11.10.22

This week has been a busy one! I had my port consult on Monday. He showed me what it looked like and talked about why I’m getting it. By putting in the port they won’t have to keep poking me each time I go in for an infusion. Chemo is hard on your veins, this will make everything a lot easier.

Wednesday was super busy! We were in town from 7:45am-5pm with doctor appointments.

I had my first physical therapy appointment! My physical therapist’s name is Lori. She was super nice and helpful. She is a breast cancer survivor. It’s nice having someone help you that has been down the same road as you. I am at a low risk, but because I had a couple lymph nodes removed, I will have to watch for lymphedema.

Lymphedema is swelling due to build-up of lymph fluid in the body. Lymph nodes act like a drain in your sink. If the drain is clogged, the fluid cannot drain. It usually happens in the arms or legs, but can occur in other parts of the body.

Lori is teaching me how to keep my lymphatic system moving on my surgery side. It is something I’ll have to be aware of the rest of my life. The first step is recognizing any changes and then managing them right away. I have some stretches and massages that I can do now and as I continue to heal from surgery we’ll add more to the list.

My second appointment for the day was my follow up with Plastic Surgery. It got cancelled last week because she got held up in surgery. She said everything was healing nicely! They did not put a drain in with the second surgery, which was nice, but now I have some fluid build up on my side by my ribs (medical term: seroma). She wasn’t concerned about it right now, she said that’s normal and expected when a drain isn’t put in, but we’ll watch it. (Biggest concern is if it sat there too long it could get infected- but like I said it’s not a concern right now!) I will have an ultrasound scheduled to look at it and if the doctor decides there’s enough there or they think they should, it’ll get aspirated.

We had a two hour break between appointments so we decided to get a little Christmas shopping done. Then we were back at the clinic for my echocardiogram. It was something they wanted to do before I start chemotherapy. That was an hour long procedure!

And last but not least, my port was put in! It was an outpatient procedure. They gave me something that made me super drowsy and pretty much not care what was going on. haha. I can remember laying on the table, most of the time I had my eyes closed (I felt really tired), I could hear them talking but I can’t tell you what about other than, I remember them commenting on my heart rate and I chimed in on that. lol. I can remember opening my eyes a couple time and seeing the sheet draped above my head (it was taped right above where they were working and then it went up over my head.) It was weird to be out of it but not while they were working on me.

We left the hospital around 5pm. We had one stop to make, I sat in the car and talked to my parents while Aaron ran in quick. Honestly, I wasn’t feeling too bad right after the procedure, I still had all the pain meds and what not in my system so after that we grabbed a bite to eat. After supper I started getting more sleepy. I could barely keep my eyes open on the drive home. Once we got home I crashed on the couch and didn’t wake up till like 10pm! I finally got myself a nice long nap! Haha!

I may have underestimated the pain of having a port put in… I mean how bad can it really be?? They make a little incision under your collarbone and then a small circular incision at the base of your neck. Then they thread a tube into your vein. But, apparently it involves all those muscles when you make a yikes face. Aside from just aching in general. It hurts to take a deep breath. I can feel it when I swallow (not the tube, the muscles involved in swallowing), anytime I move my head, or clear my throat (or have to cough 😬). It even hurts to yell down the stairs to get the kiddos attention! The muscles are sore when I move my arm on that side too! Last night Aaron had to support my head to lay me back in bed. (You don’t realize how much you use those muscles until you “can’t”) I got up when he did this morning so he could support my head to help me get out of bed. It doesn’t help that I can’t take ibuprofen (ibuprofen is a blood thinner). I can ice it, but the whole area feels like a bruise so that’s uncomfortable too. According to the doctor, today is supposed to be the worst for pain and discomfort and then it will start getting better. I can tell the more I’m up and moving the better it is. If I sit around too long I get stiff and sore.

Last week I was finally able to wear “real” clothes (ie jeans) and I was given the go ahead that I could drive as long as I felt comfortable doing it. So of course I had to document the occasion!! 😉 (For real though! It’s amazing how much everything is tied together! You don’t realize how many muscles are involved until they are messed with and you can’t use them!)