. I’m not going to tell you that it should all be fine — because we keep thinking that and then we keep finding more anomalies. But … well, we’re all hoping that this will be it.” I assured him that even though the surgeons and nurses are all lovely human beings and as much as I do enjoy our banter, I really hope that I won’t need to see them nearly so often in the future.
My wound-care visit with the nurse is on Tuesday, and the following Monday will likely be my follow-up with the oncologist. Continued prayers are appreciated that the report will be clear margins, and that the pound of flesh they’ve taken will have captured all the pesky carcinoma cells.