Terry Cruz

Next Thursday I'll go in to see the radiation oncologist to be scanned and mapped. No more "fills" for 10 weeks after that. The little boobie we've been building on the right side is just big enough to be noticeable under my shirt - while my left side is still concave. It's lovely. I know there's little chicken cutlet looking prosthetics you can buy to put on the flat side, but I'd like to think I'm not that vain. Well see - time will tell. It's interesting, though, that the pain from the pressure on my ribs is the same on both sides. My range of motion is improving. My left arm more than my right, but that's to be expected. Dr Kommareddi had to dig around in there to find lymph nodes. There was even one more that she was looking for but couldn't find because of my "dense tissue" (I choose to hear "young, healthy, muscular tissue" when they say that, which is a lot). My chest muscles are still very knotty and angry, but I *think* it's getting better. Oh, speaking of chest muscles... I flexed my chest muscles and - wow. The tissue expanders are under my muscles so when I flex, it looks like Terry Cruz! I finally peeled the clear tape off of the incision. It's much less scary looking now that all the dried blood is gone. It is two long pink scars that go from my side below my armpit to the center of my chest. There's about an inch in the middle between the scars. It's the only part of that area with sensation and, oh boy, does it have sensation! It's hyper sensitive! Just the feeling of my shirt touching my skin - whoo! It doesn't hurt. It's almost like a tickle. Like a feather on the back of your neck. 24 hours a day. Today I'm going to go workout. (Ha! I'm going to sit on the recumbent bike and pedal as slowly as possible.)