Now the recovery begins

Today was babysitting day. I babysat Beckett and Brynn while my sister had a doctor's appointment. It is story hour day for Beckett and he was pretty adamant to go, so how could I deny him?! So, while Sue left, I packed up the kids for the library. First was playtime in the children's area and then story hour (or story 30 minutes-trying having a story hour for 2-4 year olds). Brynn was sitting on my knee and Beckett was a part of the festivities. Afterwards was more playing, choosing books and then heading home to meet Sue.

Then, it was off to my parent's house to spend the day with them and help Mom, if and when she needed the help. A friend of mine stopped by for lunch to say hello to Mom and bring a get well goodie package. Mom did her exercises, started calling friends and family and took a well deserved long nap. She is doing surprising well for someone who had major surgery just 2 days ago. It really is amazing to see. Yes, she is in pain. And she is taking her pain medication as directed. (We were told by the doctors and nurses to take the pain medication as it really does help in the healing process. We've started a process where she takes the pain medication about 30 minutes before she does her exercises as this will help work with and through the pain.). These exercises are essential for her recovery and she has been very good in doing them. She has a set of 4 exercises to do until she gets the drain out and then another 4 exercises will be added to the routine. As she is gaining energy, then she can start walking a bit and get more active.

Tonight, Sue and I helped mom take a sponge bath as she can't shower until the drainage tube is out. This was the first time that Mom has seen her scar since the surgery. I won't lie, it isn't pretty right now and it is a shock to see. But, we know that the scar will go down and the swelling will settle down. We were making jokes about the surgery. Right at the moment when we were looking at the incision, Sue said, "Something is out of whack here". This really made us all crack up and made the situation much lighter. Mom didn't know if she wanted to stop laughing or cry. I told her to mourn her left breast if she wanted to, she had every right to do that. She said, "I don't really care about that" LOL! So, I guess that this is really a first step for Mom in her recovery from surgery. She's accepted the incision and the scar and the change and will move on from there.

Each day, she will get more mobile and have more energy to do things and be more social. She's a trooper!!