4 weeks post surgery

Written Jan 29, 2012 7:22am

Good mornin’ from the sunny Bayou,

Let me start by saying, if I can’t head out West or up to Boyne to ski or Chicago to ice skate or the UP to snow shoe, at least I can channel my favorite winter things with the ‘style’ of my blog this week and add some pictures! 🙂 The snowman–although cute–wasn’t working any more. Anyone know where this pic was taken?

Anyway, first full work week–and first work Monday–in 6 weeks was pretty exhausting and stressful, but I did it. Yeah!!!!! My school does what is called block scheduling where most of our classes are 90 minutes and they are held every other day. We have an “A” day schedule and a “B” day schedule. My “B” day schedule is rather unpleasant–and I had 3 of them this week with Monday being the worst. At least this next week has plenty of “A” days and then the following 2.5 weeks will be all about Mardi Gras, so the next few weeks should be manageable. Also, I am lucky that I don’t have tons of after-work responsibilities. If I had children at home, I don’t think I could be back at work yet full time. I can go home and be in bed by 8 if I need to–and I did a couple of nights.

Went to the surgeon on Friday and he is very pleased with my progress. He’s still quite proud of his surgeon skills, but he also feels that I am healing really well. No more bandages of any sort and I don’t have any limitations–other than listening to my body. I don’t go back to see him for 6 weeks.

Now to get active! One of the concerns of Tamoxifen is blood clots and so to combat that risk, I will not have any choice but to be a good girl about my exercise habits for the next 5 years. Maybe those habits will stick after I’m done with the Tamoxifen! 🙂 And if the Oncotype DX test shows that I need chemo, exercise will be crucial to fighting chemo fatigue. I really want to swim a couple of times a week–but will need to find a pool closer to our apartment and a new bathing suit. I might wait a couple of weeks for rollerblading too–my balance isn’t quite there yet. I’ve been able to walk since surgery, it’s just now I’m able to sweat and push myself–and I have no more excuses. My range of motion is making daily progress and I took very few Tylenol this week. I’m definitely not ready to golf yet, but I am able to write on the whiteboard at school (no more chalkboards) and able to move around when I sleep.

In the spirit of exercise, Zoey and I walked two miles yesterday at the dog park while Terry was helping a friend move. NOLA’s dog park is really cool and has been open 2 years now.  It has a 1/4 mile walking path around the perimeter and plenty of space for the dogs to run and play. Very interesting people watching as well.

Your support is awesome!!!! Your messages, both on the blog and individually, make me smile and feel very cared about. This blogging process is very therapeutic for me–especially with the communal feedback–and I truly, truly, truly appreciate how much people have been there for me. As my energy builds, I will get better about returning emails and posts individually. Promise.

Love,
JoAnn

P.S. Terry is being awesomely supportive, by the way.
P.P.S. “Big Bang Theory” is my newest favorite comedy–makes me laugh out loud and reruns are on almost every day.