On this past Thursday, I finally had my part one of my reconstructive surgery. In this procedure, Dr. A. lipos fat from my abdomen to implant over my current expanders. It not only gives cushion around the expanders, but also under my now thin layer of skin over the breast. Plus, it's working toward giving me a natural, round shape. Whoo hoo! Oh and I forgot to mention - he's taking out my mediport! A huge milestone!
So I arrive at the surgery center at 6:30am - yep that's right. I was the first patient on the list. I've been to this outpatient surgery enter so many times, I'm surprised I don't have a permanent booth by now. Pre-op went smoothly and I talked to Dr. A. and PA before they gave me the ok to head in. The anesthesiologist, Dr. D. came in and waved the sleeping juice in front of me which means I was ready to go. But since I was still awake and talking by the time they wheeled me into the OR and was in the process of strapping me to the table, I think I got an additional boost that sent me under in 2 seconds.
I woke up in post op feeling like poop. Although I do remember my first coherent phrase was "Am I skinny yet?!" lol I normally have no problem coming out of anesthesia, but this time I felt like a truck ran me over. And I had horrible nausea - which, again, I don't normally have since I've done this so many times. On top of that, I woke up with a giant abdomen compression belt, which Dr. A. seemed to have forgotten to mention. Then I got to argue with the nurse about her trying to push pain pills on me, while my mouth is drier than the Mojave Desert and a throat that has been scraped by a trach tube - so her solution was to force me to try and eat Saltine crackers and chug a soda. But when I asked for sugar free gelatin instead, I sound like the crazy one. So on top of the Valium I had in pre-op and the heavy dose of anesthesia from the surgery, she tells me to take the pain pill or I'll have to get it in a shot later. My head was swimming and my stomach was turning, so I was in no mood to argue and I took it. But as the pain pill made me more drowsy, I wasn't allowed to go back to sleep since my O2 was low, and the genius decided it was a great time to make me get out of bed and go to the bathroom. Ugh After a couple of hours in post op, I was finally able to go home. Now that I was doped up on 3 different sets of meds, I spent the rest of the day feeling like I wanted to barf or pass out. It wasn't until about 10pm that I felt well enough to eat a chimichanga and some cheesy rice - which felt awesome after such a crappy day!
The next day I had a follow up with Dr. A. So we drove back to Dallas and thankfully by now I was feeling much better - just sore. And compressed in the giant belt. He gave me a lookover and said everything was looking fine - thank God after the problems I had after my last breast surgery - and that even though I had to keep wearing the compression belt, I don't have to wear it all the time. I think the best part was when he took off the compression belt to look at the incisions and I felt my entire body fall in relief. He asked me how that felt and I answered "I think my inner fat girl just exploded." Ha! But I managed to escape without any infections or injuries this time, just some funny colored bruising and lots of steri-strips.
Now that I'm home and finally getting rest, I'm starting to feel the slow trail up to healing, such as finding all the steri-strips, washing off all the iodine stains, finally wanting food again, and of course - crazy, insane itching from my incisions. I've been ordered lots of rest, no heavy lifting and no driving for several days. Dr. A. has always been fond of having his patient's chauffeured around. I got a giant gift basket from my cousin and her friends who were super generous and gave me items such as cookies, chocolate and a coloring book with markers! I'm all set for my time off :-)
So I'm due to see Dr. A. again next Friday for another follow up. Until then I'm supposed to just take it easy, and I'm sure I can find things to occupy my time. As long as this compression belt doesn't get the better of me...
Oh yeah - and we'll be doing round two in about 2 months - so stay tuned!
No comments:
Post a Comment