Doing well

I took the mummy wrapping off on Saturday, and whilst I experienced momentary shock at seeing my scarring, I have felt little pain. I have been taking painkillers these two days as advised and I have felt very normal. I am being careful with avoiding lifting heavy objects though in case of tearing.

Tomorrow is the beginning of my sick leave and it will be interesting to see what I get up to, to fill my days. The Commonwealth Games is on at the moment so I will be watching that mostly at my parents' place (I don't have a TV license so can't watch live events at my flat), but I will be taking it easy and vaguely achieve a few things in the week as well as resting.

Lumpectomy

My lumpectomy surgery went smoothly with no problems. I went into theatre at 9:30am but I don't actually know how long the operation took. I know that I slept a lot after I came to and they monitored me for a little bit before I ate something and went to the loo. So by the time we actually left it was 3pm. I don't think the operation took more than 30 minutes.

I really don't like going under general anaesthetic, because of the feeling of powerlessness but there is really no choice when you're going in for an operation. I just don't like it. This is my third operation under general anaesthetic this year and I hope it will be my last, for this year anyway.

The surgeon is confident that he got the tumour and they also take a circle of healthy tissue around it. It all gets set off to a lab for checking. I get the results in a couple of weeks' time. The doctors and nurses were all very kind and attentive. Thank you NHS.

My chest has been bandaged up like a mummy. I can take it off tomorrow. I am back home now and I am beginning to feel the soreness where they operated. I am taking painkillers.

Thank you God for my surgery and thank you that there were no problems. Amen.

Eyelid op went well

So I totally thought it was going to be a quick go in, have the op and be able to be finished within two hours type thing. But it was a proper operation. I seem to be quite unprepared each time I have an operation. I remember I thought the same thing when I had my picc line inserted.

Like all proper operations, all the patients were called in for first thing in the morning and then when everyone was settled the surgeons then schedule the urgent ones first, followed by the not so urgent ones. Also like proper operations, there was a theatre, an operating table and lots of doctors and nurses in gowns peering down at me. I don't know why I thought it was going to be a small deal.

Anyway it is probably a good thing because it wasn't until I got into the theatre that I became a little scared. And especially because they were working in my eye area, which is an essential part of my body! And it occurred to me, whilst I was lying there - how vulnerable I was. I was literally in their hands. I was at the mercy and/or the beneficiary of their experience and skills. Scary.

It is very strange having an operation on your face because I couldn't feel the top half of it, due to the local anaesthetic. Medical science is just amazing. They were able to numb my face, invert my eyelids and get the mucus out with me being awake and not feeling a thing! Amazing.

I left the hospital as pictured earlier with my mum as my guide dog. You really can't judge distance with just one eye so it was a new experience trying to walk round with only one eye. I walked into things. I was able to take off the bandage this evening. I actually look pretty much the same as the eyelids are now swollen instead of having cysts. They should go down in the next few days though and hopefully back to normal.

It's been a mad few days. I haven't blogged about it but my parents are in the midst of selling Nick's house, buying another one and selling the shop. And I have been helping them in liaising with the estate agents and solicitors. So in the midst of having an unexpected minor operation, wrapping up work and preparing for a major-ish operation, I've also been chasing estate agents and solicitors and arranging necessary paperwork for the sale. I was able to sort out a few things whilst I was in the waiting room as I had my iPhone, but when it came to my turn they had to tell me to get off the phone to go in for my op! I like multi-tasking, but it has been slightly crazy. The two houses are completing tomorrow and I am off work now so it will be less manic very soon.

I go in tomorrow for the lumpectomy at 7am, but will probably be operated on between 9am - 11am. Please think of/pray for me around those times. xx

One Eye Pirate

Operation over and back home!

I'll blog more about this later. I'm sleepy, but I just wanted to post up what I look like. 

Eyelid Operation

I went in for a check up at the eye hospital today and the doctor said that he was recommending a minor eyelid operation to drain the cysts in my lower eyelids of the rest of the mucus that were there. There is a cancellation in the surgery schedule tomorrow and I have been booked in! That brought my sick leave earlier by a day. My head went into a slight spin as I headed back to the office to wrap up by the end of the day to not return for the next 5 months! A day shouldn't really make a difference, but I was psychologically prepared to have one more day to finish and say goodbye. When I got back I just put down my head and stormed through my to do list. I did well and managed to complete everything by 5pm. Sometimes there is nothing like a tight deadline to focus the mind. Also most of my colleagues weren't in the office so it was a shame that I wasn't able to say goodbye. Though it's not a real goodbye as I'll see most of them again in just over a week's time when I come back for the project leaders' meetings. But it will just have been good to mark the shift in how I will work with them from now on as I won't really be around anymore.

