I did it. I walked into that hospital because I had to. Once I walked through those doors, the rest was up to my team (I may not ever have the words to express my gratitude for those individuals). My surgeons, doctors, nurses, all of them, made it possible for me to say that I am alive!
The pain has been manageable thanks to strong pharmaceuticals. I stopped taking the opiate meds about 3 days post-op because, omg, they are the worst. Itchiness all over, all the time and it took DAYS to poop, after much abdominal distress! Nope, I'll just rely on Ibuprofen.
It hasn't been easy though, I actually had to have a followup surgery yesterday (11 days post-op) because of a slight complication. At my first appointment with my plastic surgeon after surgery, they took the bandages off and noticed right away that I had developed some skin necrosis. Don't google it, it's gross, trust me. It's simply dead skin. Some of my skin died because, at some point during the initial surgery, the network of blood vessels that supply blood to the tissue were damaged. Basically, it lost it's connection to the blood supply and died. So, my plastic surgeon had to get me back in the O.R. and remove the dead skin/tissue.
Other than the pain and discomfort, the worst part of recovery has been the J.P. Drains. Double mastectomy with expander placement, means two drains on each side. They removed one from each side at that first post-op appointment. So, now, I have one on each side. That's better, but I still can't wait to get them out. I'm assuming I'll have them longer since I had to have that second surgery.
What else, my range of motion with my arms is non existent. I'm trying to T-Rex everything, but that natural instinct is to reach out, don't do it. I reached up and grabbed something and needed to use the opiate pain meds to squash the pain. And for some reason, I keep injuring my left arm in bed. I think I'm using it to push up or move positions, I wake up screaming in pain from arm pain. It's not my chest, that's primarily numb, but my armpits and arm muscles are donezo.
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Just seeing this! Not only are you kickin cancer's a$$ but you're the bravest gal I know. Truly an inspiration and WONDER WOMAN. We love you!
ReplyDeleteI’m right here following you. I wish there was some magical treatment that would have made all the treatments unnecessary but you are so brave. I try to think of ways to help you but you will have tell me if there’s something you need. ❤️💕❤️💕
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