On Monday, March 17th, the medical assistant for my plastic surgeon took out the final drain. It hurt for a second but then I felt relief. Plus the location where the drain went in stopped itching. THAT was a good day (dance of joy!!). I celebrated with some Grandma sandwich cookies from the vending machine when I got back to work. I was running out of options for my work wardrobe. I had been wearing slightly baggy button up shirts. Button up because I can only lift my right arm to a certain point and it hides the surgical bra. Baggy to hide the drain.

My mom came from Idaho to help me with my kids and dinner in the evenings. She was a great help. She came in the house Monday night and said, “OK, I’m here. Go to bed.” I was able to just wrap up the things I had going on and then go to bed. It was great. I asked her to come back one more week to make sure I can handle things in the usual manner. But, now that I’m thinking about it, I will probably need her help through the next phase of this process.

It seems to take forever to recover from surgery but I feel like I can move a little more each day. I saw the plastic surgeon yesterday, Friday, who added 60 cc’s to the expander which is such a weird feeling. He wants me to come back in about a week and a half to see what we want to do next. The one thing I am excited about is that I graduate from the surgical bra to the exercise bra. Yay!! I am also ok’d to start stretching my arm. I have not been ok’d to lift more than 10 pounds. I’m looking forward to having full mobility again.

In my last post I mentioned that I had many appointments that I needed to make. This is not only for me but also my kids. This week, I see the dentist and the medical oncologist. There is a possibility that I was also see the plastic surgeon and the genetics counselor. My three-year-old also has a well child checkup this week. Add to that a full-time job and it will be a busy week for sure.