On December 4th, I had my third expansion. Since the last expansion is going to be on February 14, Dr. Bucky "went for it." The closest comparison that I can give to what this now feels like is a basketball that was semi-inflated prior to full inflation. You've got your air pump in hand and you start feeling around for the little valve to hook up the metal pin and then.........push down hard on the pump with air so that the ball is fully hard and firm. Now imagine the basketball is my boob and the air is saline and, well, there you have it.
Now remember, we had the movers all day on January 3rd moving all the furniture into storage and putting the boxes of clothes, important papers and valuables into a 15 foot cargo van similar to the one I used to have at California Carpet. The van was stacked to the brim with our "stuff'". So much, in fact, that Bob had to use the van's passenger seat which meant that both I and Nikita (our cat) had to ride in our smaller SUV with my brother and sister-in-law. My brother helped us out by driving down after my expansion so that he and his wife could drive the van back to Philadelphia to drop it off.
As most of you women know, there is no way on God's green earth that you can possibly sit back and not delegate or assist in any way while strangers are moving items in and out of your home. Needless to say, I tried really hard to not participate but the micro-manager in me, which had been buried deep down inside of me since we sold the company, reared its ugly head. By the end of the day, I was a bit sore but I still had not done the expansion which was to occur the next day. I relaxed at my brother's home while Bob decided to start the 12 hour trek to South Carolina in the van.
Tuesday. We are loaded into the SUV like the Clampett's from The Beverly Hillbillies; I am in the back seat next to my cat in her bright pink cage who, by the way, is drooling since she gets car sick, with the litter box behind me and suitcases packed in like a puzzle, My brother and sister-in-law, Mary, are in the front seats with any available space being used to store laptops or handbags. Now I know why Jed Clampett had to put grandma on the roof in her rocking chair! I get my expansion, take some valium and ibuprofen and off we go to drive a good 8 hours for the first day. All I can say is UGH (in capital letters). Holy cow! Val was not doing her job but I just sucked it up as best as I could so that I wouldn't get thrown up on the roof like grandma due to constant complaining in the back seat. There is nothing worse than a whiner for that many hours; a drooling cat is bad enough!
We diverted to Jacksonville, NC to see my nephew, a captain in the Marines, who is off to Iraq next week to work in Baghdad near the embassy. Since most hotels are not pet friendly, we had to sneak Nikita in under my coat through the back staircase as well as set up her litter box. As we were walking out the door to have dinner with my nephew, there was this wailing "mmmeeeeeooooowww" heard trailing down the hallway. Okay, nice try. That obviously was not going to work, Since I still was not feeling that great, I stayed behind with Nikita while my brother and Mary met their son and his friend for dinner. Trust me, I popped another valium and two more ibuprofen and zoned out to the Biggest Loser while Nikita nestled up next to me on the bed.
It took another 5 hours to get to Bluffton, South Carolina the next day and, although I still felt like crap, Nikita had figured out that sleeping makes the car sickness disappear. She was out cold for all five hours! When we arrived, my husband had already unloaded the van and, since the house was already furnished, he had placed the boxes and bags in the appropriate rooms for me and my OCD to eventually organize and fold and color flow all the clothes and towels. I know...everyone has their own issues and mine happens to be neatness via color coordination, hangers going all the same direction and perfectly folded sheets and towels. Although the heavily inflated boob pain was slightly subsiding, I knew that I could not live too long among chaos and started in on the task at hand.
We are now fairly settled in and my brother and sister-in-law left this morning to drive back to Philadelphia. I heard they will be having snow in that region which makes me happy that I left to a sunny 57 degree temperature but slightly nervous for my brother driving an empty van on icy, snow covered streets. I am still in quite a bit of discomfort but nothing so bad that I cannot manage. In fact, I deserted Val for the past two days but then I overdid it yesterday and had her revisit me last night. I did want to add that on Thursday, I went to a lymphatic drainage massage specialist in Savannah that I interviewed over the phone. The method that she used, LDT (Lymph Drainage Therapy), was developed by Dr. Bruno Chikly who was a student of Dr. Vodder. The main difference between the two, as I have observed, is that the Vodder Method uses longer strokes while LDT therapists use flat hands to simulate wave-like motions. The thought being to map out the body to initiate circulation of the lymphatic fluid. Personally, I liked the Vodder method better in terms of pain reduction but I have to say that LDT released more fluid so that (how can I put this nicely?) I immediately had to go to the bathroom twice within a half hour. I highly recommend lymphatic drainage techniques to those undergoing this surgery or any other type of surgery. I will be undergoing this half hour massage every week until after the final surgery which will take place on March 16.
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