Today was a stellar day. For real.

My surgery was last Wednesday, and today, Wednesday, I was able to get my drains removed. Technically, I was supposed to only have one taken out, but my doctor came to my appointment to tell me the pathology results of my lymph node (all clear!) and I showed her what a good patient I’d been keeping track of the output of my drains, so she told the nurse she could remove both. I pretty much knelt at her feet and nearly cried tears of joy.

So, those goddamn drains are gone. The cancer is gone. Boobs are still gone.

The drain removal was…strange. If you’ve ever had them, you know. If you haven’t, well, it’s like a snake being pulled from under your flesh. It hurts, but in a small worm being pulled from your skin kind of way. Now I have two large-ish holes in my skin leaking some pinkish fluid, but nothing that won’t heal in a few days. The sites of the holes and under my skin are still sore, so I’m not sure how much pain I’m feeling from the actual boob removal or from the drain sites. The nurse also had to mess around with the stitch that was holding each one in place. It wasn’t fun. But the payoff was totally worth all of the weird discomfort.

Anyway. Enough of that.

Yesterday I went on two walks totaling 2.3 miles. Today I went on a 2 mile walk. It feels good to be out of my chair and out in the world. After my drain removal, I walked upstairs to see some coworkers. I also went to the pet store to buy our cat a scratch post that he’ll use.

And, in other, very exciting news, I’m wearing a t-shirt and hoodie instead of an over-sized button up men’s shirt. I feel like myself. Or very close to myself. For my appointment today, I wore a dress shirt that I sometimes wear to work. It was the first time I’d worn regular clothes. It is a button-up, but a men’s, and one that actually fits me. I looked fucking fabulous in it. No boobs made it fit perfectly. There was no button gap. And, like Gaby’s been telling me, I look like I lost weight. I look really fit. But really, I just don’t have boobs. You can’t really tell I don’t have boobs, though. I just look like a person in a shirt. And my shoulders look great. Like, wide, fit, and awesome. Even the nurse commented on it.

I meet with my doctor on Tuesday for a routine follow-up. After that, hell, I’ll probably go back to work. All I have left to do is work on my range of motion for my arms.

I have the brain space now to start thinking about other things: taking care of Gaby, the kids, planning for grad school, planning our summer vacation. Did I mention we bought a house? Did I mention that I got accepted into grad school, bought a house, and found out I had cancer all in the span of like, 9 days? That was fucked up.  I’m still not able to let those things come into my brain yet, but I know there’s space for them. Every minute, I’m clearing a path.  And that means everything right now.

It was just one week ago that I had breasts;  I’m already forgetting what that felt like.

 

As a side note, I want to thank everyone for reading, especially those people I don’t know. I heard today that one woman who just received a Healing Chair is reading this. A woman I don’t know. So, to her, and anyone else out there whom I’ve never met but who might be going through something like this, I hope this helps, if even a little bit.

 

 

Venmo: @molepoet