OK, so the novelty has worn off now, and sitting round recovering is beginning to, erm, get on my tits.
The big long wound is healing very slowly. The other wound, under my armpit, has a stubborn sore patch next to it. Eight days after the surgery, it was Booby Tuesday again, so I had another walk up to the GP’s surgery to have the dressings changed again, and get some advice on what to do.
I have a difficulty with the BBC – the Big Boob Conundrum. The wounds benefit from exposure to air, but the boob’s weight strains them without the support of a bra. So, the BBC compromise is to be topless – or at least braless – when resting at home, but to don the over-shoulder-boulder-holder (a term recovered from my teenage years) when I’m up and about.
I’ve managed to get out to the doctor and to the post office a couple of times, and – best of all – to watch my youngest son Harrison perform the role of Johnny Casino in his school production of Grease. He, and all his schoolmates, were just brilliant. There was such an array of talent on show, and their hard work over the last six months really showed in their acting, songs and dance routines. I can’t get the songs out of my head, and the joke about the jugs certainly had me tittering. And in contrast with the film, we had a very multi-racial Hackney working-class student body playing the parts of the 50s American high school students. It was one of those nights that made you really glad to be alive.
I hit something of a low point a couple of evenings ago, just heartily sick of wanting to do things and not being able to. The spirit was willing but the body weak, so the spirit got weak too. I think I expected that I would steadily feel better after the operation, but it hasn’t worked out that way. Some days I feel worse than the day before: partly because as the wounds heal, the feeling reutrns and the feeling is pain; partly because I am not getting exercise so I feel like I am withering.
The support of friends and family continues to prove invaluable – particular thanks to Terry, Marie and my mum and dad for coming round over the last couple of days.
Tomorrow morning, I will be going to the hospital to get the results of their analysis of the lump and node they removed and find out what’s next. Hopefully, it’ll just be a quick course of radiotherapy and some tablets then back to normal life in the new year, but it could well be more complex. Watch this space.
