My Breast Cancer Journal
April 9-15
Sunday, April 9, 2000
Well, the axillary incision is clearing up nicely. It feels much better than it did a couple days ago, too. The little spot on the breast incision is still red and weepy, but no different from when the surgeon looked at it. I've put a topper dressing on it as I won't be able to re-adjust my bra whenever I feel like it on the plane today. It drained a lot yesterday - I was really surprised when I took my bra off last night and saw how much drainage was there. I wish I could get that healed up!We are all packed and ready to head out to Hawaii this morning. We went out to dinner last night in Cave Creek with wild Ann from Michigan. It was a long drive and very hot at the restaurant. I was totally wiped out by the time we got home. Today will be even longer. I slept well last night, although just before Rick woke me this morning, I was dreaming about taking swimming lessons from the head guy on Iron Chef. We watched it just before bed last night - they were cooking live squid and the French Iron Chef got bit by one! Remember, when fighting cancer, it's important to keep laughing! So laugh we did! How swimming with the Iron Chef got in my dreams, though, I don't know!
posted by Karen Weber Sunday, April 9, 2000
Monday, April 10, 2000
We made it to Hawaii! The flight was long. Everyone wanted pillows and it looked like I wouldn't get one. I waggled my pitiful arm at the stewardess and explained the situation. A pillow materialized. I guess we should buy one of those inflatable travel pillows. The pillow helped, but it was really too small to make things very comfortable. Poor Rick was trying so hard not to crowd me that he wasn't comfortable either. It was a LONG flight. But we made it. It's very humid here. Since my new haircut is designed for maximal waviness, I'm forecasting tsunamis. The unit is lovely and we are overlooking a mountain that gets over 400 inches of rain a year at the peak. There are spectacular waterfalls flowing down the sides of it. Rick has been playing with his digital camera, and I have mine along as well, so we should be able to post some pictures this week if I'm not too lazy to process them. The bed is hard, but I was so tired last night that I didn't even notice. Slept like a log. I need this! The breast incision oozed quite a bit on the plane yesterday - I'm glad I used a gauze dressing for the flight. One part of the incision that was scabbed over still bled on the plane as well. And my breast was swollen. I'm glad I took the time to get the compression stuff for the arm and hand - the way that my breast swelled, I'm sure my arm and hand would have been nasty if I hadn't. Thanks to the compression sleeve and glove, they are fine. We were up "early" this morning at about 6 am, which of course is 9 am in Arizona, so it's not really early. That's how tired we were. If we had been home, Caesar would never have let us sleep this late! We have a breakfast thing out by the pool, then nothing planned for the whole day. I'm going to kick back.
posted by Karen Weber Monday, April 10, 2000
Tuesday, April 11, 2000
Well, I couldn't upload this or send email earlier today, but I'm going to try again. We spent a nice day exploring the north shore. We had lunch in Hanalei (where Puff the Magic Dragon lived) and drove past Wainiha Bay (from Surfin' USA by the Beach Boys). At the end of the road is a wonderful beach -- we waded far out on a sand bar to where the waves were crashing against a reef. People were snorkeling in the protected pools of water behind the reef. I told Rick that if my incision heals up, we'll go back there later this week. Then we did some grocery shopping and came back to the condo and collapsed. Dinner in Kileaua then back to the condo. Rick tried to light a fire, but the wood is really wet as is everything on this side of the island. Tomorrow we take a 5 hour tour by bus, helicopter and river boat. It sounds fun and Rick will be able to enjoy the scenery. Not much pain today - just pulling in the armpit. Doing my exercises and keeping my hand elevated and busy seems to be doing the trick. Hope this will post tonight.
posted by Karen Weber Tuesday, April 11, 2000
Wednesday, April 12, 2000
Yesterday we went on the Best of Kauai tour with Steve. It included a lot of driving, a short helicopter flight, and a river boat ride to the Fern Grotto. I haven't processed any pictures yet except this one of Rick and me at Wailua Falls. I love the way the fanny pack under the shirt makes me look even fatter than I really am :-(The good news is that my incisions appear to be healed. I've been consistently having bleeding from that one spot, but this morning we looked more closely and the incision itself is healed. The bleeding is coming from some skin below it that was inflamed and must have gotten dried out and rubbed raw. So I've put some antibiotic ointment on it and a Band-Aid and we are going to make plans to do some snorkeling later in the week! Yippeee!
posted by Karen Weber Wednesday, April 12, 2000
Saturday, April 15, 2000
Wednesday we went out on a boat tour of the Na Pali coast and saw whales playing. The calf was breaching and having a good old time; the mother was slapping her tail and fins at him and did a couple of breaches herself. It was totally awesome. In the midst of watching for the whales, I remembered the whale watching tour I took in San Diego just over a year ago. I sat next to a woman named Virginia who was using portable oxygen. She needed a lung-heart transplant. Without it, she would die in 6 months. Her insurance company had turned her down for the transplant. She and her husband were out on the whale watching cruise because it was one of the things she had always wanted to do before she died. When I thought about her, and how we never saw any whales that day, the tears came to my eyes. I am so fortunate to have good insurance and to have a disease we know how to fight.Yesterday was my birthday. My attitude toward birthdays and growing older has changed in the last couple of months. Instead of considering the white hair and the aches of aging as bad things to be regretted, I am now considering them a privilege. Not everyone gets to "suffer" them. The services for my cousin, Tom, are being held today back in Illinois. The family is gathered there, with the exception of us ne'er-do-wells who came to Hawaii instead. Our thoughts and prayers today are with the family.
I swam in the pool last night to see if my incisions and my arm are ready for snorkeling. They seem to be. Now today I have a headache. I don't know if we'll swim with the fishies after all. I'll take some of my super-duper headache killing stuff and see if we can get this turned around. Tomorrow we leave, so this is our last day. :-(
posted by Karen Weber Saturday, April 15, 2000