When my husband arrived at the post-op area, I asked him to see if I had any drains coming from the surgery site. I was pretty sure that I didn’t have any, but I wanted to know for sure. I completely understand the need for them, but drains are the worst! I have had two surgeries where I had drains; both of the surgeries required two drains, and they make recovering from surgery that much more challenging. They have to be emptied twice a day, and it seems like they are always in the way of anything I might be trying to do. Plus, for me anyway, there is a constant feeling of the drains pulling on my skin; it is a weird, uncomfortable, and sometimes painful sensation.
Once I was dressed and ready to leave the surgery center, my husband and I stopped by the pharmacy to pick up my medication. This time around, my surgeon did not prescribe an antibiotic, only Oxycodone for pain and Promethazine for nausea. I called my Dad while hubby was in the pharmacy, and I don’t remember much of the conversation other than him telling me that I sounded out of it, and I was, but I didn’t think I was that bad, or I wouldn’t have called myself. When hubby got back to the car with my medication, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to eat yet, so we decided to go home and get something later once I was a little more coherent.
After we got home and I was feeling a little more awake, I went to the bathroom to look at my bandages. I was surprised to see one long bandage and nothing else. Wow!! Is my incision that long? I have a bruise peeking out from about the middle of the bottom of the bandage, but the pain is minimal, as I am still numb under my arm from my first surgery back in April 2019.
My recovery has been up and down over the last few days, which I know is normal after any surgery. The first two days after surgery are usually the hardest, and then it usually gets more manageable. I slept a lot the first few days, a real sign that my body is working hard to heal from the recent trauma of surgery. I had a ton of muscle spasms in my back during the first few days after surgery, and I am still having them now, but they have eased off quite a bit. I am assuming that they are because my incision is not isolated to my chest this time. I have also had a lot of nausea almost every evening after dinner. My husband says that I have had nausea after every surgery, but I don’t remember having it after more than a few days. I have an excellent nausea med to take that works pretty fast, but still, I would like it to go away sooner rather than later. Yesterday I felt good, and I was hoping it would carry into today, but it didn’t. Today I have been feeling tired and just off; I really don’t have a good way to describe it.
I am starting to itch under my bandage, which I know is a good sign that I am healing, but I am also starting to have pain in a few spots. The pain is not so bad that I have to take anything more than Extra Strength Tylenol, which is good because I stopped taking the Oxycodone every six hours, a few days after surgery. I try to stop taking Oxycodone as soon as possible because it scares me. I am only taking it once a day now, usually before bed, and I hope to stop taking it very soon.
I also have the bottom part of my bandage lifting away from my skin, so I know my surgeon will remove it tomorrow during my follow-up appointment, and hopefully, he will not replace it. My husband took a peek under my bandage before he pushed it back down onto my skin, and he said that I have a lot of steri-strips and some stitches along my incision. If the bandage isn’t replaced, I will finally be able to take a shower, and that will definitely help me feel better. The last shower I took was last Thursday morning, right before I went to the surgery center. I can’t get my bandage wet, but I can use a washcloth and soap, so I have been doing that, but it isn’t the same as taking a nice hot shower. Today I couldn’t stand my dirty hair any longer, so my husband washed my hair in the kitchen sink. He has never washed my hair before, not once in the almost 21 years we have been together, but, at least during my breast cancer journey, this is the first time I have had enough hair to get dirty every few days since I started having surgeries in April 2019.
I will update again soon with pictures once my bandage is off and with the details of my follow-up appointment with my surgeon.