It's so good to be home..! The team at Woodland Hospital have been amazing but nothing beats your own sofa and control of Apple TV!
I'm not expecting the three course extravagances that I've become accustomed to as a very grateful "Premium Care" patient but I think they have simply added hours to my recovery bike rides and sticky toffee pudding is not really a viable cancer cure.
I don't think I was prepared for the first changes of dressings and had a few tears as the nurse so gracefully carried on with the process and allowed me to cry it out while I refused to look at the empty space that I've been left with, Mum tells me that Mr Sanker has done an incredible job and that the scar is minimal but I'm still not ready to see for myself. It all seems ironic considering the number of times I've crashed my bike and removed bits of road and tree from my own skin with nothing but a glass of Rioja for anaesthetic!
I know it's the oldest cliche but the medical teams do such an incredible job and it really does put into perspective the idiotic things that wind me up day to day. I've been surprised at the whole concept of "being brave" to me it's not being brave, it's a very simple choice, in the words of Armstrong - we have two options both medically and emotionally; give up or fight like hell.
As you can see, Erica has dug-out her Doctor's bag and has been taking very good care of me - she's not been phased by the bandages or the situation in the slightest - I think a lot of that is down to the book that breastcancercare.org.uk sent to me called "Mummy's Lump" it's a story that explains to her what's happening and what to expect in a way that isn't clinical or scary, if you ever meet anyone with breast cancer who has young children I would highly recommend it - she now understands anaesthetic, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, why Mummy had to have surgery and and why she needs to be gentle.
So it's now a case of allowing Mum to take over which hasn't been too difficult as I think Erica is proving to be a far more demanding patient! The Consultant has signed me off for a month - news that I wasn't really prepared for as I was convinced I'd be back in London after 2 weeks but we'll see how it goes - I'm sure I can stoke a few fires via email to get me back into the swing of things!
We're seeing the plastic surgeon on Thursday to talk about reconstruction but that all depends on the treatment plan, the offending article along with some lymph nodes have been sent for analysis and we're meeting Mr Rashed on 2nd Feb to agree what the treatment plan will look like. If the lymphs are clear and the tumour isn't an angry type then we're hoping it will just be hormone therapy.... here's keeping everything crossed.
Thank you for all the messages, cards and flowers - we love you all xx
