Yesterday morning (Friday, 11/21/08) I went in for my (hopefully) final reconstructive surgery. The doc replaced the saline expander with a silicone implant, revised the mastectomy scar and installed a small silicone implant in the normal breast.
I had almost no stress or anxiety going into this surgery so I was really surprised that my BP was at 140 over 80 something that morning.
I had a chat with the anesthesiologist and told him I didn’t want narcotics for post-op pain unless I specifically ask for them. He turned that around and said that no matter what happened nobody would give me narcotics, even if I’m screaming in pain. Then he described a previous patient who threatened to sue him over getting drugs she didn’t want. I suggested that maybe there had been a misunderstanding with her, just as he had misinterpreted my request. I showed him my own printed sheet of info and reiterated what it said and what I’d already told him: “Don’t give me any post-op narcotics unless I specifically ask for them.”
We talked about my post-op nausea concerns and he said he typically uses phenergan, Zofran and dexamethasone. It sounded like a good cocktail to me. But alas, when I woke up I was nauseated. The nurse gave me more phenergan and then some Zofran. And I ate a pumpkin muffin with some water. Once the meds kicked in I was out like a light.
Surgery started around 8:30 and I was back in my room a little after 11:00. I had zero pain. None. Thanks to the long-lasting local anesthesia the doc had used. Well, no pain unless you count the sore throat from the tube. But that’s mostly gone today, tho I’m still a bit hoarse when I talk.
The nurse woke me up around 2 yesterday. I got up and pottied and she said I could go home.
On the way home Lloyd got me a Breakfast Jack and rootbeer. I mostly ate the egg, ham and cheese and avoided the bun. The rootbeer tasted way too sweet, so I just had a few sips and mostly drank water.
At home I slugged out on the couch for another few hours, not quite dozing, then got up and came over here to my office to send out an email to let people know everything was fine.
Yesterday whenever I got up from sitting or recling a while, I felt as if my body weighed a ton at first. I’ve never experienced that before. But that’s gone today.
I had no trouble sleeping last night, tho I did put an extra pillow under my waistline to prevent squashing the breasts. Today I can tell the anesthetic is worn off, but I feel only the mildest soreness, mostly when I move a certain way. It’s not even remotely enough discomfort to warrant so much as a Tylenol.
My biggest concern now is that the original breast seems considerably larger than the bionic one. I knew we’d lose some skin when the doc revised the scar on the bionic breast, but it seems quite a bit smaller than it did with the expander. I’m in a wait and see mode, hoping the natural breast is just swollen. I see the doc on Weds so I’ll find out what I can expect at that time. I suppose worst case scenario would be that he’d have to open the bionic breast one more time and put in a larger implant.
I don’t expect much in the way of nipple reconstruction. As I understand it, all methods provide only a token nipple, and my natural one is large, so we know he can’t match that. Oh well.
I’m just thankful that this process has been as successful as it has.
