Mood: Uncomfortable š
I have been doing OK since my surgery. I have had more pain than I was expecting and most of it has been from the drains. In my previous post I had a few pictures showing the drains and where they are placed. The drains are actually stitched into my skin because if they werenāt they would fall out due to gravity. The collection bulbs have some weight to them so I constantly have the sensation of them pulling on my skin. Not fun!!
On Monday I had a follow-up appointment with my surgeon to get my bandages and the two drains removed. While I was getting ready to go to my appointment I must have moved in just the wrong way because suddenly I was flooded with intense pain. It felt like the area where I was cut during surgery was ripped open on the left side, it hurt that bad. I ran to a mirror and looked under my breast expecting to see blood but I didnāt see anything.
As soon as my surgeon walked into the exam room he said, āOK, letās remove the bandages and drains!ā I told him what happened while I was getting ready for my appointment and he said that it could have been an internal suture as he didnāt see any blood on my bandages either. Once he removed my bandages he said that my skin was dry under them so that was good. The steri-strips were all still in place and he actually added a few more to the left side to insure that everything stayed in place.
Next he took a look at the two drains and decided that he wanted to keep them in place for one more week. The right drain was pulling more fluid out than the left but it was darker in color and not clear enough for his liking. Drains are not a pleasant thing to deal with so having them in for another week was not what I wanted to hear, especially considering where they are located. He reminded me again of why I have the drains and that it is important that the donor tissue does itās job and attaches to my breast wall and the implants so that I will not have any complications from the implants or having had radiationpreviously. It is totally worth it to me to have another week of discomfort to make sure that I have the best outcome from this surgery.
I have another appointment with him to finally remove the drains next Monday, May 11th so I will be looking forward to that.