Day 165 - Bandage

I was looking through my post-op paperwork this morning and saw that I could take my bandages off today.  I like to get an eye on things so proceeded right upstairs to take them off.  The incision areas do not look too bad though the incision under my arm looks a bit worse than the other.  I had a feeling that would be the case as I am sure that it is hard to operate in that area, and it is certainly hard to keep it still for healing.

Bandages are off though the steri-strips are still on.  I am not sure if I have any actual stitches or if the strips are the only thing keeping things together.  Regardless, they stay on until further notice.

I also managed a quick bath to try to feel bit more human.  I did not wash around the surgical area and won't until I get the all-clear, but I did get mostly clean. Not to sound overly lame, but all of that activity made me pretty tired.

The soreness is still present, but I was able to take Advil today vs. my prescription pain medicine.  I hate how narcotic painkillers make me feel so was very eager to make the switch to Advil.  I can't decide if I am tired now from the actual procedure or if I am tired from lazing around for the past few days.  It's probably a combination of both.

In hindsight, I probably should have done my surgery on Wednesday so that I had a few weekdays to recover while Henry was in school.  It's hard for him to understand that I can't do much, and I am afraid that he has been bored this weekend.  He and Mike did activities both yesterday and today, but Henry is used to me doing things with him all weekend.  Oh well..this is one weekend out of many, but I do feel bad that I have not been a more active participant in it.

I will probably take one more sick day from work tomorrow.  It's somewhat hard for me to extend my arm to type so I am afraid that sitting at my desk all day tomorrow will be uncomfortable.  My boss had a really good point when I talked to him on Thursday, "Nancy, we all hope that you only go through all of this once so take the time off that you need."  Fair point.  I'll make that call a bit later in the day though depending on soreness and range of motion.