Being on medical leave for a couple of months gives one a lot of time to ponder things. Here are some of my more recent musings, in no particular order:
1. All of those cheesy holiday movies (Lifetime and Hallmark channels, I'm looking at you) are exactly the same. A man and a woman who initially don't like each other get stuck in a small town over the holidays and somehow manage to fall in love. It's all so completely ridiculous. And yet, I can't.stop.watching.them. I'm this close to moving to Montana and opening a bakery and/or bed & breakfast. Please send help!
2. I never realized that the main reason I would need to take time off of work for this surgery is because I need the free time to go to the millions of doctor appointments. It's seriously a part time job! Plastic surgeon. Breast surgeon. Occupational therapist. Genetic counselor. Oncologist. Dentist (okay, I know that has nothing to do with breast cancer, but hey, I need to keep up the pearly whites too!).
3. Yesterday I got the results from a $5000 DNA test I took a month ago (insurance-paid, thankfully): I do not carry any of the 16 or so breast cancer genes. Not a single one. That means my cancer was just rotten luck. This is good news though, as many of those genes also indicate increased risk for other cancers (ovarian, pancreatic, prostate, etc). So glad I don't have to worry about prostate cancer! Really dodged a bullet there! Phew!
4. I'm officially allowed to resume running at 6 weeks post-op. That is Christmas Day. Best.Christmas.present.EVER! Or, if my cardiovascular fitness is completely gone after 6 weeks of not running, it may actually be the worst Christmas present ever. Maybe I should ask Santa to bring me a shiny new Automatic External Defibrillator just in case...
5. Every day, my upper body range of motion gets a little bit better. Today I reached very important milestone in my flexibility: I was able to successfully put on and remove a sports bra! BY MYSELF!
6. Our cats are getting extremely spoiled by my being home every day, and sleeping in the living room every night. I'm legitimately worried they will organize an uprising when I finally do go back to work and start sleeping in the (locked) bedroom. Maybe I should stock up on extra treats and tuna...
7. It has been almost a week since I've started taking showers, and the novelty has not worn off at all. Every shower I've had has been amazing and wonderful and I will never ever take showering for granted ever again.
There you have it. Deep thoughts from someone with waaaaay too much free time. I think I'll go take another shower now. Because I CAN!
No comments:
Post a Comment