Enjoying autumn post-surgery

10/17/26

Well, the surgery happened! This past Tuesday the 13th, I had my lumpectomy. My friend Cheri was there with me for most of the day, which lasted from our arrival at the hospital at 8:30 am until she took me home around 4:30 or 5:00. She was a great surgery-day companion! We talked and laughed throughout the hours of lead-up/various prep, until they wheeled me into surgery around 12:30 or 1:00. Then she went home for a much-needed nap while my surgeon, Dr. Naik, did her magic, and then I spent about an hour sleeping off the anesthesia.

It was amazing how smoothly everything seemed to go. I remain so impressed by my entire OHSU medical team.

I haven’t needed anything stronger than Tylenol to manage the pain, and I only needed that for the first three days, including the surgery day. I was alert enough the evening after the surgery that I actually got bored and decided to do a Cambly English tutoring lesson! Normally I do five lessons per day, so one was pretty minimal, but still, I was surprised that I even wanted to do that.

And ever since, I’ve been feeling pretty good. I’m being careful not to lift or push/pull anything heavier than ten lbs/4.5 kg, so that means no bicycle riding for the first two weeks. That’s a bit of a bummer, but I have still been very active in the beautiful weather we have been having, walking up to an hour and a half each day, and going to two local restaurants (the food pic here is from all-vegan Mis Tacones, which my friend Ellyn joined me for).

The highlight of the week was the solo bus-and-train trip I took to Longview, Washington on Thursday. Kelso/Longview is about an hour away by car (or Amtrak from Portland’s Union Station), but somehow in all my 36 years in Oregon, I had never visited. Longview’s population is only 37,000, but I recently learned that they have a small, public (free!) Japanese garden there. So, of course I had to go check it out!

The garden sits within the larger, and absolutely beautiful, Lake Sacajawea Park. Even the walk over to the park from the Kelso/Longview local bus stop was beautiful, through a historic neighborhood filled with autumn trees.

Sadly, though, when I reached the park, I discovered that the small island that houses most of the Japanese garden was closed! I was pretty disappointed, but at least there were some elements of the garden that were accessible, so I enjoyed those.

Then I spent the next hour just walking the perimeter of the lake, which as you can see was spectacular. I’m so glad I visited, and so glad I did it on such a warm and sunny October day.

I’ll have to go back another time (maybe next spring?) to attempt to see the Japanese garden again.

I caught the train back from the Kelso/Longview Amtrak station. It was fun to cross that station off my list, after passing it on the train to Seattle or Olympia so many times over the years without stopping.

Thanks again to all of you for following along with my health journey. There will be more, of course: a follow-up appointment on the 27th when I will learn whether they got “clear margins;” radiation in a few more weeks; and meeting with an oncologist to discuss possible hormone therapy.

But for now, I’m just happy to be past the surgery, and still able to enjoy the great outdoors!

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