Tough Meat, New Breasts, and Bulge-Beating

As usual, I've started the last few nights' sleep before my head even hits the pillow -- long before -- usually while still "watching" television the inside of my eyelids in the living room. Joy will say to me, "Goodbye!", both to wake me up and get me headed to bed. The difficulty comes about 1 a.m. when I'm awoken by some unknown dream or outside influence (aka ... David), and the "off" switch on my brain seems to be malfunctioning. It's just as if my brain is chewing on tough meat. It won't swallow a thought, and it won't spit it out -- it just chews and chews.

One of the delicacies I'm chewing on is February 11th. It is approaching at lightning speed! The ominous date seemed to be in the very distant future until the last few days when, while looking at the calendar, I realized just how quickly January was ending and February was beginning. After only one more Monday to Friday of school, it will be time to gown up and get two state-of-the-art breasts. Admittedly, I have some apprehension going in to the surgery. One of my main concerns is the anesthetic -- desperately wanting something different than when I had my port removed and got so incredibly sick afterwards. Another mental burden is my recuperation. Relative to my mastectomy and tissue expander insertion, how will this surgery stack up?? -- pun, intended. I have made plans to fly to Trail to see my Mom, Dad, and sister, Maureen, on Day 4 after surgery. Thinking back to making the same trek the day after my port was put in and another 10 lymph nodes were removed, I felt relatively good. I'm crossing fingers, toes, arms, eyes, and legs that I'm doing as well this time around.

My chief rehabilitation therapist, Joy, is vacating the premises this Sunday so will be noticeably absent after my surgery. Hopefully, I will be able to motivate myself to get those range-of-motion exercises done several times a day without Joy and the big whip she carries.

Beat the Bulge continues to go very well, with this week's "no sugar added" challenge fairly easy to adhere to, other than having to make my own salad dressing. My 6 a.m. workouts helped me achieve the required three strength workouts, and I continued to walk 1+ miles every day. I was, however, disappointed with my lack of weight loss (a lousy 1.5 pounds) so I'm considering asking my plastic surgeon to slice a little extra off my butt and hips while I'm under! Or maybe some minor liposuction :) JK ... I'll do it the difficult, old-fashioned way for the sense of accomplishment. Next week is all about beverages -- 8 glasses of water, and only ONE caffeinated beverage each day. The coffee will be the hard part, as I thoroughly enjoy at least 3 cups on school days. At least I shouldn't experience a caffeine-withdrawal headache if I can still have one cup.

It's report card weekend around here, so I'll sneak in writing some cheery, motivating comments about my students in between walks and celebrating Chinese New Year.