It’s been a very busy month and a half since my last post.  Work has been crazy.  I ended in the Bellevue ER following an asthma attack.  I had been at the scene of a fire and inhaled soot.  Not fun.  I needed two treatments to stop the wheezing and tightness in my chest. Once again Gillian accompanied me to the Police Commissioner’s Theodore Roosevelt Awards Dinner. We had a nice night.

The Halloween Parade was busy. Lots of people were in the village! There was a steady misting all night. I ended up changing about 3 times because I had gotten cold and wet.

I was transferred to another precinct right before Thanksgiving.  I showed up on Monday (after going to the doctor because I had bronchitis) and didn’t get home until Thursday night.  I planned on staying Monday night and was going to head home Tuesday evening, however I got held over for a protest.  It happens.  I didn’t sleep very well though.  My old precinct had a decent bunk for me.  In my new precinct, I have a little cot.  I’m working on getting a decent bed so when I have to stay over, I can actually sleep.

The Thanksgiving Parade went over well.  It was raining early on and flurrying through out the parade.  It snowed the night before and power was lost at our house.   When the parade ended, I headed home.  We were supposed to go to Monica’s house but we didn’t get power back at home until the late afternoon.  I ate some ham and mashed potatoes, watched “Dancing with the Stars” and  passed out for 12 hours straight!  Unfortunately I didn’t get to spend much time with the family.  I was supposed to be off on Black Friday but my day off was canceled.  The boys were home for a few days but I didn’t get to spend much time with them.  Mom was going to visit Sunday but I had to go into work as well.  I’ll be working the rest of the week.

I made it back to an acupuncturist.  I went to a man in Chinatown.  I had been getting some back spasms and my right hip bothers me now and then.  The doc put about 31 needles in my back and hip.  He added some heat and electric stimulation as well.  The needles were left in for about 25 minutes.  This was followed up by a 30-40 minute accu-pressure massage.  I actually felt much better when he was done.  I will definitely go back to him.

I went to work Black Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, had Tuesday off. I worked the Christmas Tree Lighting at Rock Plaza on Wednesday and then worked through Saturday. I barely spent any time in my precinct. I mostly worked the various protests.

I saw the acupuncturist again on Saturday. I will be back to see him as soon as I go back to work.

Yesterday I had more surgery.  The doctors were going to adjust my right breast a bit, make a left nipple, and remove the adhesions and stitches that failed to dissolve in my abdomen.  This would have taken 2-3 hours. Instead, the doctors adjusted my right breast, made nipples for the right and left breasts, and in order to fix the adhesions and the tightness in the scar on my abdomen, the doctors reopened the incision, removed the scar and closed the incision lower down my abdomen. The doctors also did liposuction to the back of my thighs and lower back and used the fat to fill out my breasts and right butt cheek. The surgery took about six hours. I ended up staying in the hospital overnight. My backs of my thighs are black and blue & it’s painful to sit on hard surfaces (especially the toilet!!!). I’ve been walking around a bit and the pain is manageable. I’ve been taking Tylenol. I took 1 Percocet last night but I try to stay away from narcotics. I had two drains in my abdomen but the doctor was able to remove one today. I left the hospital with 1 drain that I have to empty regularly. I will see one of my doctors next week and hopefully that drain will be removed. I have a binder around my stomach and I’ll be wearing a girdle for two weeks to try to keep the swelling down. My face is swollen and the skin all around my right eye is red. It looks like I was slapped in the face. Apparently I didn’t take to the tape used to cover my eyes during surgery.
My hair is a mess and I can’t shower until the day after tomorrow. Ugh!

I’m sure I will be feeling better soon and will be back to normal. There should be no more surgeries after this. The last stage of my reconstruction, when I am all healed, will be tattooing areola around each of my reconstructed nipples. I can deal with tattoos!

Christmas is coming soon. I still haven’t sent out Christmas cards and we haven’t decorated our house yet. As soon as I am feeling better, we will get this all done. If I don’t get another post done before the end of the year, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! (In a couple of weeks, it will be 3 years since my second breast cancer diagnosis).