Update from Becky

Hello everyone, this is Becky.  As you can imagine things have been hectic and this is the first opportunity I have had to let you know the latest news about Mum.

She had her surgery at around 9.45 a.m. on Friday.  No doubt she will tell you the gory details another time. She was awake from the anasethetic within 15 minutes but had to spend an hour in the recovery room.  She was back on the ward by 12 noon. They constantly monitored her bp and blood sugar levels and kept her on oxygen for several hours.  You know Mum, she even said take a photo for my journal, I do not care how bad I might look I want my readers to see that I faced it and have the photo to prove it.  She will post that when she feels better.

She had a drain in her chest and also under her arm but because she responded so well to the drainage of what they call "serious fluid", the consultant said it could come out and that he would have the district nurse come and check for any problems.

So, the best news is that Mum is home.  We brought her home about 30 minutes ago.  She is very weak on her legs and in a great deal of discomfort as you can imagine, she is also very tired as it was impossible for her to get to sleep until about 3 a.m. and the nurse woke her up at 5. am. to run a battery of tests!  Mum thought she would be able to go back to sleep but the nurse zipped up the window blind and said she could watch the sun come out.  Mum was not best pleased especially as the sun did not come up.

She has several battle scars where she is black and blue, she has a cough from the anasthetic, a terrible sore throat from the breathing tube that went down, she is in great discomfort with the breast and the underarm where they took away all the lymph nodes.  But the main thing is that she is home.  She did so well and also the consultant thought it was better to get her home as quickly as possible and she would recover better in her own surroundings.  Mum made two great friends in there and was sad to leave them in a way but they have exchanged addresses and in once case,e -mail and you know Mum, when she makes friends, she keeps them.

The district nurse will be coming tomorrow.

So she is taking one day at a time.  Later I will read her all the messages you left for her.  Right now she is enjoying a large mug of tea, wants to have something to eat and then get some sleep for a few hours.

Dad and I thank you so much for your support.  I do not need to tell you how Mum feels about you all but it has been very heartening for Dad and myself to know that all that love is out there for all of us.  This has been a very stressful time for the whole family.

Thank you all so much.  We know you will wish Mum a speedy recovery and look forward to her return to her journal.  Then she faces the next hurdle of the full results and what treatment will arise from that.  She still has a long way to go but the biggest hurdle yet is over, the cancer has been removed.

Love Becky