June 20, 2016
As expected, I did have 1 morning episode due to nerves – which only made my hemorrhoids feel that much better (for those of you that didn’t know, that was sarcasm). Honestly, the throbbing hemorrhoid pain is worse than the pain from my surgery.
Once I cleaned up from my morning episode, my Mom and I decided to leave early for my first follow up appointment. We were expecting to encounter another red-tail-light-party on Interstate 4.
As we pull into the parking space at my doctor’s office 30 minutes early, I was praying that there wouldn’t be any other waiting patients in the main lobby area. I didn’t want anyone seeing me. I looked absolutely terrible. I haven’t showered since last Wednesday, my hair was a mess, I was wearing my husband’s cut-up button-up shirt and a pair of his basketball shorts, and I was still walking hunched back like a grandma.
Luckily the receptionists saw how un-presentable I was and brought me into a private waiting room away from the other patients. As much as I appreciated their gesture, I’m sure they didn’t want me scaring the potential patients coming in for consolations. One look at me and his future patients may have just changed their minds – haha.
Within a few minutes I was taken back into an exam room and my doctor and nurse came in and starting taking off my garments and dressings. It was the moment of truth. I was about to see my new self. Here it is folks !!!
I must say that I love the way my new boobies look. But I – as well as my surgeon – was concerned about my stomach. Although it is difficult to see in the image above, I have a bulge in my muscles right below my breasts. Dr. Soto said it could be a results of 1 of 2 things.
It could be swelling. Dr. Soto said that my stomach compression was not as tight as it should have been. In fact, he seemed extremely disappointed as he undid my compression garment saying “you didn’t follow our instructions”. This really brought my spirits down. I could swear I was doing everything correctly. But, if the issue is swelling, then it should be an easy fix.- It could be that I ripped up upper abdominal stitches. This would be the worst case scenario. If this is what happened, it could have occurred when I was couching the fluid out of my lungs or it could have happened by the overuse of my core muscles when trying to balance myself on the toilet.
Unfortunately, my surgeon really won’t know what the issue is until a few days after proper compression.
The other issue I’m having with my stomach is below my belly button. It seems that I now have a vertical skin crease. I know I’m being too picky, but it looks like I’ve got an extra vagina lip on my lower abdomen. Dr. Soto said it should resolve itself as my swelling decreases over the weeks of healing.
I’m sure I’m being extremely picky and sensitive about my new body – and I know I need to give my body time to heal before I make any final judgement, but I do wish my stomach looked better. I think I had such high expectations. My Mom keeps reminding me that it will look better over time. It takes 6 – 12 months to see your true final results. And in this instant gratification world, I see myself already being impatient only 4 days into recovery.
I definitely still have a long way to go; and I pray for quick healing and patience as I go through these next few weeks.
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Although I had some serious concerns about walking, I followed the nurse’s orders; and surprisingly standing up from the recovery bed wasn’t as painful as I thought it would be. With-that-said, I was unable to stand-up straight without feeling like I was going to rip my muscles apart. In order for me to walk comfortably, I had to lean forward at a 30 to 40 degree angle and balance myself on the nurse’s arms. Honestly, my back muscles hurt more than my stomach muscles during our walk.
Lastly, you need to strip and empty the drainage tubes 2x a day. And my God does the right drain hurt more than the left! To drain the tubes, you need to squeeze all the gunk from the tube and push it into the drainage bulb. It doesn’t sound painful in theory, but for some reason squeezing the air out of the tubes & into the bulb is excruciating painful. It tightens up your muscles and burns like a son-of-a-bitch. I can’t wait to get these suckers out of me.
But by 7:30 A.M. my morning episodes had finally came to a halt and my mom and babysitter had arrived. Upon their arrival, it was time to pack up the car and say goodbye to my early morning risers – Ashley & Aubrey. I told them that mommy’s doctor was going to fix her tummy and boobies and that Debbie (their nanny) and Gigi & Babalou (my husband’s Mom & her husband) were going to come play with them for a few days while I recovered at my Grammy & Papa’s house (my parents). Needless to say, Ashley & Aubrey were super excited; not because mommy was finally getting her tummy & boobies fixed, but because their nanny and grandparents were coming to visit for a few days. Mommy always seems to be second fiddle.
Within minutes, the surgical nurse brought me into the room and told me to undress into a gown and take a pregnancy test. As expected, my pregnancy test was negative. Next, the anesthesiologist came into the room to have me sign a bunch of I-wont-sue-you-legal-papers. While signing the papers, I told the anesthesiologist about my severe nausea and low blood pressure issues that anesthesia usually causes for me, and he quickly eased my fears. He said he was going to create the perfect anti-nausea cocktail for me, and that my low blood pressure shouldn’t be an issue. Once I had all my questions answered, my surgeon came into the room to draw on me. I wanted to take a picture of the Picasso he had drawn on my torso, but my doctor didn’t allow it. I’m sure there is some logical/legal reason as to why I couldn’t take a picture of his drawings, but it was a little disappointing. Once the drawings were done it was time to say goodbye to my Mom and step into the operating room. But not before we took a final before picture (left). It was the moment of truth. It was now or never.