More expansions and stuff

Hey everyone, sorry I haven't been updating!

I had my last drain removed and my second expansion a while ago now, I already forget when it was.  I have it written down somewhere I think but I'm too lazy to look.  My mom couldn't come with me to that appointment, but I was lucky to have my friends Marissa and Vi go with me instead.  The drain removal/second expansion appointment was only a couple days after my first expansion, so my Plastic Surgeon was only able to get in 25 cc, bringing me up to 125.

Yesterday I had my third expansion with another 50 cc, so now I'm at 175!  Yay!  About halfway there or so.  I won't be able to have my exchange surgery until after classes are over, though, because my PS said I'll have to take 2 weeks off for recovery.  I was hoping it would be more like my lumpectomy where I could bounce back a couple of days later, but sadly no.  Also, the Plastic Surgery/Cosmetic Dermatology department moved to a different area, and I got a little confused trying to find it since there were no signs anywhere, but I found it eventually.  It's nice, the rooms are a lot bigger, so the next time I bring an entourage with me to an appointment there will be enough room for everyone.

After my expansion yesterday, I really noticed how much heavier that side is starting to feel.  Also I've been having really bad upper back pain all day today, and I think it might have to do with the expander.  I really hope that it doesn't get worse the more it gets filled because it's pretty uncomfortable and inconvenient.  I took a Motrin but that didn't really help, although it did help a little.  It may be about time to take another one.

In other news, the past week has been eventful.  I had a great time last weekend wine tasting with my mom and our friend Michele in Sonoma, and school started this week.  Originally I wanted to take an EMT class and a couple of other nursing pre-reqs, because being an EMT would be a great way to get some clinical experience (especially since it's virtually impossible to volunteer at a hospital and part of the class involves 72 hours of actual ER/Ambulance work), but I realized that would be too much for me right now.  They recommend taking the EMT class with no other classes because it is so intensive.  I think I might have been okay, but also the physical demands were worrisome to me.  We were going to be doing a lot of lifting in that class - as in, lifting other people - and I'm still not really supposed to lift more than 5 pounds.  (I even had to ask someone to carry my microscope to my desk for me in lab today, haha!)  I also got into the second part of the Anatomy and Physiology series I have to take, and I wanted to take them back to back, so I ended up dropping the EMT class for now.  Instead I'm taking A&P II, Microbio, and Psychology.  Three more pre-reqs down, and hopefully I can take the EMT class next semester; it seemed really fun.

Being back in the relatively normal world has been good, but it is reminding me that I am still recovering.  Having class every day has been draining more of my energy than I thought it would (possibly because of trouble sleeping with this beloved expander of mine), and having to ask people around me for help with seemingly little things is hard for my stubborn nature.  I'm trying to learn to carry my backpack on my left shoulder like my Breast Surgeon suggested, but my instinct is to carry it with the right, and the weight of that does feel like too much after a while.  To compensate I have been making sure to wear both straps so the weight is evenly distributed, but I think I might have to invest in a shoulder bag and force myself to wear it on the left side.  We shall see.

Okay that's all for now.  Adios amigos.

Had my first expansion!

Yesterday I had an appointment with my plastic surgeon, and I almost tried to postpone it since I knew my drain wouldn't be removed.  It wasn't, because it was still over 30 ml every 24 hours, but I did have my first expansion!  That was unexpected, I didn't think that process was going to start until after my drain was removed.  I was a little scared, especially when he said the needle would go through the muscle and that hurts for some patients.  I was lucky, though, because for me it didn't hurt at all.  I did feel it go through the muscle, but it wasn't painful.  I could feel myself stretch as he put in saline, but it wasn't too uncomfortable.  I was a little sore for the rest of the day, but nothing unbearable.

This morning when I woke up I was in more pain than usual, but it got better after I took a Motrin.  I think it was because my muscle is still getting used to accommodating a bigger implant.  He put in 50 cc when he placed the tissue expander after my mastectomy, and he put in 50 cc yesterday, so now I'm up to 100!  [Side note, apparently 1 cc = 1 ml.  I learned that today, or maybe yesterday.]  Still smaller than the other side, but that's okay.  The expander looks pretty ridiculous, but it'll start to look better the more it gets filled.  I've heard everything is a lot better after the exchange surgery - much more comfortable and aesthetically pleasing.  I'm looking forward to that.

Yesterday morning (around 5am) I woke up in excruciating pain.  It was so weird, I had been feeling very little pain lately and had been off the narcotics for about a week.  It felt almost as bad as it did right after my surgery.  I checked to make sure everything looked okay, and it did.  I guess it was just because I had gone on and on about how good I felt that my body decided to remind me that I did just have a major surgery.  I was able to get myself up and I took two of my pain pills, and finally I was able to fall back asleep.  Thankfully that pain hasn't returned.

Earlier today I started feeling pretty nauseous, I'm not sure what that was about.  I took a Zofran (anti-nausea pill) and took a nap and felt a lot better when I woke up.  I went out to dinner with Chris and Zahra, that was nice.  Now I'm being good and resting :)  My drain outputs have been a lot lower, I think I might even be able to have my drain removed tomorrow!  We shall see.

I know that I have basically no sensation in my right breast, but today I finally made the realization that I can't feel temperature changes.  My hands were freezing and I touched it and couldn't feel it at all.  It's such a bizarre feeling (err, lack thereof, lol.)  It's kind of cool in a way.

