Post-Op Follow Up

Here we are, 10 days later, and I again find myself in my uncle’s recliner waiting to go back to Duke in the morning.

The surgery is over and after only 3 nights in the hospital, I was sent home. There is so much to discuss about the days following the surgery, but it’s still all a bit overwhelming.

I ended up with 6 incisions on my left side. The smallest is about 2 inches wide, the largest almost 8 inches. They left me sore and itchy and swollen, and I’m very bad about wanting to peel all the surgical glue off. The weight of the swollen tissue sits rather heavy on my leg, and it often causes my left thigh to go numb, so I have to shift myself to make it stop.

Tomorrow’s appointment will include the removal of my vaginal catheter. This was my first time with a catheter, and we have had to log each time we empty the bag with the date, time and number of units. Most of the process has been simple enough, but tonight Mom and I were distracted and forgot to close the drain, resulting in a pee puddle on my uncle’s floor. We were so close to no mistakes! Everyone was very nice about it, but I was so embarrassed.

In additions to getting the catheter removed, we hope to have the biopsy results back from the kidney and ureter. We are hoping everything was caught soon enough to avoid chemo and radiation. We also hope no further bladder or kidney issues develop, and that the remaining follow ups are routine. But I’m still a little numb from everything and can’t really tell.

I also got a call about my mammogram. They want me to go back for additional tests. This is not uncommon, so I’m trying not to read anything extra into it

I’m going to try to sleep for a bit, if only to make the time move faster. I still hate waiting.