Second Lumpectomy part 2

When I got back onto Bonny Ward the one thing that struck me was how much better I felt after the anaesthetic this time around, coupled with the fact that I wasn't hooked up to a morphine drip - this was good news.

It was a small ward with just a few other ladies on it so that was nice. The staff on that afternoon were amazing including a trainee nurse Roisin who was spending her last day there. Such a shame, she was a natural nurse, thorough and caring and yet there was no job for her having completed her training.

I was over the moon to be greeted by my friend PBW at 9pm who came on shift. So lovely to see a friendly, kind and caring face which made all of the difference. The night is always long in hospital and I was woken by doctors caring for one of the ladies on the end beds who was having difficulties with her heart. Thank goodness I brought my eye pad with me and so I shut the light and sound out. I didn't want to intrude on her privacy anymore than I had too poor lady. That night she was taken to the cardiac unit, the doctors were so good with her and gave her the best care.

PBW tucked me in during the night and not only that at 6am she brought me a lovely cup of tea!

I felt much better and decided to wash and put some makeup on before the consultant did his rounds. This was fueled by the fact that Harry couldnt take his eyes off me the night before and Joe told me I looked like a corpse. I felt much better with a bit of lippy on!

My consultant came onto the ward with a host of other registrars, breast care nurses etc and said "is that lipstick?" to which I replied "yes" and with that he said "ah you can definately go home today".

He told me that the operation had been a good one, he had removed about 3oz of breast tissue and got good clearance on the cancer site, he had removed some lymph nodes to sample and things were looking good.

He told me that my treatment would be radiotherapy but that would depend on what the oncologists decided. They are new on the scene and have new ideas so he couldnt be certain what my treatment plan would entail. Lets just hope its not chemo hey, I don't think I could stand to lose my hair again.

I just could not get my head around how much better I felt after this operation than the last one. I know my last tumour was large and alot of tissue was removed but I was left unable to move for many weeks and in the most excrutiating pain.

Day 4 after the operation now and my bandages have been removed only the pads remain in place over the surgical areas. I don't have much feeling in my breast and upper arm due to nerve damage but I know from experience that over time some but not all of the feeling will return.

I feel as though I am being fussed over and thats an alien concept to me, I am used to being totally independant, standing on my own two feet and being self sufficient.

I will let this continue until the week is out and then watch out!