Soft

94 Days Post-Mastectomy
As promised, yesterday's surgery was no big deal. I was back at Mission Hospital, where I'm guessing that 7 am is the earliest scheduled slot for out-patient surgery, because there was a line of us arriving at the same time (5:30 am). I had the same pre-op bed as when I went in for the mastectomy, which was nice because it was in a room, not just curtained off from other beds. The pre-op wait was much shorter this time, as there was nothing special required (like the nuclear dye to trace sentinal nodes which I had to have the last time). After I'd been hooked up and monitored, Dr. Doezie arrived and marked up my chest. The surgery started on time and went perfectly, so Pete was told.

I have to say that it felt that the hospital didn't so much discharge me as boot me out. As soon as the nurse in Recovery noticed my eyes were open, she asked if I wanted some water - which of course I did as my throat was sore from the anesthesia tube - and within less than a minute of delivering it was asking me if I was ready to go or did I need a little more time? Since I still couldn't really keep my eyes open, I croaked out "more time". Which I got, but not much.

So, we left the hospital around 11 am, and I basically slept the rest of the day at home.

The implants are, as everyone had told me they would be, soft and pliable and not at all like the tissue expanders. I'm still not sure exactly what the final result will look like, because there's swelling all around, and of course the incisions from the first surgery were cut open again for this one, and my chest was bound up with an ace bandage, all of which contributes to the slightly squashed look I currently have. I don't know what to expect when I look in the mirror any more, with so many changes happening to my chest over the last 3 months. I confess I was afraid to take the ace bandage off and see what I look like now, because this is it (sort of)!

As far as pain goes, there is very little. I took some percocet yesterday and early this morning, as instructed, but that was it.

Today Pete had to take me back to Dr. Doezie's for a post-op appointment. He had to learn to do some simple manipulation of the implants, which is supposed to help prevent scar tissue forming and causing capsular contraction. It hurt a little bit, but the exercise only last 10 seconds on each side. It's supposed to be done twice a day for 2 months - after a couple of weeks I should be able to do it myself.