Note From Mary Lynn Tuminello Johnson

Friends,

Thank you for your wishes and prayers. They worked.

I had my surgery on Friday, November 11. Everything went very well.

I took no pain medication, i.e., morphine (button to push) or oral pain pills. I didn’t feel that I really needed it. I was more sore than in actual pain.

Although I was scheduled to stay in the hospital for two days, the doctor released me by 3 pm on Saturday. Then we had the inevitable wait for paper work just to leave.

My plastic surgeon became the primary doctor and he said I was as far along as some women after a week. The pain part I guess.

Of course I am to take it easy this week. So I have just washed a few dishes with my RIGHT hand, not my left! I can pick up clutter too—mainly paper and catalogs which are beginning to come in ten at a time.

Phillip has been my doctor on-site; he has the unenviable job of emptying my drain bottles and making sure the drain lines are open. Then he dresses my wound at the site of the drains. The actual cut on the breast is not doing anything but healing.

I did get an expander placed in the breast (what’s left of it) and that’s why the plastic surgeon becomes the primary doctor now. He added some saline (?) to the expander and will keep adding it over a period of time until he feels that the skin has expanded as far as it will go.

Is this too much information?

I go for my check-up with the plastic surgeon this Thursday and, if I am lucky the drains will be removed.

I will have no need for radiation or chemotherapy since the cancer was at stage 0 and they removed the offending tissues. This story is almost identical to my first mastectomy 16 years ago. I am truly one of the lucky ones. He attributed the “good luck” to the mammogram. Are you listening, ladies? There were no spots showing last year.  There was nothing to feel in a breast exam. Obviously, the earlier one catches the problem, the more positive the outcome.

Phillip says I am a tough bird. I think that is a compliment.

I do get a little tired after a little too much activity. However, the doctor stressed that I should not lie down for long. He wants me up and moving. I can do that!

Again, I appreciate your expressions of care and concern. All is well.

Mary Lynn