Surgery (phase 1) has come and gone. It was a week ago yesterday. Things are going well and I thought it's time to update here.
We headed to A2 the day before surgery so that Dr. K. could mark me up. We'd have had to leave home at 3:30am on Friday anyway, even earlier if the weather was bad, so going the night before worked well. Dr. K. used a purple Sharpie to draw his masterpiece and then went over the whole thing with a black permanent marker. Can't say that I blame him; I had to take two showers between then and checking in, so we needed to make sure it stayed on. A week later, though, and I still have marker all over my body. LOL
We went out to a delicious dinner Thursday evening. I knew my appetite would change for a while after surgery, so I very much enjoyed my "last supper" (as I kept referring to in my head LOL).
I had to take a shower with special soap before bed and again in the morning. And then I opted to wear pajamas and slippers to check in at 5pm. I knew they were what I'd be wearing home so why not make it easier on myself. After surgery tip: wear soft, loose pants that can ride low (under the hip drain sites) and a soft, oversized (literally two sizes bigger than you usually wear) top that buttons completely in front. Aunt Kim gave me the perfect pair of pajamas as a pre-surgery gift. :)
Pre-op was the same as usual. Lots of docs, residents, anesthesiologists, and nurses came to visit me. I remember last talking to my nurse about how it was time to head to the OR and the next thing I knew, I was waking up in recovery.
When I woke up, I was taken to my private room on the plastics/flaps/ENT floor. On this floor, there is staff to check you as often as needed. For my surgery, that meant every hour for the first two days, every two hours for the next day, and then every four hours the last day.
I woke up with a Bair Hugger blanket wrapped over my chest. It was set at 109.4 degrees. I had to wear that from after surgery on Friday until Monday morning. I kept spiking a fever in the middle of the night. Not hard to do when you have this super hot blanket wrapped around you.
When I woke up, I also found that I had two wires coming out of my chest and connected to a machine that was in my bed. This was the Doppler. Each wire was sewn and stapled somehow to me so that they could monitor the blood flow in my flaps (new breasts). This was connected until discharge morning, and the sound was very reassuring to me (I could tell at all times that things sounded just as good as they did in the OR).
I was connected to a pain pump as well. Now. this part, please remember, everyone is different. I, personally, didn't use it at all or take any pain meds. I haven't since I got out of surgery and only came home with scripts for Tylenol and aspirin. I was given Tylenol once daily for three days for my fever, I take one aspirin daily (for a month going forward) to again help with blood flow. But I haven't taken anything else. At this point, I don't anticipate I'll need to because it should just continue to get better. This isn't to say everything was roses. I was very stiff and sore. But to me, being sore and being in pain are two different things. If I can tolerate the situation without meds, that is always my preference. They left the pain pump hooked up for three days and then just unhooked it since I never used it. I am tired of hearing how "amazing" I am for not taking pain meds. Again, everyone is different. A healthy recovery is most important and being pain free is very helpful in recovery.
In the hospital and now, I cannot have caffeine, chocolate, or nicotene. Chocolate has long made my belly sick anyway, so I really don't eat it often. I don't drink coffee or pop, and I don't smoke, so these restrictions don't cause an issue for me.
I got to get into a chair on Saturday and got to take walks starting on Sunday. My kids came up on Saturday to see me (they stayed the night in the hotel in the hospital). They got to go for a walk with me on Sunday. I think it did some of them a lot of good to see me up and around.
I had a catheter in until Sunday morning. After that, I had a lot more freedom. :)
Starting Monday, I was able to walk alone. It felt good to get around and also to not depend on others for everything. I was allowed to unhook and rehook my Doppler lines for my walks. Was nice to have that independence and, because I knew what the Doppler was supposed to sound like, I was always quickly assured that things were still going as we needed them to.
I finally got the okay to go home on Tuesday morning. Things went quickly from that point. Staples and wires removed for Doppler, learned how to strip my drains, got my IV out, and got the heck out of there within a few hours.
Drains. My nemesis. LOL I have four. One from each breast and one from each hip. They're stiched into me and part of the drain lines and their whole bulbs are on the outside of my body. They drain the extra "surgical gunk" from your body. This is major surgery and it's traumatic on your body. The drains help your body to recover.
But now that I'm home, I have to strip them and measure them three times per day. And because of them, I constantly wear a mastectomy camisole that has pockets for the drains. My insurance company paid for my camisole, and I couldn't be more grateful. The mastectomy camisole is one of the best inventions ever! As for the drains, they cannot be removed until they are at less than 20 CCs two days in a row. And the doc (or his nurse) has to be the one to remove them. Two are already measuring low enough that they could come out. One is too high and one is waaaay too high. I have a post-op follow-up with my doc on Tuesday and I'm hoping at least the two come out then.
The drains make it hard to wear clothes. The camisole helps for sure. But your pants still have to ride low to not pull the hip drains and your shirts have to be oversized to not squeeze against your breast drain sites.
I was able to take a shower unassisted at home on Wednesday. Will do it again this morning.
Baby steps. That's where we're at. I need to take it easy and allow myself the time to heal. I have to let my body do its job.
Sleeping has been the. hardest. thing. since I got home. I can't lay flat yet. I can't sit certain ways based on the drain sites. Sitting anything but straight up hurts my tailbone, but sitting straight up makes it really hard to sleep because my head flops over. I finally found a way to lay on the couch propped so that I can still get up by myself. And I found a comfy way to sit during the day. I got my first good sleep since being home yesterday, and it felt heavenly. It's only going to get better from here!
Emotionally/mentally is hard for me. Nothing at all to do with having my breasts removed; that really hasn't affected me. But not being able to take care of my family like I usually do and relying on others for many things (lifting, reaching, picking things up off of the floor since I seem to have developed a case of the dropsies). I am a fiercely independent person so relying on others is the hardest thing for me.
I think that's it for now. I'd be glad to answer any questions you may have. And I'll update likely after my appointment on Tuesday.
<3
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