Cancer log 122: …

Cancer log 122: Post-op. So, I woke up from the procedure -- or rather, was rudely awakened. Not really rudely, per se, but the somewhat brusque nurse did seem to think I really ought to be waking up, and I was *trying*, but I was incredibly drowsy, and deeply resentful of her attempts to try to get me to wake up. So that was cranky-making. I think I eventually managed to convince her that I was feeling sick and yucky and she changed her approach and started telling me to take my time, etc. And it was getting to the end of the time when they expect people to wake up, so I'm guessing she wasn't expecting me to still be so out of it. But still, was frustrating.

I eventually managed to get up and dressed, with Kevin's help, and then go home, where I promptly fell asleep again for a couple more hours. The anesthesia meds just hit me really strongly, I guess. I felt okay when I woke up again around dinner time -- well enough to eat various things, and then even go to curriculum night at the kids' school. No pain at all; the drugs were effective. Had fun, came home, eventually went to bed, not anticipating what horrors awaited the following day.

Okay, not horrors exactly. But I woke up and got the kids off to school, still feeling exhausted. Tried to go back to sleep; no luck. Rested for a while, then slept finally, then woke up around lunchtime, thought that I should probably eat something, had some food -- which, I'm sorry to report, immediately made clear that it didn't intend to stay down. Went back to sleep.

Sometime around 3-ish, I decided that the real problem were the pain meds they had me taking -- some variant of oxycodone, I think. So I stopped taking them, and within a few hours was feeling much better. I didn't take any meds for the rest of the day, was able to keep down some crackers and apple juice by bedtime, and this morning, just had some Tylenol (which they'd said I could switch to), and have had a normal breakfast.

The pain is really quite mild -- even without the meds, it's just sort of achey, much like the way muscles feel after a serious workout. I'm always a bit surprised that it doesn't hurt more -- you'd think that all that slicing into flesh would result in agony, but I guess the body heals faster than one would think? It hurts a bit more where they took the lymph node out than at the breast, but seriously, neither is bad, and I could manage without even the Tylenol. With the Tylenol, I don't feel any pain at all unless I bump or stretch the affected areas.

So that's where I am, two days after the procedure. Definitely still tired -- I couldn't have taught yesterday, and today would be iffy. I'm able to do mild straightening up around the house, but nothing requiring much in the way of exertion. I actually have two meetings here today, so I am about to go take my first post-surgery shower (hooray!) and remove my big dressings, leaving just the steri-strips in place. But other than that, the plan for the day is to rest, rest, and hey, some more resting. V. exciting. But as one nurse told me, in medicine, boring is good.