Day 3 Post Op

Where I spend most of my time right now, snuggled in my homemade quilt.

 I took my first shower yesterday before the hospital released me at 6pm.  Not the greatest of experiences as I found myself getting very lightheaded and nauseated throughout the process.  I wanted nothing more than for the shower to be over and to be back in my bed for the yuckies to be over and done.  However, it felt really good to finally rinse off and feel a little more human again.  The kids were so excited to have me coming home and they were just sweeter than sweet with me.  I spent a couple hours in the reclining chair down in the living room as the family ate dinner and began getting ready for bed.  When it came time to sleep, I decided that I was going to sleep upstairs in the bedroom instead of in the recliner downstairs, despite what many people say.  I thought the recliner would feel better than the bed, but honestly, being alone downstairs had no appeal to me.  I wanted to be near my family.  There were no issues walking up the stairs, but its the getting into and out of bed that hurt and needed support.  My husband has a "1, 2, 3..." system down now where he rocks me back and forth until getting me upright.  It works like a charm.

My spirometer.  I'm supposed to inhale to 1500.

This morning, day 3 post op, I felt well rested but incredibly tight and sore and I cough quite a bit while trying to get the fluid out of my lungs.  I have to use a spirometer so that my lungs stay clear of fluids and I don't get pneumonia.  Inhaling to the required mark slightly hurts, but I know its for the best.  My husband emptied my drains; what a good man he is as I can't stand to look at them.  My daughter even watched, even though she was the most scared of the idea when we were explaining it to her.  The drains are just a pain overall.  They are attached to you and go everywhere you go.  They are long as well, so I was happy to have my shower pockets and I used them during the entire time I had drains.

I took another shower today.  Because I had already been up for a bit (going to the bathroom, cleaning the drains and talking to the kids), I was quite exhausted by the time the shower came.  While it felt so good, it also took everything that was left out of me. I also took a VERY SLIGHT peek at my new boobs.  Its the strangest sensation to touch something you can't feel.  I can't say that I'm at all excited about them.  Imagine a radius of about 2" from the center of the nipple, and not feeling a thing.  My nerves were obviously compromised in the surgery, so only the outer areas of each breast respond to touch.  Visually, my husband said they look good...swollen, but good.  I have almost zero bruising which amazes me.  But I haven't accepted that this is the new me yet.

A clean-body-and-washed-hair-moment later, I was back in bed and sound asleep.  I'm pretty much good for being alert for about 20-30 minutes before needing to sleep thanks to all the drugs I'm on.  Drives me crazy.  I'm also experiencing difficulty typing as my fingers don't do what they're supposed to, according to my brain.  Drug induced fog most likely.  My vision is also very blurry, so as far as I know, this blog post could have a ton of sentences and words that don't make sense.  As far as pain, the majority of pain comes from the drain tube sites on each outer side of my breasts.  I've decided to go down from two Percocet to one for each dose, but the muscle relaxer is what seems to help the most, so I keep the regular dose for that.

Eating lunch out of the bed!  Watching Friends.

As of this afternoon, I'm able to get in and out of bed with minimal help (but still need supervision in case I fall).  I made it up and into the rocking chair for lunch today which was a nice change from eating in bed.  I've got my Friends playing on the computer, my chips and salsa and apples.  So far, so good.