Week post surgery

It's been a week after surgery. I have been staying with my parents in north Jersey to recover. Lumpy II, the cyst, is unhappy. I think I had some nerve damage during surgery because my lower leg and foot generally feel as though they are cut and burned. I ask Athena, my youngest sister, to check it all of the time for injuries.

The other day, my mother and Athena pulled off the bandages on my breast. I was so anxious. We pulled my skin away from the tape and paused every time it began to hurt. My mother saturated my skin with A&D Ointment; the smell of it reminded me of my grandmother who used it on everything. It took about an hour to get everything off. I still have the steristrips over the stitches.

It looks like the scar is bigger than I thought it would be. I still haven't examined it too closely. My friends who have had similar surgeries reminded me that my breast will continue to look differently as it heals.

I have so much trouble sleeping. I wake up frequently with pain in my leg and occasionally pain in my breast area. I seem to try to curl up in a ball on that side of my body which doesn't work.