And I have the beginnings of a cold so I called my surgeon to make sure that my Friday operation can go ahead. He told me to get some antibiotics from my GP, but the antibiotics for my eye infection are good enough so I don't need more.

My medical journey is certainly very eventful and surprising!

Doing good

My eyes have been steadily improving with the new antibiotics. They are still slightly puffy, but no longer painful. This is what I look like now:

I have a check up eye appointment on Weds and my lumpectomy is on Friday! I feel alright about it. I am not scared. I just want to get it over and done with.

Also I am going on sick leave from Friday until the rest of the year. I blurted out in a leaders' meeting about a month ago that it didn't work with me being regularly absent from work. That it was probably better if I stepped away so that the charity could employ someone to consistently work at bringing in the income. This was agreed. I am actually pleased because I am tired on more than one level. It'll be good for me to step away and not have such a big responsibility whilst I go through the rest of my treatment. It'll be good to have the mental space to recover too. But I don't want to do nothing either so I am lining up a few courses, and I want to set a few goals for myself. Like getting my fitness back up and cooking a few new recipes. It's going to be weird to not be working for 5 months. Though I suppose I will be ill for most of it. After my op, I will also be going through radiotherapy 4-6 weeks afterwards for 5 weeks every day. I am told to expect tiredness. Again.

Some improvement

I think my eye bags are going down. They are not as tender and painful as before and the eye ointment is definitely working. My eyes are less watery than before. The skin around my eyes are still dry throughout the day and stresses my face, which in turn makes me tired. I continue to nap halfway through the day which also means that I am sleeping very late at night. I managed to squeeze some pus out of my left eye bag last night! This must be progress. 

It is strange being unwell like this. The rest of me is fine except my eyes and face. Because I get tired I have to lie down a lot. Sometimes I sleep sometimes I don't. But it's just to rest. And then other times when I have put the eye ointment in, my vision becomes blurred for maybe up to an hour 3 times a day. So I have frequent times in my day when I am lying down but not sleeping or when I can't see. In these times I either listen to the radio or audiobooks. It's a much slower existence than I am used to!

I just compared today's photo with the photo from two days ago and there is a visible reduction. Hooray. I just wish the medicine would work faster! This is what I look like today:

New medication

I was referred to the eye hospital by my GP as I had reached the end of their medical expertise. I whizzed into town straight after my doctor's appointment as I was very keen to get this eye condition sorted as I have had some kind of eye-related condition for 3 weeks now and it's annoying. I was seen very quickly in the A&E department. The doctor says that the chemo has been playing havoc with my hormones and my eye glands are now blocked. He even said that he was impressed with how pronounced the eye bags were! That word is normally a good word but not in that sentence and it made me laugh. I now have new eye ointment and new antibiotics so hopefully they will do the trick. I am back home and have put the eye ointment in and they are immediately working. The watering has stopped though it has blurred my vision! You can't have everything! Let's hope this is the beginning of the end of this horrible condition!

Same again

This is what I look like after 3 days of antibiotics. No improvement. I think it has even got worse. There is now tiny white spots on the eye bags. I am going back to the doc today. I look hideous!

Same

I woke up today hoping that the swelling would have gone down a little, but alas no. I think it even looks a little worse. I look like I've been beaten up. I hope the antibiotics kick in soon. 

I am miserable

My eyes have got worse. They continue to bulge and are painful to touch. They continue to water and it just feels like I've been punched in the face or have been stung. My face feels very stressed and tender. I had to miss a wedding yesterday because I just didn't feel up to it. I went back to the doctor in the morning and he says that I have an infection in my lower eyelids. I've been put on a course of antibiotics to get rid of it. Today is the second day of taking them and I am not feeling the effects yet. Please God, give me relief soon! This is what I look like. Not pretty. 

Doing alright

My eyes continued to swell and stream this week. And they were bulging under the eyes like Uncle Fester in the Addams Family. They were bothering me so much that I went to the doctor's on Friday. I got prescribed some antibiotic cream which are already working. Phew. It's just one thing after another with my physical symptoms, isn't it? I never know what I am going to have.

I also discovered that my bike got stolen! I went to get my water meter reading and it's stored in the same room and it was gone! First of all, I thought it was one of my neighbours because it is a code-accessed room for residents. But when the police came round they could see that someone had leveraged the door to get in. I am so bummed because it was a great bike, and also because it's now going to be a pain to find another to fit me. I am so short that average bikes don't fit. I may buy a child's bike. Honestly, people will steal anything. It was a very old bike and small. I suppose this gives me the opportunity to find the right size bike for me.

Bit rough

Have been feeling a bit rough today. Generally quite tired without having done much and I have some swelling underneath my eyes, which is quite tender. And also the horrible metallic taste in my mouth. Blah.