I woke up in my own bed yesterday morning. It felt really good.

My welcome home!

First and foremost, we want to thank Glen and Loretta, Alan’s parents, and Krisan and Debbie, my dear friends, for holding down the fort while we were gone last week. I can’t tell you how nice it was to not have to worry about the kids when I really didn’t have the energy to worry. We love you all!

(Side Note: If you are ever sick and need some homemade chicken noodle soup, Debbie is THE one to call. It was DELICIOUS!)

The weekend has been pretty good. I had a pretty good amount of energy on Saturday…not so much energy today. I’m going a lot longer between my doses of pain medicine so that’s a positive. I tried to stop them altogether a few days ago, but that didn’t work out for me.

Oddly, I am the most sore near my drains and my back muscle is really sore. Apparently the fact that my arms don’t straighten (a deformity that haunted me all through my cheerleading/pom pom tryouts) were a bit of a problem for the surgeon. When I asked her if it was normal for my back to hurt so bad, she said, “Well, uhm…do your arms straighten all the way?” Nope. They sure don’t. I mean…there is a good 35-40 degree angle to them. Apparently, this deformity made it impossible for them to tie my arm to the board while they took out my lymph nodes. Because of that, they had to put me in some “odd positions” and have someone physically hold my arm while they did the procedure. I elected not ask what odd positions I was put in. Ignorance is bliss.

I know that some of you don’t want to hear the gross parts so stop reading and skip the next paragraph now…

I have two tubes (drains) that are coming out near my armpit. They are actually running several inches into my body. They are helping drain the excessive lymphatic fluid that my body is producing as a result of being beat up by the surgeon last Monday. My dear husband (who deserves the husband of the year award) has to help me empty these drains twice a day. Because of the location, I am unable to do it myself. Anyway, we have to record the amount of fluid each time we empty them. The goal is that each drain will be producing under 30 ml of fluid in a 24-hour period. When that happens, I can have the drain removed. Drain #1 is definitely coming out this Thursday…we are already under 30 ml. I have high hopes (which probably won’t be filled) that Drain #2 will come out on Thursday too. I think I was at 42 ml for the day today. Sooooo close. Losing those drains will make things a lot more comfortable.

Alan and I will fly out on Wednesday to get the results of my pathology report from my surgeon and firm up plans for chemo/radiation with the oncologist. We will also stop by the plastic surgeon’s office to get a drain (or two!) removed and to fill up my expander a little more. They left out about 100 cc of fluid when they filled it during surgery. They can only do a little at a time because the expander is actually placed under my pectoral muscle. So, we have to stretch that muscle little by little. Not sure how much we can get done on Thursday. She said we have to play it by ear. If we can get the full 100 cc, that is one less trip down to Houston for me.

And, I just want to give a quick thank you to everyone who has brought us food/meals this weekend. I can’t tell you how nice it is to not have to worry about grocery store trips. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

I have said it before, but I’ll say it again…it is hard to be sad or mad when we feel completely surrounded and uplifted by all of you. Thank you.

I will leave you with one final inspiration. Tyler drew the picture below as one of my welcome home posters. I love that it is just this simple in his mind.

In case you can’t see it clearly, these are our three kids hanging out under a tree.

Tyler: Hey! Do you want to get rid of cancer?
Hayden: Yeah!
Brynlee: Well what are you doing? Let’s go!

So, my kids are all over kicking cancer’s butt, too. The more, the merrier.