One of the thoracic surgery nurses called me yesterday and encouranged me to take a shower (duh -- done as soon as the post surgery 48 hours were up) and take off the bandages (the take-home instructions said something like "at your discretion", so I hadn't touched them). The dressing removal was a game changer. I immediately felt better with nothing pulling at the skin on my side and back. It sure made getting into bed less difficult.
I'm going to stop reporting on pain. I feel now as though I've been hammered with one of those meat tenderizer mallets. Pain didn't keep me awake. I did that all on my own, as I gradually regain the insomniac tendencies that cause me to bound out of bed at 5 AM. I'm not doing much bounding yet, but I got up at my usual early hour.
The only anxiety now is waiting for biopsy results. I was told yesterday that the timeframe is "7-10 business days". That takes us well into next week, when I have several follow-up medical appointments on Thursday and Friday. While I may not need more treatment if the nodule and/or lymph nodes were cancerous, I would like to know.
