The Road to Recovery Begins..

Post Op — Well, here I am 6 days post op and am feeling better than I expected but also the time has given me some space to reflect on all that has gone on in the past few days.

1/17 – Surgery Day

Bryan and I arrived at the hospital at 6:30am and we were both quiet, scared and nervous. Neither of us have had any sort of major surgery before (thank goodness) and just had no idea what to expect.  I was called in and commence my scared tears.  I was so scared but also knew I was in good hands with Dr C & Dr. Sadowski.  I also felt so much guilt; so much guilt cause this was Allie’s birthday.  I want January 17th to always be remembered as Allie’s birthday; not the day I had surgery. 

By the time 7:30am arrived, it was my time..my time to be wheeled to the next part of this journey, which is a complete unknown.  Bryan and I hugged tight, wiped away each other’s tears and told each other we’d see you on the other side. From this point, all I remember is being wheeled to the operating room.  Fast forward to 1:57pm, when I remember opening my eyes in the recovery room and completely shocked at how much time had passed.  I felt tired and thirsty, but surprisingly ok.  The nurses in recovery were so wonderful in keeping me company as my room wasn’t quite ready, and wouldn’t be ready for the next couple of hours.  4pm is when I arrived to my room and got to see Bryan’s smiling face.  The next 24 hours is a bit of blur, but seeing the kids, Bryan, Pete & Sharon, Stephanie, my mom & sister felt good and gave me a sense of normalcy.  Steph, you won the prize though of seeing me at my best and getting to hold my hair back while looking and feeling a bit green. 

In the days that have followed since January 17th, I have been in complete awe and overwhelmed by the strength, love and support from my family, my mom tribe, my Upton community, my work community and friends near and far.  Our family has been showered by an abundance of love, flowers and food! This has helped to make the recovery process so much smoother and a lot easier.  As someone who cannot sit still, this has forced me to accept help and focus on healing.  This is hard. Real hard. It doesn’t seem like this would be…but trust me, it is. To keep me sitting on my butt,  I’ve just started watching Game of Thrones again in prep for the season premiere in April!

Pain Management

Another thing I’ve learned about myself…I’m a lightweight and my body does NOT tolerate pain meds well.  I suppose this isn’t a bad thing but me and extra strength Tylenol have become BFFs this week.  For the most part this has worked well for me, but by the end of the day my body is sore and tired.  This is to be expected I suppose but remember..im not so good at being a patient who likes to rest, so I’m trying to get better at taking a bit more pain meds at bed time and so far, this is working.

The dreaded drains…

For most of you reading this, you may not be familiar with the drains..During my surgery, I had 4 drains placed (2 on each side).  The purpose of these are to remove excess fluid from each breast, to prevent infection.  While they are not difficult to deal with..they are a complete pain in the butt as they are uncomfortable, require special care and clothing to wear (think sweatshirts/sweaters with inside pockets)  These lovely things also prevent me from taking a long warm shower.  I am SO ready for these to go.  They have served their purpose and am keeping my fingers crossed they will all be removed later this week.  Typically, the drains stay in anywhere from 7-14 days.  I’m hoping that 8 days will be the magic number! Keep your fingers crossed for me! Between now and then sponge baths and dry shampoo are gold!

Things I’m looking forward to this week..a real shower!  I’m crossing my fingers and toes on this one, cause I would LOVE an actual shower and getting my hair washed.  It’s the little things in life I suppose!  Also looking forward to seeing my plastic surgeon, Dr. Sadowski just to see how I am progressing.