Diario di redwinelover, 29 ott 10

Today is Day 9 of recovery. Hmmm... if only I could get out of my recliner, I'd be doing pretty good right now. But husband left for work, son left for classes, and daughter is sound asleep and I'll just hold on to my pee for as long as I can! lol...TMI?? So I thought I'd journal. The drain removal went a little better than I expected. Well, a lot better, actually. The breast ones were pretty flat like tubes and really slick, apparently made so there's no possibility of them "catching" on the Strattice...the stuff that was used like a sort of breast sling :).... who would have thought I'd be discussing THIS kind of thing on an open forum?! But hey, I figure I probably won't meet most of you, so you can't see my red face! But it was a weird feeling, just having this sliding sensation under the skin and followed by a bit of drainage, but not much. Then the big ones, the drinking straw sized ones. He said he could give me a local if I want, but that the shot hurts some too, so it's up to me. I said go for it - numb me. The shots hurt - the whole groin area was pretty sensitive to begin with anyway. And I'd had one drain that must have been twisted or pulled out slightly or something to begin with, as it had given me trouble the whole time. Then he clipped the stitch holding those in and said, it's going to feel weird, a snaking sensation in your abdomen. Holy cow...that's exactly what it was, I felt these tubes making like an S or double S shape in my groin area and then it was out. He was fast because I didn't know he'd pulled them both out. Then he took the rest of the steri-strips off... I thought that would freak me out but I guess I'm getting immune to that stuff. Plus I'd looked at a million pictures online before ever having this done and was totally prepared for the incisions. And truthfully? Although I honestly did NOT believe him when he said that every patient he'd had was so pleased with the shape and fullness that the scarring entailed in the lift part was almost nothing in comparison. I really, really did NOT want to deal with that type of scar, but I knew it would be the only way to "fix" the problem. He tried doing the more conservative circumareolar lift but was fairly confident it wouldn't do the trick. So I was fully prepared for all the probable scars. And right now, at least, they are NOTHING when I see the incredible results! I am fortunate that I generally scar very, very lightly and even more fortunate that I found such a skilled surgeon, as all of the incisions look very nice, very thin and I am fairly confident, they will fade nicely over the next year. He could tell how happy I am with the results and frankly, it showed on HIS face that he was quite proud of his "creation" lol....

So, another new day and I hope to God I've turned the corner. I felt so horrible last night... feverish again, aching, so much pain and this time mostly in the breast area... aching, full feeling. Almost reminiscent of a bout of mastitis I had nursing one of my kids...and freaked out that it hurt that much. I think yesterday just wore me out. The 35 min. drive to the surgeon's office, the freaking out all morning about the drains being pulled, the removal, themselves, and the drive back home and getting in and out of the recliner. Oh! And my daughter took off for a while later in the day, my son was home. I had taken some pain meds and fallen asleep and woke up totally disoriented in the dark. I thought it was the middle of the night. My husband has been sleeping on the sofa next to my recliner, but he wasn't there. I could not find my phone, just the TV remote. My son was upstairs, but couldn't hear me calling for him. A little scary. About 30 min later, though, my husband got home. Apparently my phone had slipped off my lap onto the floor, so I was totally helpless. That was a scary feeling. So anyway, maybe all of those things played into how I felt last night. Today... much better. And really hoping for that shower.

I'll respond to yesterdays comments below...Thanks all of you for your prayers and thoughts and good wishes!