Drains out! Great news for Mimi and Ryan! And wig shopping!

I'm now 9 days out of surgery, and have been home since Saturday. I've had my ups and downs, as to be expected, but as long as I stay on top of my pain meds, I don't feel like I've completely been run over by a truck. I am slowly able to start weaning myself off of them though because they do make me very tired. Well, that, and I'm probably also tired because of the fact that I had major surgery and will barely slow down to rest. But let's get to the good part.....I am a free woman! I had my follow-up appointment at the plastic surgeon today and he took my drains out! After 9 days of having vials of blood hanging off me everywhere I go, I feel like a new woman - all I have now is antibiotic ointment, small bandages, and some surgical tape. He also said I am allowed to lift 10 pounds now instead of 5! Wow, that is great - except my precious baby girl is 26 pounds. So, I will still be needing help for a while....I definitely do NOT want to backtrack or go back into the hospital.

In other wonderful news - my mom had a scare with a questionable mammogram this week - but she was brave and had a biopsy, which just came back today, and it's all clear! Nothing could have ended our week with better news than that! She is in great hands with Dr. J. in Fort Worth now and we are also extremely grateful that she does not carry the BRCA2 gene that I have. Yippee! AND - we had my brother Ryan tested, and he does not carry the gene either. He had a 50/50 chance, and because this gene is also linked to cancers like melanoma and prostate cancer, he does not have the extra high risk for those now. Double yippee!

I have spent a few days this week wig and scarf shopping with my sister and my mom, and we had narrowed it down to our four favorite shops. We now officially have 3 wigs on order from our favorite shop, and we are going to choose one once they come in next week, in my specific hair color. They don't make you commit until they come in and you can try them on in your exact style and color. So - I'm not going to tell you which one - but a variation of one of these styles is the one that's going to be my wig for the next year or so. And I think you'll be able to tell which ones I was trying on just to be silly. But note: NONE of these exact styles/colors are going to be the real one. We have to wait for next week for it to come in. For now it's anyone's guess. :) I also went a little nuts and got 14 different scarfs, hats, wraps, etc for the days I don't feel like wearing a wig. (And I have 2 sleep caps, thank you to my Wednesday playgroup mommy friends!) Also, thank you very much to Ben and several of my girl friends (Blaire, Ashley, & Leigh) for offering to shave your heads along with me when I start losing my hair - but it is NOT necessary. Love y'all though!!! And thanks to Uncle Ryan for helping watch Stella while we shopped - she loved that! I have heard that you start losing your hair about 14 days into chemo, which will be in about 3 weeks for me. I think I'm all ready for this fight though - bring it on!

Needless to say, it's been a long day. I'm off to bed now - night night! :)