Today has started in a much more positive way than yesterday ended.

I had probably my best night’s sleep since the operation a week ago. It’s funny, I’ve never been a fan of sleep or truly appreciated its powers, as a kid I used to say, ‘it’s a waste of time’ and as an adult I feet similar. However, now I am slowly (and reluctantly) starting to appreciate its benefits, much to my husband’s delight who has been a sleep advocate for decades.

I think the new tablets probably helped me to sleep soundly and have dulled the nerve pain just enough at the moment to remove my reluctance to stretch my arms in any way. I even made Dave a cup of tea in bed this morning!

The third positive of this morning is that my drains had less fluid in them! Yay! It’s hilarious how, in just a week, the things that excite me have changed! The fluid levels on each side were half of yesterday’s readings and this means they are one step closer to coming out!

I still have a slight issue with a less than pleasant odour under my arms, but I am going to try and address that again this morning.

I can just about manage a shallow bath I can’t allow the water to reach the dressings under my arms. It feels amazing to be in warm, nice smelling water but really I just want to submerge my whole body and head which is impossible right now. I’m making this sound pretty pleasant, but the harsh reality is that Dave has to hold my drains behind me as I gingerly step in and out of the bath. I then dry off, reposition my drains and he washes my hair as I lean over the bath.

My husband has gone from my friend and lover to my carer in just a week. I guess this is the part where the ‘for better or worse’ vows come into play?

My friend Heidi took me out this morning for breakfast which was just lovely. We headed off to a farm shop/restaurant up on a hill with gorgeous views and sat and ate a lovely breakfast and chatted. It is these kind of little trips and visits from friends that have kept me going. I’m undoubtedly a social animal and seeing people has kept me feeling connected and not allowed me the time to wallow. I had another visitor in the afternoon who also made me laugh – laughter is a great medicine on its own.

Around 3.30pm I needed to head back to the Helen Clark Suite as one of my drains was malfunctioning – air was seeping into the bulb part somehow and this meant the suction was reduced. The unit changed the bottom section for me and sent me on my way. Much as I hate these bloody drains, they are doing a job and the sooner they’ve finished doing it the sooner they can come out.

I ended the day with a second meal out (extravagant I know) with Dave and my eldest son Max. We have a tradition in this family that if one of the kids are away on a school residential the other one gets to choose where we for out for dinner one night. Although there have been some massive changes to this family over the last week which have been unavoidable, we need to keep as much normal as possible for the sake of the boys.

Finally, today has been a day without any tears! Result.