Day 14- Dear PRMA

Dear PRMA,

Happy two-week-a-versary to me today.  It was two weeks ago that I was going into surgery, ready to take charge of my life, and hopefully change the course it was on.  Your entire team guided me through the process from beginning to end, and it all started with Courtney.  She's absolutely amazing at what she does.  So kind, compassionate and so completely understanding of those who might be a smidge type A...like me.  She got me through the insurance approval waiting period which was hell, and made a special effort to see me upon my arrival.

I've had a great experience from the initial consultation, to surgery to recovery, maybe too good, as I kept overdoing it each day after the surgery due to the energy I had and the limited amount of actual pain.  Sure, some days were harder and there was intermittent crying, but I had it pretty darn good throughout this entire process.   I owe that to you and your expertise.  You guys helped me keep the right mindset.  You guys were the best of the best cheerleaders.

I got excited on the days I felt great during recovery.  I wanted to explore, see the sights of San Antonio and hang out with the family outside of the hotel room.  But all of my enthusiasm could have come at a cost as I developed seroma as of day 11.  As uncomfortable and completely unattractive I felt in the band, I was sill determined to get out each day and explore.  I just felt good.  Perhaps I explored a bit too much, pushing my body more than resting it, and my seroma increased.  Whether or not it was my fault for being too active, the point is, I'm not very good at just resting.

Having fun on meds, killing time, waiting for aspiration.

Today, on my two week post-op visit, my seroma needed to be drained with a fine needle.  Prior to leaving the hotel, my husband looked at me and said, "babe, I really like your boobs.  I've been looking around at other overly noticeable boob jobs ever since your surgery, and seeing you today, in your dress, I noticed how great your boobs look.  They are just the right size.  They are perfect"  That, right there, boosted my confidence today.  We told Dr. C to give me something normal to suit me, and he did.  However, I still popped my 1/2 a Xanax and 1/2 a muscle relaxer, wrapped myself in my fashionable bandage and headed out to your lovely PRMA facility for the dreaded needle aspiration.  Now, as you all know by now, I'm a lightweight to medications.  Denise and Dr. C have seen me on a full Xanax and muscle relaxer,  and Denise fondly laughed today as she remembered how out of it I was previously.  So, today, I did 1/2 and 1/2.  Let me tell you, by the time I had reached PRMA and sat in the waiting room, it was all taking effect.  I was under the influence.

I love my nurse Denise, and I loved her even more today.  LOL!  I was in a happy place.  Nerves, nope, they were gone.  I think I fully entertained my husband in the doctor's room as well as your nursing staff just on the other side of the door.  I laughed, and laughed and laughed.  I laughed even though I was about to have needles in my breasts.  I laughed through the pain while Denise held my hand.  Today, I had the privilege of seeing Dr. Ledoux, another well respected PRMA surgeon.  That's one thing that is clearly evident within the PRMA practice...you all fully support and recommend each other.  I told Dr. C that I'm ok seeing Dr. L because I trusted Dr. C.  If he said I'll be in great hands, I knew I would be.  I'm pretty sure Denise warned Dr. L that I was on medication as he came in smiling and gave a little laugh, and then continued smiling throughout the procedure.  I only felt the tiny pin prick of a needle on each side, but hey, that means I have feeling in my breasts which makes me beyond happy.

My funny and comforting nurse, Denise.

Dr. C...a friend from the beginning till the end.

The fluid is now out, I'm back in a compression bra with pads added for extra pressure to the underside of the breast and that's that.  I'm done with my treatments.  But I don't want to be done, as strange as that sounds, as I absolutely fell in love with all of you at PRMA, especially Dr. Chrysopoulo, Denise and Courtney.  I don't want to leave San Antonio.  I believe we come into each other's lives for a reason.  There's a reason I found Dr. C in 2013, hoping for a 2014 surgery, and there's a bigger reason as to why I was drawn back to him in 2015 to finally complete my surgery.  People will know when they've found their surgeon, they just will.  And it's completely natural to form a bond with the people who help save your life.  You're forever connected at the heart.  I would love to bring my daughters back here come time for their surgeries, should they be BRCA+.  I trusted my life and I'd trust my daughters' lives to PRMA and Dr. C.  

Added my Previvor colors today...another milestone in my life.

                                     

So, it's with this 2 week anniversary post that I end my daily postings.  I'm good, I'm strong and I'm happy...I'm now boring.  I'll post if there's further updates to my healing process, I'll forever catch you guys on Twitter and Facebook and I'll send a shoutout whenever I can.  With as recovered as I am, there's just nothing newsworthy to share on this current journey as of now.  I'll never be able to thank you all enough, but I think in your hearts, you know just how much you touch every life who walks through your doors, including mine.

Up next, oophorectomy.  I wish you did those so that I'd have an excuse to fly back and see you all!

With my utmost love and respect,  

Heather

Day 13- Everyone Is Different

Well, the seroma isn't reabsorbing, so we're doing a needle aspiration tomorrow.  Simply put, a very fine needle will be inserted into each breast to remove the fluid which has gathered.  I tried to be the perfect patient, doing everything I was told (I didn't even have my first cocktail I asked if I could have due to guilt), but everyone is different when it comes to the healing body.  My body is choosing to take a different route to recovery, just how it is.

So, Xanax was recommended prior to the procedure tomorrow, as I'm already fearing that needle.  It's one thing to be completely knocked out for surgery, but being awake and seeing the needle go into my breast?  I told you I'm a wimp.  Anyway, I made my nurse promise she'd be with me every minute of the procedure tomorrow as she pretty much calms my anxiety.  Denise, I will get a photo with you and proudly display you on my blog before this is over!

So, please say a little prayer for my boobs and me tomorrow.

