I took a real live shower today for the first time in 2.5 weeks, but I’ll tell you what, it felt like it had been 2.5 years. Ahhhh… clean. Fresh! Wonderful!
I was terrified to let the water hit my wounds, but it didn’t hurt a bit. The only shocking part was looking down and realizing the glue the surgeons had used to piece me back together was starting to peel off. I got out of the shower and promptly called my lifeline: Nurse Holly.
This is Nurse Holly. Isn’t she just the best? If you had cancer, isn’t this the face of the person you’d want taking care of you? 
Perhaps I’m so partial to Holly because she is the one who took out the last drain, but I don’t think so. Holly has been my rock and voice of reason throughout this whole cancer escapade. When I need someone to feel the injustice I feel, she is there. When I need someone to giggle because we are talking about boobs, which are kind of funny after all, she is there. And when I asked why we didn’t know EXACTLY how long the drains would have to stay in, she said, “Some people are just juicier than others.” HA!!!! That is exactly the sort of clinical answer that made sense to me. FINALLY someone who speaks my language. Thank you!!!
Holly and I will become even closer over the next several months, as she is the one who will fill the expander that is currently sitting in my chest and which will eventually be formed into a new breast.
Hurray for my Holly and all of the other “Nurse Hollys” out there who show up just when we need them with with their medical tote full of kindness and compassion. I hope you know how much it means to me and others that you are willing to enter this battlefield with us.