Saturday, in the mid afternoon, I was able to move from the bonus room couch to our bedroom where a recliner was waiting for me. My dad and his wife arrived for a visit from Scottsdale, AZ. They had this trip planned since August, way before I knew I had double breast cancer. To me, the bedroom was ideal to sleep than the bonus room with visitors and I was stronger to sit in a recliner. I still needed Ray’s help to move the recliner back and forth. It was too difficult yet to use my arms because of my peck muscles. 
The lower part of where the breast tissue used to be was the most uncomfortable area. It felt as if everything was stretching to the point where the skin was going to open. This was no boob job as implants are placed behind breast tissue. With a mastectomy and immediate reconstruction, there is no breast tissue and so the peck muscle gets sliced, to create a pocket and expanders are slid into place with muscle in front of the expander. I had Alloderm which was placed in the lower part of were breast tissue used to be and was connected to the upper peck muscle. 
Above picture of Alloderm.
In the late afternoon, my back area was now a problem. I told Ray about it and he took off some of the bandage area and tried to feel what was going on. He felt something and somehow, I had an electrode that was still placed on my back. Ray peeled the electrode off and the area started to feel better. Ray said he could see a blister starting to form. Here is an electrode patch below. Ray took a picture of my blister with my cell phone. I showed my boss whose a doctor and I was not to pop it.
Around midnight, I woke up screaming in pain. Ray jumped out of bed. I forgot I had to be quiet and whisper because my dad and his wife where in the guest room sleeping. I told Ray there was something seriously wrong with my back and in fact, it felt like someone was taking a hot iron and placing it directly to my skin on my back. My underarm area also felt like it was on fire. I felt like a burn victim and my body was on FIRE! I BEGGED Ray to call 9-1-1. Ray said, “Geesh honey, you are acting like this blister that is forming is worse than the mastectomy itself!” I said to him, “IT IS!!!!” I begged again for him to call 9-1-1. He took my cell phone and took another picture of my blister to show me what it looked like. The blister was near my right arm.
Gee, it kind of looks like a backward State of Michigan! Haha.
I saw the picture and wanted him to pop it to relieve the pain. Ray said NO WAY and was following my boss/doctor’s orders. He asked if I would agree for him to call Pam who lives across the street. She is our dear friend and happens to be an RN. I agreed. I wanted to call my boss who is a doctor, but I didn’t want to bother her in the middle of the night. Poor Pam and Larry as Ray and I woke them up after midnight. Pam told Ray to apply ice to the area, but not to pop it. Ray took a wash cloth and went downstairs to get ice from the freezer. Later, he returned. I told Ray to look under my underarm area to see if a blister was forming. My right underarm had an incision due to lymph node removal. This area also started to feel like it was on fire. Ray could not see anything, even with a bright flashlight. It was difficult for me to raise my arm for Ray to get a good look in the area due to pain from the surgery. I told Ray in a stern, whisper, very slowly, “Will……you…….. PLEASE….take that ice………and just PLANT it…..DIRECTLY onto the skin, will ya……..NOW!” Ray says, “That is what I am doing honey!” I thought Ray was using the cold wash cloth directly to the skin and not the ice-cube itself. I couldn’t feel the ice-cube at all, but finally, about 10 minutes later, the intense burning fire feeling was going away. I then fell back to sleep.
The next morning, Pam came over and took a look at the blister and said she believed it could be Shingles and I should see a doctor as soon as possible to get on antibiotics right away. Getting Shingles is usually caused from significant amount of stress and after having major surgeries. When she left, I immediately put on my coat and shoes, with Ray’s help, and out the door we went to Urgent Care, on a Sunday afternoon.
As we arrived, the waiting room was crowded with a bunch of sick people and I told the front desk that I just had a double mastectomy, 4 days ago. They didn’t care and told me it would be at least a 2 hour wait. The patients in the waiting area were sick with colds and coughs. I grabbed a mask and placed it around my nose and mouth. Poor Ray, he was exhausted and needed sleep. He called Kelsey, our daughter, to see if she could relieve Ray. Ray went back to the vehicle to take a nap. His eyes were all bloodshot from trying to take care of me the last 3 days. He waited for Kels to arrive in the parking lot and then he left the clinic to head back home to take a nap while Kelsey greeted me in the waiting area. She also decided to wear a mask.
Finally, my name was called and I slowly got up and walked to the back room, wearing my PJs and slippers with a mask on. Everyone was looking at me and I didn’t care. The medical assistant was very upset with the front desk personnel for letting me wait over 2 hours until I could be seen. The doctor immediately came in and looked at my blister and was pretty sure it was Shingles, but thought he could see a rash starting to form from the blister area on my back which caused a trail upward to the underarm. If this was Shingles, it was in the early stages and we caught it, just in time! He prescribed Acyclovir, an antibiotic. I told him I was already taking Keflex, another type of antibiotic, but Acyclovir should do the trick for Shingles. Kels drove me home and soon, I fell asleep in the recliner. The Acyclovir worked because the blister started healing up and no more episodes of feeling like my body was on FIRE!!! It was a long, exhausting, stressful day!