I don't know if I even shared this here, but last month I had surgery. My expander from my mastectomy popped sometime this summer. I hoped to hold off on any further reconstruction until I could handle the big DIEP procedure. That requires 5 days in the hospital, and 6 weeks of recovery at home. So you can imagine how awesome that sounds with two small children. Anyhow with the popped expander I just couldn't take it and as it turned out the skin had started to retract anyhow. So I went in for an outpatient procedure to have my expander removed and an implant put in. Seemed easy, recovery seemed to be going well and I was on my way to more comfort. I did have a bleeding episode about a week later, but the surgeon checked me out and didn't seem concerned provided it stopped.
Fast forward to this past Monday. I thought I hurt myself in my recovery zone but didn't think much of it. Then I got the chills and a fever. It got progressively worse that night but I took some Nyquil thinking it was the flu my family has been passing around. I was laid up Tuesday with this "flu" but felt improved on Wednesday. I had my follow up scheduled with my surgeon and I was expecting a good report and to have my steri strips removed.
I spent the morning at my dads with the kids. Poor Gio stumbled and landed with his hand on the wood stove. Burned it straight up. We did everything we could but finally decided he needed to be checked by the pediatrician. They could see him 15 minutes after my appointment so my dad was taking the kids while I took myself into San Francisco. Nick met my dad so gratefully they were all together already. Gio is okay, though has blisters all over his palm. He will recover and has been in good spirits since he cried himself to sleep after the injury.
At the same time my mom was at the dentist dealing with an infected tooth. He managed to hit something and caused a hematoma leaving her face swollen. You know, because the tooth itself wasn't enough!
Meanwhile I see my doctor. He immediately notices my skin is red and warm to the touch. I really didn't notice that but hadn't really paid attention since Monday in my feverish state. I described my symptoms and we both quickly realized what was likely happening. He moved me to the procedure room, and confirmed I had a very bad internal infection. The external wound was mostly ok but just one corner told us what was going on. He wanted me in the OR as soon as possible. My odds of keeping the implant was 50/50 at best. Since this isn't my final plan for reconstruction, we decided to avoid a potential additional surgery and just take the implant out.
So last night, at about 6:30 I went back under the knife and had my implant removed. I'm back to not lifting my babies and preparing for the holidays from my bed or a chair. I'm on super antibiotics and have a drain in for at least a week. Gratefully physically I feel pretty good. Hopefully an easy recovery this time. I'm struggling with body image the most yet with this procedure. The skin will shrink up eventually but I've got some elephant man looking issues going on now. Definitely not very womanly. I'll need to get a prosthetic just to feel ok in clothes. I may have to avoid mirrors and eyes out of clothes. And remind myself this isn't the end of the road. Now I will be looking to do the DIEP procedure early next year. I'm guessing February but we have a ton to sort out before I can know.
My motto today is the universe has a plan and I just have to show up. I won't likely understand until I get to the other side of it all.
So there you go, the trifecta of holiday bummer.
Fast forward to this past Monday. I thought I hurt myself in my recovery zone but didn't think much of it. Then I got the chills and a fever. It got progressively worse that night but I took some Nyquil thinking it was the flu my family has been passing around. I was laid up Tuesday with this "flu" but felt improved on Wednesday. I had my follow up scheduled with my surgeon and I was expecting a good report and to have my steri strips removed.
I spent the morning at my dads with the kids. Poor Gio stumbled and landed with his hand on the wood stove. Burned it straight up. We did everything we could but finally decided he needed to be checked by the pediatrician. They could see him 15 minutes after my appointment so my dad was taking the kids while I took myself into San Francisco. Nick met my dad so gratefully they were all together already. Gio is okay, though has blisters all over his palm. He will recover and has been in good spirits since he cried himself to sleep after the injury.
At the same time my mom was at the dentist dealing with an infected tooth. He managed to hit something and caused a hematoma leaving her face swollen. You know, because the tooth itself wasn't enough!
Meanwhile I see my doctor. He immediately notices my skin is red and warm to the touch. I really didn't notice that but hadn't really paid attention since Monday in my feverish state. I described my symptoms and we both quickly realized what was likely happening. He moved me to the procedure room, and confirmed I had a very bad internal infection. The external wound was mostly ok but just one corner told us what was going on. He wanted me in the OR as soon as possible. My odds of keeping the implant was 50/50 at best. Since this isn't my final plan for reconstruction, we decided to avoid a potential additional surgery and just take the implant out.
So last night, at about 6:30 I went back under the knife and had my implant removed. I'm back to not lifting my babies and preparing for the holidays from my bed or a chair. I'm on super antibiotics and have a drain in for at least a week. Gratefully physically I feel pretty good. Hopefully an easy recovery this time. I'm struggling with body image the most yet with this procedure. The skin will shrink up eventually but I've got some elephant man looking issues going on now. Definitely not very womanly. I'll need to get a prosthetic just to feel ok in clothes. I may have to avoid mirrors and eyes out of clothes. And remind myself this isn't the end of the road. Now I will be looking to do the DIEP procedure early next year. I'm guessing February but we have a ton to sort out before I can know.
My motto today is the universe has a plan and I just have to show up. I won't likely understand until I get to the other side of it all.
So there you go, the trifecta of holiday bummer.
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