Month: August 2012

Family day out

So yesterday I mentioned that today was to be family day.  We decided to get into the car and head to Cape May.  Quaint Coastal town with shopping, a cool old light house and of course the zoo.  A little something for everyone.  I am not a big collector of things. I have only one collection and we only get to view it once a year.  I collect Santa Clause and all things Christmas….gotta love Santa!  I have more Christmas decorations than I do normal decor.

Decorating has become a tradition in our house. We break it all out on the day after Thanksgiving (referred to as Black Friday for the many years I worked all day long 12-14 hours in my retail days).  Now we enjoy the day decorating.  It stays up until New Years Day when we watch the Mummers parade  (a huge local tradition) and pack it all away. There are a few cool Christmas stores in Cape May that I like to hit.  We skipped last year so I was due for some new decoration shopping.

It was a nice day, started at the zoo.  Always a fun time.  Nice weather, good to be out walking around.

Next we heading to lunch.  I live roughly 40 minutes from the beach.  Growing up, my mother loved the Jersey shore.  We vacationed at the beach for days on end.  Did not matter the weather, we were on that beach from what seemed like dawn to dusk.  Now that I am an adult I can honestly say, I hate the beach.  I can not stand sand between my toes, seagulls swooping everywhere and over priced, over rated out of repair coastal “landmarks”.  This is why I have a pool.  So for lunch we went to a little place with a deck that overlooked the beach.

A little shopping followed, some sight-seeing at the lighthouse and then the beach.  NOT to enjoy the sand but to show the girls the old WWII bunker and WWI sunken concrete ship that lie on the coast.   By the time we made it to the bunker I was out of gas.  We had done a lot of walking and my body reminded me that surgery was not that long ago. I sent the Frank and the girls ahead to see the bunker.  I stayed back and waited.  Too far of a walk and across the sand, I just did not have it in me!  I thought the three of them looked so cute walking across the beach.

It was a very nice day with the family! I am so happy we took the time and spent the day, as a family!

47 days post BPM, 6 days pre reconstruction

I hate that my entire life continues to revolve around surgery.  For the last several months, everything I do is either to make sure it is taken care of  before a surgery or the evaluation of whether I can do it because of the surgery.  With this pending procedure  much later than I would have liked, and the first day of school right around the corner, I can only pray that I will be up and around to attend meet the teacher and get the girls to the school bus.

I have no idea what to expect from the nipple reconstruction and revision in the way of pain.  Initially ,I would have said it was to be minor when it was just the nips but now that we are actually cutting to remove the “side air bags”, I assume the level of pain may be significantly somewhat higher.  The thought of pain on so many levels is dreaded.  At this point I rarely even take Motrin or Tylenol.  The thought of narcotics again makes me shudder just a bit.  I am feeling so close to normal, the thoughts of going backward, starting over again, no wonder I continue to struggle to sleep.

I received a comment on my blog last night telling me to “rest a little before the next surgery”.  Funny, sometimes it takes someone on the outside to point that out..thank you!  My husband and I actually were able to sit for a few minutes this morning quietly before the girls woke up.  We will take tomorrow as a family day…activity to be named later.

I have included a picture that does not relate at all to the post today but the face just demands to be posted.  Madison lost a second tooth in just a handful of days.  Not sure how the poor kid can eat at this point.  It is one heck of a mug!

Insurance

So with the surgery, we have reached our out-of-pocket maximum on our health insurance.  Because of this I have become a crazy person about everyone getting to any doctor needed before the end of the year.  Anything that we had been putting off, not in a rush to take care of needs to be dealt with this year!  I made an appointment for Megan’s yearly for late September and Madison will be November.  I need to call both my primary for a physical (which I have not done in 3-4 years so I guess it is time) as well as the OB/GYN.  I was actually due to go there in June but with the Mastectomy in July I just could not get myself to go there. With all appointments covered at 100%..now it the time!  Blood work, physical etc.  We have put out enough cash, need to try to squeeze as much out of it a we can.

I really can’t wait for the nipple reconstruction and revision to be completed.  Now that I am back to mostly normal activity I have been wearing a sport bra when I go out.  Uncomfortable does not even cover the feeling wearing a bra.  I walk into the house and make it as far as the kitchen and have it half way off.  Very classy but who cares!

Tick tick..almost there!