Hi MandyMoo,
Thanks so much for your reply and all of those really practical tips. I am a pretty logical and organised person and I am usually most comfortable once I have sorted out how I am going to accomplish something so your insights into how you are managing to keep the house running will really help me.
I am sure you have your down days but you seem to have your stuff sorted and a pretty positive attitude so I hope that I can also stay up beat and keep my sense of humour through this. I am sure that I have had some post natal depression and so I am hoping that my treatment does not send me back there but this forum will probably help a lot to keep me sane. Like you, I have had heaps of offers of practical help and so I might start calling in some of the favours when the going gets tough.
I live in Jerrabomberra NSW which is just over the border from the ACT. I grew up in Canberra and still travel over the border to work but love living in NSW (the pollies aren't quite so nutty and I live in a really great community). I accepted your contact request and read through your first blog and its replies. Your thoughts and emotions were very similar to mine. I felt a bit embarrassed about the fuss that everyone was making as to me as this wasn't so bad..or was it? I decided to send an email to all 171 people in my branch prior to my mastectomy. I decided that I wanted to tell everyone the facts (so that hopefully they wouldn't start writing my eulogy just yet), I wanted to make people feel comfortable to discuss my diagnosis with me but I also stressed that I also wanted to be treated exactly the same as before and that I wanted to discuss other subjects too! I received some really uplifting replies and have printed these off to read on a gloomy day. Today was my first day back at work after my mastectomy and I think the email has worked. I received lots of g'days and some people stopped me for a chat but in general it was work as usual. I am hoping that when I walk in to work the first time without my signature blonde curly hair that my email will serve to stop any embarrased glances or whispers in the tea room. I have told my two oldest and cheekiest male friends that 'baldy' is not an appropriate substitute for my normal nickname of 'blondie' but I am sure they will probably come up with some other nickname or pick on another of my body parts!
I got my drain out today so that was exciting for me but I think my little kids might actually be a bit disappointed that they won't get to see 'my blood' anymore. As I have said in another reply I will be able to perform crocodile rolls in my sleep tonight without waking up bound in tubing! I am also hoping that I can start to exercise my arm more now that the drain is out as I am keen to get it back to full movement as soon as possible but I think I will give it a few days as I don't much fancy having fluid syringed out if I over do it.
Tommorow I will have bone scans and a liver ultrasound (which they say doesnt hurt) and then I am off to the post mastectomy shop to look at hats, wigs, bras and protheses. So I have a busy day ahead but I always feel better when I am getting on with things. Thanks agains for your comments to my first blog. Karen
