Down the Drain

As I whined about here in the comments, after my surgery they left a drain tube in my chest. It was very uncomfortable. When I bent forward, it felt like it was poking me from the inside, and sometimes when I moved around, the place where it came out my side felt a pinch.

I finally got it removed last Monday, having barely qualified in terms of “output” (the amount of stuff collected by the drain.)

Halfway through the “drain days” I spoke with a nurse on the phone. She mentioned she had hers for three weeks, and gave me some tips about not moving and causing more “output.” After that conversation, I walked around with my arm practically pinned to my side.

When the drain got removed, I expected it to be a huge relief, which it was, but it hurt more for a few days. Plus my muscles are tweaked from being unnaturally tense and holding my arm to my side. Plus I think the nerves are regrowing where the surgery was, so once in a while it feels like someone jabbed me with a needle.

And I keep wondering what this hard lump is; I expected it to be flat. Finally I realized at least part of it is my pectoral muscle. But the physician’s assistant said if it starts looking like I am “growing a breast” that it would mean fluid is building up and they’d have to drain it with a needle. She said it would not hurt because it would be in the scar area. I sure wish I knew what it was supposed to look like…

Next week I have my radiation tattoos, and the next day my herceptin. Then I guess about a week later I’ll be taking my lunches to “go to the tanning booth.” I think I’m going to list that as my status when I leave work for radiation.

My oncologist’s secretary was about to transfer me to the radiation office, but she stopped and said “Oh. By the way. Radiation is a piece of cake.” She paused and then said “compared to chemo.” It was nice of her to reassure me. My oncologist’s staff are the cream of the crop and spoil me, so that when other doctors’ staff don’t measure up, I get confused.

So I had the drain out Monday, sat around and whined on Tuesday, and went to w*rk on Wednesday. It took me until halfway through Thursday to get caught up enough to get bored…. I’m sure there was some work I could have found to do but screw that. They are lucky I showed up at all

We have houseguests coming for the weekend but I am going to try to act helpless. Maybe they will clean my house. It should be interesting. They are both female. One of them lives in a fairly spotless house and the other one has been homesteading and does not quite *have* a house yet, only trailers and partial structures. She visits when she wants to have a nice long bath. They are both long time Deadhead friends of my husband so I just blame the state of the house on him. They’ve been here before so I can’t really blame my illness

I’m feeling pretty good. It’s still a bit ouchy from time to time and my muscles still feel very tight. Mostly I’m tired from staying up watching the Daily Show and the Colbert Report on hulu to catch up on the news, and some South Park. My husband left town on business on Wednesday and will be back tonight. I always stay up late screwing around on the internet when he’s gone.

That is all for now. Thanks, everyone, for all the support!