Non-Infection

This morning I had an appt. with Dr. S to get a “fill up” and for him to check the infection along my left incision line. Turns out, it’s not infected. Yes, the wound opened up, and yes it is draining but no, it’s not infected. It seems that when that part of the wound opened up some tissue became necrotic and turned yellow/white/gray. I thought that tissue was dried up crusty puss, but no. Just dead tissue. So he cut it off and steri-stripped the skin back together….ewwwww….and then filled me up.

He also told me that during surgery I didn’t have enough pectoral muscle or skin to reattach my muscle once he put the expanders underneath them. So he used small pieces of “donated” skin to put me back together. What? As an organ donor I never really thought of donated skin. And skin is the biggest organ of all. Anyway, the donated skin is cleaned of all cells, bleached and essentially become collagen. So….I have an extra muscle in my left elbow and not enough muscles in my chest.

I wonder if I can still be an organ donor once I am a cancer survivor?

So that is good news. And right now my brother and youngest nephew are in town. So that is better news. I miss my brother all the time. We don’t see enough of each other. So he and my dad drove me to Dr. S this morning and when we got back here he and my dad loaded up my moms Lazy Boy to take it home to her. They also took Michelle with them. And I wanted to go too…wanted to spend the day with my brother but guess what? Getting “filled up” kind of hurts. And once the chair was moved I found that one Percocet I had dropped. So I swallowed the pill and napped. I will see everyone for dinner tonight. And I can spend tomorrow with my brother.

Someone told me that after the “fill up” it felt like she was having a Braxton Hicks contraction. Which is pretty much true. And remember how I said after surgery I felt like I couldn’t breathe right, that I couldn’t cough or take a deep breath? “Fill ups” kind of do that to me too.

It’s a very strange process that I am going thru. Boggles my mind at times. I have recently become friends with a woman who is going thru (almost exactly) what I am going thru and I think we help each other. These friendships that I have made since this diagnosis boggles my mind too. I have met quite a few wonderful women since April that I would never have met if it weren’t for breast cancer. There is an immediate bond that forms when two people who are walking the same path meet, even if one person is further along the path. Sometimes two people who walk different paths form a bond just because one of the two reaches out and said “I’m here, I care, I’m praying”. I have been doubly blessed. First by the people already in my life; and then by all my new sisters in pink.

So yeah….yesterday I was pretty pissed, but today was much better.