Thursday, August 15, 2013

6 day check-up...2 weeks later

It took me a little longer than 6 days, but I went in to speak with Dr. Ferguson for my follow-up appointment.  He took a look and said that everything looked really good.  I was grateful that I didn't have any complications and no infection.  It was really a pretty quick visit.  Again, I couldn't drive for 2 weeks or move my arms at the shoulder, so I looked like I was doing the "robot" dance during that time.  After 2 weeks, I was able to work on my range of motion.  Again, I wasn't supposed to carry more than 20 pounds for many weeks.

Thank goodness for my in-laws who took James for that first week so I could rest and not need to carry him around.  I think I wasn't supposed to carry him for 6 weeks, but at least 1 week helped so much.  I was able to "work around it", by picking him up for some things like putting him into his crib, but making sure not to carry him around the house.

My recovery has been much easier than the recovery after the initial double mastectomy.  I don't think I took Percocet much after 3 days and I don't think that I absolutely needed it that long and may have been able to just take Ibuprofen.  In fact, after the surgery, my husband filled my prescription at Costco and I stayed in the car...until he came out and had forgotten to use the Rx insurance card.  $16? no thanks... so I headed back in there to get the amount refunded.  I actually felt good enough to do that!...I don't think I would've tried that after the mastectomy.

Again, after wearing the compression bra for 3 straight days, I was hesitant to see what my newly reconstructed breasts looked like.  It was a nice relief to see that they looked very nice, even though they had been squished with imprint lines and there were purple marking lines all over them.

My incision scars looked pretty good.  Dr. Ferguson always puts this glue sealant over my incisions after he sews up the hole where he took out the expanders and put in the implants.  That glue helps prevent infection, but keeps the dried up  blood from sloughing off so my incisions always look much worse than they are.  I usually keep that glue stuff on for a week (when it kind of cracks and starts to come off a bit by itself) because I want my incision to be left alone for a while since it really tugs at them when I peel off the glue, but Dr. Ferguson warns not to leave it on too long because that could actually perpetuate infection.  So when I finally pull off the glue and the dried blood falls off too, my incision scars look pretty good!  With time I am told they will fade.  I had heard from many people that I would need to massage the scars, but both Dr. Ferguson and Travis, PA tell me that it's not a good idea.   They say that the constant stretching that my skin is doing with the implant in is enough to "massage" the area (Travis told me about a study that showed this stretch was just as beneficial as massage) and that massage is actually detrimental to my situation since my skin is so thin over the breast implant, I will be causing more trauma and scar tissue build up if I am constantly massaging the incision scars.

My breasts seemed a teeny little bit high up on my chest, but slowly are filling into place.  There are one or two teeny things that I see...like a small pucker here or a teeny fold there...that I only notice when I'm staring to really observe the shape and form of my breasts...but I think that Dr. Ferguson did a fantastic job and I'm so grateful to him and Dr. Reading, and to Dr. Soisson for performing my hysterectomy/oophorectomy and for his expertise in the BRCAgene.  I feel really blessed to be led to excellent surgeons!  Not only are they all talented with their surgeries, but they are really great people!

1 comment:

  1. Hello there!! Glad to see a post from you and to read that everything went well! Is this the last of your procedure? I wanted to tell you how much my breasts have changed in the 16 months since my surgery. Mine were high too, really bugged me, but not anymore. And they have softened up QUITE a bit, much to my surprise. They are still very firm but they do have some squishy softness to them now. They have really settled in over this past year. I just told my husband I am really surprised how much they've changed. I'm so glad you're through your surgery and happy with the results!!

    Marge

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