Well, today was my first "fill-up" at the plastic surgeon's office. I took it easy this morning and only walked for about 20 minutes or so and then really concentrated on my arm exercises. I think my right side is beginning to loosen up a bit, but I'd like to see a physical therapist. I'll start seeing one here before I head back to the desert, but if anyone has the name of someone that they really like who may have worked with mastectomy patients, please let me know :-). Okay, so I had no idea if it was going to hurt or not because some people told me that they had expereicned some pain and others said it was no big deal. Anyway, it's really kind of cool because they use a magnet to locate the site of the place to insert the syringe and then they hook up some saline and start injecting it slow-ly. He filled up about 120cc on both sides and it wasn't uncomfortable. The only thing I felt really was the poke of the needle on the right side going in and I didn't feel it at all on the left. Then, I could feel the pressure of the expanders being filled and pressing against my chest muscles, but it's really not painful, it's just noticeable that there is pressure there. I told him about the fact that I was peeling and he also attributed it to the chemo possibly. What's funny is that the peeling is pretty much just my upper body. Weird, but it seems like it's almost over. I mentioned that my right pectoralis muscle was cramping a bit and Hillary (the pa- who is great) wrote me a prescription for physical therapy. There is a therapist here in Pasadena, I just have to figure out how to get there or see if my uncle thinks that I'm ready to drive...we'll see what he says. Anyway, after the injection was finished on both sides, there was some bleeding so they put some band-aids on and I was out of there in about 1/2 hour after arriving. Pretty quick, though my right side was still a bit bloody when I got home but it's dried up now. After the appointment with Dr. Sherman, my uncle and I went to my aunt's business in downtown LA for a visit (she's a designer) and it was great to see her space and some of the things that she was working on as well as some of the pieces that they were trying to clear out. It was fun to be back downtown again. I used to work at Robinson's corporate downtown on Grand street and it brought back a lot of memories just to be down there. It was a great experience to be on the buying end of things for a few years. Okay, back to the present, I had no nap today but I'm probably going to snooze for a little bit but not much so I can sleep tonight, but I'm so jazzed about the Dr. appointment today. Both Dr. Sherman and Hillary said that they were really amazed at how well my incisions were healing and how little bruising I had incurred - which, of course is all due to everyone praying I just know it. The expanders are also positioned well and they're very happy with my progress. I'll go back weekly to see him until I'm expanded around 400 cc or so and then I'll have a separate surgery to swap out the expander for an implant. That will be sometime in mid-end January.Anyway, I'm pretty stoked becuase everything went so well today and I was able to have a little outing after my Dr. appointment. I'm just so excited that I had the energy to do that after the appointment because I usually crash in the afternoon but I didn't :-).So, all in all a great day and I'm grateful for it.Blessings to all of you and thank you for your prayers!! Julie