Recovery is going well – I’m much less sore than last week. Getting more arm range which is also nice. I’m only taking muscle relaxers at night and occasionally some regular Tylenol. Sleeping is still painful on my back. Coughing and sneezing is also painful. I was given a great new tip to cough while holding a pillow to my chest to absorb some impact.
Grace is doing great with everything. She is very gentle with mommy and insists on “getting me medicine tomorrow that will make my boo boos go away” and then reminds me I need to be gentle with her because she has bug bites. I also got yelled at for not coughing in my elbow.
Had my second post op session with my Plastic Surgeon today. It went well:
- Overall – She said everything is healing extremely well and they are going to look great after
- Range – I’m allowed to slowly stretch my arms above my head. She said it’s good to not lose shoulder range, but not to go crazy or do it repetitively
- Lotions – I’m allowed to use lotions and deodorant again – woo hoo
- Exercise – Still not approved but walking with little arm movement is allowed. She said you can get your heart-rate up but nothing vigorous
- Radiation tips – She said to go in with no lotions; keep it dry to start then lotion extensively after
- Mark – I asked her about the red line on my boob, she said it could be a burn or bruise from surgery. It seems to be fading, so all is good
- Surgical Glue – in a few weeks they can remove the glue if it hasn’t fallen off
- Expanders – the ones they used are larger than normal for me so they are under my armpit which I can feel which is annoying. The expanders are also very hard which will be better when the real implant is put in. They also hurt when I go from laying down to sitting as the saline sloshes around
- Expansion
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- Today they expanded each side from 200/210 ccs to 240/250 ccs
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- The expanders can hold 500cc but they can go up to 600cc. He thinks 500ccs will be way bigger than I want
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- If this goes well, in 1.5 weeks we’ll put in 100ccs; our goal is to expand as much as possible before radiation because it’s hard to expand radiated skin
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- They said to take muscle relaxers today/tonight as I’ll be sore tonight. I took some this morning with Tylenol preventatively
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- The actual process wasn’t too bad – they fill these huge syringes with saline then use a magnet on a string to find where the expander opening is and poke/fill. Whole process takes maybe 3 minutes. Since the area is all numb as there aren’t many nerves left, I can’t really feel it, outside of the added pressure from the expansion.
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- I probably went from an A to a B with today’s expansion. They are pretty firm and uncomfortable but that will be better with the permanent implants
- I also got an implant card today – with my medical device info.
- Next expansion is 11/7
Here’s also a great article on expansion if you’re curious – https://www.breastcancer.org/treatment/surgery/reconstruction/types/implants/what-to-expect
Also some more thank yous!
Thank you to Eric and Katie (who we see in a week!) for the Audible subscription. Now that I can walk, I’m going to listen to some good books on my strolls.
Thank you to Aunt Sue and Uncle Bruno for awareness bracelets and sweet words.
Thank you to Kim for the beautiful flowers and holding down our accounts while I’m out.
Thank you to Pyburn for the beautiful flower and joining me for lunch!
Thank you to Cynthia for dropping off an amazing Turkey meal which you’ll see featured on her awesome blog soon – http://www.darlingdownsouth.com/
Thank you to mom for the amazing PJs which are great and comfy for recovery. Also a special thank you for helping with Grace during this! She loves her Grama time.