I feel like there was something else I wanted to say, but I forget what it was.  I don't think this is what it was, but also, I got in trouble for not consistently taking my antibiotics 4x a day like I'm supposed to.  I do sometimes, but other times I had been taking it 3x a day.  I figured as long as I finished the whole bottle (60 pills!) eventually that it would be okay.  Of course not, I should have known there is a reason for prescribing the dosage that they do.  Silly me.  So now I have to take another week's worth of antibiotics on top of the rest of the first bottle that I have to finish.  That's 28 extra pills!  I'm being diligent now, I don't want to get in trouble again and I don't want to get an infection from this drain.  That would suck.

Also, I realized that I never followed up on here about the biopsy I had on my left breast before my mastectomy.  I know I posted it on Facebook, and so did my mom, so most of you already know, but in case you missed it: that turned out to be a Fibroadenoma as suspected.  So, completely benign, it doesn't have to be removed or anything.  Yay :)

Okay, that's all for now.  Whenever I put a heart on here it posts with all this weird stuff behind it, but oh well.  <3 nbsp="nbsp" p="p">

drains are annoying

I'll tell you, one drain is a lot better than two. Having no drains is what would be ideal. I have an appointment tomorrow with my plastic surgeon, but he said he wants to keep the drain in until it is producing less than 30 ml every 24 hours. Unfortunately, I'm still a little bit over 30, so I have a sad feeling that I won't have my drain removed tomorrow. We shall see. It's not that big of a deal, but the drain is starting to get uncomfortable and it's slightly annoying to always have it there.

 I am feeling a lot better, sometimes it seems remarkable that my surgery was only a week and a half ago. I was supposed to be practically on bed rest for the first two weeks, but I have been pretty active lately. I went out to dinner with Justin and Marissa tonight, I'm pretty sure Dr. Lin would have killed me if he saw me. Justin and I went to see Les Mis on Sunday, and my mom and I went to see This is 40 yesterday. This is probably why my drain output has been higher than I would like it to be. Lisa warned me of this, she said it would be frustrating because I would start to feel better and want to do things but would be unable to. At the time I thought, "nah, I don't think I'll have a problem being lazy and sitting on the couch for two weeks." She was right though, and I haven't been sitting around as much as I should. I'm afraid Dr. Lin will tell me to stop being so active - and I was going to ask him if I could start working out anytime soon. I have a feeling that's going to be a no.  

Right now I'm in my red silk jammies that my mom got me for Christmas, and I feel pretty sharp.  Having all these button up tops has been immensely helpful (thanks Mom, Mom-mom, and Donna for my Christmas presents).  I thought by now I would be able to lift my arms enough to put on a tee shirt, but I was wrong.  I learned that the hard way earlier today when I tried and failed.  I still can't lift my right arm much higher than shoulder height, so I don't know why I thought that was going to end well for me.  I'm getting a little too ambitious.

Anyway, that's all for now.  I'll let you all know how my appointment goes tomorrow, fingers crossed that I'll have my drain removed.

Happy New Year!

It's 2013!  Which everyone knows, but still.  I haven't made any resolutions yet, maybe I'll get on that.  Haha.

So it's been 5 days since my surgery, and I'm feeling pretty good.  I've been really fortunate to have Justin here to take care of me.  He had to leave today :( but my family has been great too.  I've been getting lots of visitors which is nice, it's good to have interaction with the real world.  For the most part I've been sleeping/lying on the couch.

The first part of my recovery was really hard, but it's been getting better every day.  When I woke up from my surgery I was really nauseous and uncomfortable.  It was nothing like when I woke up from my lumpectomy.  I was also really really thirsty, I kept asking for water but they told me it would make my nausea worse, and gave me ice chips instead.  I wanted to see my family, but they told me I had to wait until I could be moved to my room, and that couldn't be done until they finished cleaning the room.  (Seemed weird to me, but I was really out of it so I just went along with it.)  I later found out that they told my parents that I couldn't be moved because I was too nauseous, and that they couldn't come see me for that reason.  That doesn't make sense, but it's okay, I finally got to see them after my ~hour in recovery.  As they were wheeling me to the elevator to go up to my room, I saw my Mom standing in the hallway waiting for me.  I was so happy to see her!  [Side note, I can feel my last pain pill really starting to kick in, so sorry if the rest of this blog isn't very eloquently written.]  Then after we got to my room, I saw my Dad, Jeffrey, Justin, and my snooksipoo Marissa!  At some point Chris and Zahra came and brought me flowers.  Justin stayed overnight with me, and even though I was in a double room with no other patient, they didn't let him sleep in the other bed.  The nurse said he had to leave it open in case someone else was admitted (and of course no one was, I was in the emptier section of the hospital).  They also didn't let him sleep in the same bed with me.  Poor guy ended up sleeping on the floor :(  It was a rough night, the nausea was really worse than the pain.  The next morning was better, I finally got upgraded to eating solid food and had eggs and potatoes (taters) for breakfast.

Later that morning I got discharged from the hospital and finally got to go home.  There have been a few rough patches - almost passing out, fevers, more nausea, stuff like that - but like I said, better every day.

Yesterday I finally got my hair washed and dried by the lovely Tina; she opened the salon just for me.  After that, I went and got one of my 2 drains removed.  That little trip was my first big outing since my return from the hospital, and it was exhausting!  I was starting to get pretty tired while sitting in the chair getting my hair done, and by the time I was in the waiting room at Kaiser I was falling asleep next to my mom.

Today has been my best day so far, I've been awake all day and haven't been in too much pain.  I am about ready to close my eyes and rest for a little bit, so that's all for now.  Happy New Year everyone! <3 p="p">