Belated update

It has now been almost 5 weeks since my surgery. I am quite belated in blogging mainly due to the fact that I spent almost a month recovering, too tired to work online at all. Then as soon as I was better, my schedule was chock-a-block full of appointments and events. I have been so busy that I haven't even had time to nap.

My mom came to stay with me before I went in for surgery. It was so reassuring to have her here to care for me. She cooked, cleaned, mended and organized. She was available for me at all times and prevented me from living on PB&J and cereal for a month. In fact, her cooking was quite good and I think I even gained a bit of weight, which I am now struggling to drop. It was especially good to have her here the day I took one of my kitties, Po, in to the vet. Quite unexpectedly, the vet informed me that Po had what he thought was a tumor and that he would recommend an exploratory surgery. He called me an hour later to tell me that there was cancer all through his system and he recommended that we put him down immediately. I did that and was broken hearted. Po was only just over a year old.

My father joined us for the last several days of my mom's stay. It was good to see him since he had recently suffered a fall and four broken ribs. I have missed him a lot and it was good to have him here in person. We read, did puzzles and drank tea all together. We had a lot of quiet time which was just what I needed. I was really sad to see them go.

A few days after their departure, my younger sister, Tracy came to visit. She stayed for 4 days. I was feeling more active so we went shopping, went to the All Souls Procession and enjoyed a dinner out with the boys and Oscar. She is such a sweetheart. I got rather grumpy and mopey during her last day here and it wasn't until after she left that I realized that I was grumpy because I dreaded her departure and going to miss her and all my family so much. I was distraught over the lack of plans for the holidays and I fell into quite a funk.

Then just a few days later, my oldest sister, Faith, called to say that she would like to visit in a few weeks. That brought my spirits up and when Tracy called to say that the family wanted to pitch in to pay for our airfare to California for the holidays, I finally exited my depression with such happiness over the upcoming holidays. It was a relief too, because I knew that the boys would really enjoy our visit.

I am now doing well. I have almost complete mobility and except for my continuing tiredness, I feel well. All the scars have healed and I am adjusting to my new body. It is not that bad, actually. The scars are relatively minor, except for a blackness to the scar on the left due to some dye that was injected during surgery. Apparently, that won't go away. I also have some severe skin damage from the radiation which will make any future reconstruction a rather complicated affair.

I am not feeling inclined to pursue reconstruction at this time so will get some prostheses. They will make my clothes fit better and will allow me to wear most anything. At this point, I am rather limited in my clothing choices and that can be rather depressing.

I hope to be better about updating my blog in the future but since I am still looking for a job, I am rather bogged down with that. I am also taking a course in International Leadership online and I must keep up with the assignments. Nonetheless, I do appreciate your comments and feedback and I feel so fortunate to have so many people concerned for me and the boys' welfare. Thank you all so much. I love hearing from you.

P.S. Please excuse me for my formal language but I am multi-tasking, working on my blog while watching Sherlock Holmes. It seems that the show has had a bit of an effect on my writing.