On an upside, we spent another wonderful day here in San Antonio.  If you come to PRMA, you will have such a wonderful area to explore while you're healing.  I still can't believe I've been in Texas for thirteen days already, tomorrow marking my two week anniversary.  We've lived in an Airbnb (best hosts EVER) and are now on our second hotel.  We wanted to keep things interesting during the stay.

Anyway, today we moved into a hotel on the Riverwalk and took the guided river cruise.  Y'all have so much history here!  I love this little hidden gem of San Antonio.  It's beautiful, relaxing and you make it as big or as little an adventure.  I chose to head back to the hotel after the cruise, as my body had enough.  My family continued on to the IMAX where they learned more about the Alamo.  As expats, my kids don't know much of American history, sadly.  We're trying to add in that educational element whenever we can.

You'll love San Antonio.  I'll have a complete list of things to do, places to stay and where to eat when I'm done here!  I'll share it all with you.

Day 12- Nothing to Tell...and That's Awesome

Man, that feels really good to say...there's nothing to tell you guys today!  

I had no muscle spasms, no nerve issues, no feeling fatigued nor sick.  I'm only on antibiotics and I only needed one muscle relaxer today.  I showered 100% on my own and only needed help getting a shirt on.  I'm still in the strap to try and help the seroma, but that's just part of the deal and I'm dealing with it (note clenched teeth smile).  I did ask one medical question regarding it, but that's all.  Other than that, nothing wrong with me that was worthy of a real blog post!  Today was just...a day.

So, what I can say, is if you come to San Antonio for surgery and need to entertain your kiddos, you need to go to the all new Do Seum (Children's Museum that reopened this June) where my children spent a whopping eight hours today!  They stayed until closing, getting nudged out ever so kindly by the staff.  There's plenty of indoor and outdoor activity to keep them busy, so busy that they didn't want to leave.  

Day 11- Goodbye Drains, Hello Seroma

Goodbye Drains...

It's a very, very happy day 11 for us today.  My final two drains were removed which gave me a sense of freedom.  I've been tied up to drains for eleven days, six of those days with four drains, and while that doesn't seem like a lot, you'd be amazed as to how annoying and uncomfortable they can be.  My right drain and breast, as I mentioned yesterday, were the ones causing all the discomfort and pain for me.  Especially around the exit point of the drain.  My left drain and breast...wouldn't know I even had a drain except for the the fact that it flopped around all the time.

I had so much apprehension about the drain removal process, but gotta say, it was easy peasy.  That, or my nurse Denise has magic hands.  I was trying to explain it to my husband, as I told him there wasn't any pain with the removal, but it's the sensation that made me say "gross!" each time Denise pulled one out.  All you feel is the sensation of something being pulled out of you, no pain.  Like pulling a fettuccine noodle out of a bowl of jello.  A little tugging to get it going and then slooooop!  It's out!  So now, I'm completely free from being tied down to my drains.  I can move more freely and honestly, not having to strip them of fluids daily takes a lot of the nauseating feelings away from me.

This is what two of the drain sites look like post removal,
13 days after surgery.

                                       

Tips for lessening the pain of the drains: 

1.  Ask for Lidocaine patches to put around the drain site that is hurting you (check that your insurance won't charge an arm and a leg for them.)  You can wear them 12 hrs. on, 12 hrs. off.  This really helped me for that right drain.

2.  Use a bandaid to tape the drain into place close to the insertion site.  It's held very securely by sutures, but you want to keep it from wobbling about.  I then used another bandaid lower down on my abdomen to secure part of the cord close to my body so that it wouldn't move.

3.  Many use safety pins to secure the drains to the inside of clothing.  I never did this, but I don't see why it wouldn't work beautifully for those who need to get dressed and go out a lot.  I had Shower Pockets.  Read about them HERE, order them HERE. I had two pair so that when I showered with one, I had had another dry one for putting on.  I slept in them and wore them 24/7.  

Hello Seroma.

As my nurse, Denise, was examining my breasts, she came across small pockets of fluid, called Seroma, at the bottom of each breast.  My husband and I never even noticed, and still found it difficult to see when Denise was examining them.  Naughty right breast had a little more than my well-behaving left breast.  A Seroma is simply a pocket of fluid that sometimes develops under the skin after surgery, but it needs to be watched.  My body should reabsorb this small amount of fluid on its own over the next few days, but we've taken precautions in the meantime to try and avoid having a needle aspiration (I HATE NEEDLES) and force my body to reabsorb.  Since the fluid wasn't near the drain, the seroma wasn't going to go away by keeping the drain in.  Keeping drains in when they aren't helping only increases the risk of infection.

So, here's what we've done.  We've put my chest in a compression strap which is essentially a 2.5" wide heavy duty band that wraps around my chest. The good news is that I'm out of that awful compression bra during this time.  The bad news, the compression strap is worse than the compression bra.  As you can see from the photo, the strap seems really high, like up in my armpit high.  Here's why.  The fluid is gathering on the bottom of my breasts.  So, we forced as much skin as we could up high, above my breast, and at the same time, pressed my implants down towards the bottom of my breast.  We then secured this all into position with the strap.  The pressure of the implant at the bottom of my breasts will help force the fluid to reabsorb into my body.  

This is NOT pleasant in any way, shape or form.  It's a lot of pressure (one size fits all...ha!) and the fabric is a bit course, so it rubs in your armpits and on your chest.  I've learned to tuck my tank top just up and over the top edge of the strap which helps.  I've already been taking more medication to ease this discomfort and pain of this new setup, but as I said in Day 10's blog post, I need to take care of this body, it's the only one I have.  I'll be like this until Thursday, exactly two weeks post surgery.  At that time, we'll re-examine to see how things looks and hope for my body to cooperate.

So, until then, think happy boob thoughts for me.