Out With The Old....In With The New (Again!)

My next surgery is scheduled for Monday, November 29th!  This is where they take out the tissue expanders (aka "bricks") and put in the implants.  While it is under full anesthesia, it will be out patient surgery -- which is great!  And the doctor says should be much easier than the last surgery (since a lot of my nerves in that area are gone).  Hopefully she is right!  Physically, I have been feeling great!  My stamina is good and strength is returning.  As a matter of fact, she emphasized how important it will be to follow orders (no lifting above 10 lbs, no dishwasher, no cooking, no laundry, no repetitive motions, etc.) because I will be feeling "so good".  Doctors do have a way of understating things but I am really hoping she is right on this one.  So she is figuring two weeks off work to be safe. 

This surgery comes with mixed emotions.  Mostly, I can't wait to have it done!  But it is a little depressing because I feel like I was just getting back into the swing of things again.  My hair has bounced back, I am cooking meals, doing laundry, grocery shopping, making beds, loading and unloading the dishwasher......wait, why did I want to bounce back (other than the hair thing)?!  :-)  The absolute great news is that after this surgery, the other adjustments will be minor (spread over the next six months).

So I have been preparing meals (did the Dream Dinners thing and loved it), shopping for the holidays, and organizing the house and my office.  I also returned to work for a couple of weeks which was a good "toe in the water" experience.  I lost a few (maybe more) brain cells over the past few months so needed to crank up the brain and get it back in gear.  It is like the Tin Man (Wizard of Oz) and how rusty he would get, then the oil can would come out and help him get loose. 

Okay so physically I am doing great!  Mentally (wa wa wa) there are good days and bad and you really can't explain it or know when to expect them.  Could be the medication, the Big C fog, the physical limitations that I do still have....who knows.  I just push through those days or hours the best I can and remain focused on all the good things. 

Which of course brings me to Thanksgiving!  To list all the things I am thankful for would be impossible at this point.  But I would like to highlight the really big ones...Steve, my sisters (Shauna and Sharon), my entire family (Buring's and Hoffman's), my friends (among them Lisa, Marilyn and Joanna) and the many many many people who have helped me along this journey.  And that is you! 

I hope everyone enjoys their Thanksgiving!  If you are outside the US....enjoy the quiet.  And let the holidays begin!!!!!