August 22, 2022

I had a follow up visit with my plastic surgeon today. I fully expected to schedule my next fat grafting procedure. Not so.

I had been feeling lately like my left side implant was higher than it started out, but I figured it was just my imagination. Turns out it’s not. My doctor says that the late effects of radiation are causing my skin to continue tightening, which in turn is pulling up my implant. He figures it is about 2 centimeters higher than after my surgery. It’s probably why I keep feeling aches and shooting pains along my side again. The implant is pressing more on my nerves since there is no more give in my skin.

The biggest problem, however, is that the movement is taking away the inframammary fold my doctor created by pulling up skin from my stomach. If he must recreate it again at some point, he will need to take skin from my back. The alternative is removing the implant on the right and reducing the size. That will require moving the nipple we tried so hard to save.

For now, we just wait to see if the skin continues to tighten and I’ll see my doctor again in December. I asked about the muscle tightness I have under my arm still, and he thinks the radiation has impacted the muscle as well. I’m going to start massage therapy to see if it makes any difference with the tight muscles. Maybe it will at least give me a little more range of motion.

It was a disappointing visit, but my doctor reminded me that I’m now fully healed from my surgery. Plus I have no more restrictions, aside from waiting one more week before soaking in a tub since he finally removed the scab from the scrape on my incision. I’m thankful that all is not lost yet. It sounds like I’ll have options. And even if the skin shrinks more, my doctor assured me the implant won’t rupture. Thank goodness.

August 21, 2022

I got things done today! Mostly laundry, but it needed to be done, especially after all the lost time yesterday. Plus we dragged new items to my antique booth. I’m thankful for getting some stuff done and for having time to sit outside in the sunshine.

August 20, 2022

Well, today was all about my phone. Again. I went back to the T-Mobil store this morning when they opened at 10 am. The guy who helped me was nice, but when a new SIM card didn’t fix my phone, he sent me to the other store across town to see a technician.

After trying several things, the guy there deleted everything off my phone, setting it back to factory defaults. But then couldn’t restore it. After 2 hours, he admitted they couldn’t help me and left me with a completely useless phone. So Patrick and I drove 45 mins to an Apple store where we had to wait 2 hours just to get it looked at. They finally determined it was a hardware issue that required replacing everything but the glass front and would take another hour and a half to fix. At this point, Patrick left me to go home and feed our poor pups.

So…it took about 11 hours and numerous trips back and forth, but I now have a working phone again. What a waste of a day.

Still, I’m grateful Patrick was willing to drive along. Then home. Then back to pick me up. Ha. I’m thankful the Apple store was at a mall so we had a spot to eat and wander around while we waited. And I’m thankful it only cost me a day since my phone insurance covered the replacement.

August 19, 2022

I went without a phone for most of today. For some reason, my cellular service disappeared. Patrick and I were out shopping for a tv cabinet, so I had to wait until we were back home and on wi-fi to try to figure it out. I spent 2 and 1/2 hours on a chat with my phone provider and they couldn’t figure it out. I finally drove to a store to see if they could switch out the SIM card or something before they closed. OMG. The teenagers running the store were useless. One ignored me completely as she finished up someone’s purchase and went on to chat about where they lived and how much their rent was. The other one asked what I needed and after I described the problem, pointed out the other two people waiting in the store, saying they had the same problem. He then told me it could be a tower issue. I said the online support already checked that the network near me was fine. He then said changing the SIM card didn’t help the others. I asked what the solution was then. He said he didn’t know and when I asked if he could check on it with someone else, he just walked away. I waited a minute to see if he was going to follow up, but he started helping one of the others instead. Since it was already closing time, I just left the store. ARGH.

Big sigh.

I’m thankful I didn’t make a scene at the store. I’m also thankful we have another store in town that I can go to in the morning. I really hope they have someone helpful working there.

August 18, 2022

A year after we were engaged, Patrick wrote this on the chalkboard before he left the house. We were married by then, so it was sweet that he remembered. I’m thankful for these memories pop up on Facebook.

I’m also thankful for my work friends who have my back. And feed my love of Halloween and skulls. I had to literally fight Barley who kept trying to yank this soft blanket from me.