You’d think I’d have learned by now that the trauma of surgery always burns off my estrogen faster than normal. I’m post-menopausal (hysterectomy) and so I use a bioidentical estrogen patch to provide what my ovaries used to.
I have found that normally I can be fine with just 1/2 patch sometimes for as much as 7 days, tho they are intended to be swtiched every 3.5 to 4 days.
But when I’ve had surgeries, it seems that I can only go 2 to 3 days before I start feeling feverish, itchy-crawly, sleeping poorly, etc. Like a idiot, each time, I think I must be getting sick…until I think to check when I last put on a new patch. I just did that and sure enough it had been almost 3 days since I put on the last one.
So I put one on Friday, the morning of surgery, another 2.5 days later on Sunday evening, and the latest one midday Weds, 2.5 days again.
As I recall this pattern fades after maybe 10 days. Maybe even less.
Regarding my recovery, the local anesthesia wore off mostly by Sat evening and there was only minor discomfort. I have been able to sleep normally since the first day, even sleeping on my side and tummy. Monday I worked in my office, and Tues I mowed for 45 minutes…tho I felt well enough on Monday and even Sunday to have done it.
Today I had my checkup with the surgeon who says the two breasts were more or less matched when he left me in recovery. “Pam Anderson” (the augmented natural breast on the left) is still very swollen and the doc assumes it may have quite a bit of fluid in the pocket where her put the implant. Since there are no drains, I just have to wait till my body reabsorbs the fluid. The doc says he really can’t put a smaller one in because it would also be smaller diameter and could float around in the pocket. So we’ll just wait and see.
The doc says this will subside noticeably in 2 weeks, and will be where it should be in 6-8 weeks. he showed me a photo of a patient with implants at day 5-ish, like me, and again at 8 weeks. The first photo had the high-riding, stickie-outie look that mine has. In the second photo, both breasts had a natural slope and projection.
The nurse told me her implanted breasts would swell sometimes unevenly for a while if she favored one arm in working out or doing chores.
We ordered a pair of stick-on nipples, which I’ll have to build up with the hot glue gun to match the original.
I decided not to push for the nipple reconstruction this year. The doc agrees. He is concerned that I have so little (or no) flat layer in the bionic breast because of the mastectomy. He is thinking of doing fat grafts next year to fill out any shape issues (possibly help get rid of the squared-off look) and to generally give me some fat between the skin and the implant. After he does that, we can decide what to do about the nipple reconstruction. It’s possible the added fat will make it easier to get a decent result.
That’s it for now. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
