The day after surgery I was feeling pretty good, but neither Chris nor I had slept much. I didn’t want breakfast, but Chris ate something.

Dr Schwartzberg came by around 8 am, I think, and asked how I felt. It was nice to see her. I had a little bit of pain on my left side, she looked under the corset I was wearing and thought everything looked fine. Understandable I was a little bruised and I’m sure the stitches didn’t look pretty.

Later in the morning Dr Capraro came by. I told him I had some pain on my left side. At first they thought the corset may have trapped a drain, but everything looked okay, so they pulled the corset down a little. It helped with the pain, but  I just lay there with a finger under the corset to relieve the pain pressure.

A nurse came in and removed the catheter, yeah!  I then gingerly walked to the bathroom.  I was still peeing green dye out, and it was still a strong pea green color.  Carrying 2 drains with me was a little awkward and I knew, in time, I would come to hate them. But at that time they were all part of the novelty of getting over mastectomy surgery.

In order to be discharged I had to see several people. All I can remember is the dietician that came by and showed me a flier about healthy eating and what foods had good antioxidants. It didn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know, but it was a refresher so I was polite and asked a few questions. I didn’t dare tell her I was Paleo; that is too extreme for some people.

The other person I saw was a physical therapist.  In order to get out of jail I had to prove I could walk up and down stairs. We walked out into the corridor to the stairs. I went into automatic mode and walked up half a flight two steps at a time. When I stopped I realized I probably should have just done 1 at a time. When I turned round they politely suggested I come down just one step at a time.

There was some other stuff we had to do, but I can’t remember.  At that time all I really cared about was my next drug time.  Before we left the hospital I was drugged up with pain pills and given some anti nausea pills.  Apparently it is common to puke on the drive home.  I didn’t.

Walking upstairs to the bedroom was challenging, but okay.  Walking down was going to be more difficult but I wasn’t planning on doing that for a few days.  The hubs was now on 24 hour drug call. I needed something every 4 to 6 hours.  If I winced once during the night, he was there with pain meds. I wish I could say I enjoyed the pampering and attention, but to be honest I slept a lot and spent the first few days in a cotton wool bubble.  The hubs did not sleep much at all.

I had set up a spreadsheet with all my drugs and spaces to mark in times.  I had 2 different pain meds, nausea pills and antibiotics.  I also had sleeping pills. I took one Ambien and felt so drugged up I could hardly speak. I decided not to take anymore. I really wasn’t having any issues sleeping.

On July 9th I had a shower.  It was one of the most difficult things I had to do.  I couldn’t wash my hair myself, and I had to make sure the water didn’t directly hit the incision areas.  I also had to wear a belt to hold the two drains. The hubs took a photo of me getting out of the shower.  When I look at it now it reminds me of the pain, it’s one of those pictures that says it all. I remember thinking, thank goodness I had a double mastectomy, I do not want to go through that again.