It is so wonderful to be home! Its been a whole week since my mastectomy and I'm feeling better than I could have imagined. The only things I can't do are pick up Little Birdie (which sucks), and change her nappies (which I can totally handle, for now anyway).
I left hospital on Sunday morning which was such a relief. On Saturday night the nurse told me that there was a chance that I wouldn't have one of my drains removed the following day which would meant I couldn't go home, but luckily this wasn't the case. At 7am on Sunday morning my wonderful surgeon came to see me. He was looking very cool in his jeans and unbuttoned tuxedo shirt and told me that one of my drains could be removed and I could go home. Shortly after, the nurse came and removed the drain and asked how soon my husband could come and pick me up. I then had my last shower in hospital, tidied my room, packed all my bags, and sat by the window listening to music while waiting for my husband to arrive. As we were leaving, a few of my favourite nurses came and gave me a hug and said goodbye.
Being back in a car seemed quite strange. My husband drove extra carefully and asked if I was ok after every little bump in the road. We picked up Little Birdie from my sisters on the way home. She was so excited to see us she came running to the front gate shouting 'Mummy, Mummy, Mummy' and giggling. It was pretty adorable. My very inquisitive nephew, who is almost 5, saw my drain bulb hanging at my side almost immediately. He started asking questions like 'what's that?' 'Whats in it?' and I started to think I should have thought a bit more about how I looked before getting out of the car. I didn't want to scare him and had no idea what to say. In the end I just said it was a drain and it had yucky stuff in it but that didn't really seem to satisfy him.
When we arrived home my parents were there to welcome us. We came in and I could see that everyone (my husband, parents, and sister) had been doing work around the house the whole time I'd been in hospital. We had moved into our new house less than two weeks before I went into hospital so there had been plenty of work to be done. Everything looked great and I was so happy to just sit down on our lounge and take it all in. It was obvious that Little Birdie was happy to have me home too. She was playing on the floor in front of me and every now and again would look up and smile at me and say 'mummy!'
Since being home I've managed to sleep perfectly, shower all by myself, and even cook dinner. Three things I was not expecting to be able to do for quite a while. In fact, I even managed to go out shopping with my husband yesterday. It was a little intimidating at first. I was unable to wear a bra because I still have a drain in, which also meant I couldn't wear a prosthesis, but I managed to disguise my chest so it wasn't too obvious. I also had to hide my drain bulb which was pinned to my hip. All in all it was quite a glamorous outing.
I have a follow up appointment with my surgeon later this week, as well as an appointment with an IVF specialist next week to discuss preserving my eggs before I start chemo. But for now, I'm just enjoying being home with my family in our new home.
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