Some good news...finally

The tissue that was biopsied on Monday is normal!!!  Huzzah!  What a relief!  I didn't think I was that nervous, but I must have been because my relief knows no boundaries.  Okay, well, the spine thing still has a hold on the negative side of my imagination, so I suppose that that forms at least one boundary to my relief.  But I am nonetheless QUITE relieved!

I'm getting closer and closer to being normal.  I quit taking the narcotic pain reliever today and did well.  Now I'm back to the place where my left "breast" hurts more than my right, which is how it should be in my world.  The right breast barely aches, and it looks surprisingly normal despite the absence of a walnut-sized piece.  It doesn't have a crater or anything.  Also, the nerve pain on the left side has started to subside, which is awesome.  I quit wearing my special sleeve, and goosebumps no longer make me gasp.  Another step in the normal direction is that I worked a full day of work and was moderately productive.  With every day that I put between me and the serious drugs I expect to gain more and more productivity.  I might even be able to drive myself to work tomorrow.

One new stage of my healing include itchiness.  It's kinda weird, too, because I'll have an itch sensation near the rainbow incision, but when I go to scratch it I have trouble finding it because I don't have feeling in the skin around the incision.  Same goes for the armpit area.  Rather than scratching the itch with my hand I have started scratching the itch by wiggling my shirt around.  This broadly-administered friction brings swift relief compared to the game of Marco Polo played by my fingers and the itch.

Tomorrow I have another physical therapy appointment.  I am really enjoying the physical therapy because it makes me stay on task with the exercises, and the exercises are really improving my range of motion.  Also, my therapist does some soft-tissue massage to help the scar tissue loosen up (i.e. stretch in more planes).  It's one of those things that makes me sore right afterwards but feels so much better the next day.

Also tomorrow is my radiation simulation appointment.  This is where my dimensions will be taken for the administration of the radiation.  I understand that I will be getting a couple of tattoos so that I am always put in the exact same position for every radiation dose.  I never wanted a tattoo, and I suppose I still don't want a tattoo.  I must admit, however, that having any tattoo makes me feel a little bit cooler.  Can you just see me at parties?  "That's a great tattoo, Lauren!  Where'd you get it?  Sweet.  I have a tattoo, also.  See?  I got it back in '11 so that my radiation treatments would be positioned properly.  Yea, I totally had breast cancer.  It sucked, but at least I got these sweet tattoos!"  Talk about conversation killer!