Busy days

I was interested to see how sleeping would be affected by this surgery.  After the mastectomy, sleeping was not fun at all.  Getting in and out of the bed was very difficult, as was finding a comfortable position that allowed me to sleep on my back. 

I'm happy to report that last night - night number 1 - was much better than even a month into the recovery from the mastectomy.  I still had to figure out how to sleep but it wasn't painful.  I was just nervous about being on either side, especially my left.  Since it didn't hurt, I found myself on my side several times and finally I quit fighting it and just slept however I wanted.  Getting out of bed wasn't bad, either.  It's not as easy as 3 days ago, but not impossible.  I do have a twinge of pain when switching from prone to upright, but not near as much pain as I remember in November and December.

Last night I took both a Clariton D and a Vicodin.  I didn't notice the Vicodin knocking me out though. It must not be as strong as Percocet. 

Today I haven't had any pain meds, not even the over-the-counter options.  I'm a little sore, but not too bad.  We went shopping with Ken's parents (looking for couches) for a few hours late morning/early afternoon.  I also did some work email catch-up and walked 2.33 miles (20:20 and 19:56).  Then I took a nap for a few hours.

Before dinner, Ken washed my hair in the basement kitchen sink.  I really love our basement kitchen sink. It's from Ikea and doesn't look like much, but it has a great solid feeling when I stand in front of it. It's like a farmer's sink with the ceramic sticking out about an inch past the cabinets. The faucet is wonderful too.  I don't think it is from Ikea.  It has a pull-out sprayer that worked wonderfully to wash my hair. 

I can't take a real shower until Friday.  I suppose that's when I'll actually see the results of the surgery.  I've been good to not take the bra off yet to take a peek.  Actually, I'm kinda nervous to see them.  I'm not sure I'll like them or that I made the right decisions about size and such.  Oh well, it's done now and time to move on.

This evening, Jan made dinner (meatloaf, broccoli, watermelon, and yams) and then we went to Val's band concert.  Before we left, she prepared us to do the arm motions for O-H-I-O during the Hang On Sloopy number.  Then she realized that might be tough for me so she showed me how to do it with my fingers instead.  She said "that will still count."  I was able to do more than finger motions but my arm motions were in front of me instead of over my head.  Jason noticed and hugged me and said "good job."  What great kids!

Val's band group did a wonderful job tonight.  We came home to celebrate with Graeter's ice cream.  Our neighbors stopped by with goodies and a card for me so we invited them to join us. 

As you can tell, my recovery days have been pretty busy so far.  Jan and Jim leave tomorrow but Ken will stay home and work from here for at least another day.  If all goes well tomorrow, Ken will go to work on Friday so I expect to have some alone time while the kids are at school.