Post OP – Day 8: Second Doctor’s Appointment

June 24, 2016

So today I had my 2nd post-op appointment. As per my last doctor’s appointment, my doctor was a little concerned about the bulge below my breasts. He had mentioned to me that he wasn’t sure if the bulge below my breasts was swelling due to improper placement of the compression binder – or – if I had damaged my muscle repair. Luckily it was just swelling!! My upper abdominal area has finally flattened out!! I was so scared that he was going to find something wrong with how I was wearing my compression garment again. I really didn’t want to be scolded. I don’t know what it is about him, but when your recovery isn’t going according to his plan, he defiantly makes sure you feel his disappointment. I swear I felt like a 5 yr old disappointing my parents. But this time, it was all praises!!! So Yey!!!

Monday Appointment: W/ Upper Tummy Bulge:         VS.                         Friday Appointment: Flat Tummy !!!

Tubes                         flat tummy

On another good note, my doctor decided to remove my right drain (my left drain was removed during my first post-op appointment on Monday). Although I was excited about the removal of my last drain, I was not looking forward to the pain. Getting the drains removed is actually really painful!! First, they cut the stitches holding the drains in place (this wasn’t painful). Then, they tell you to take 3 deep breaths, and on the exhale of breath # 3 they pull the drain as hard and as fast as they can out of your hip. Let me just say that it felt like there was a firey-snake slithering out of my stomach. And boy are those drain tubes long!! I was surprised at how much tubing was inside of me.

However, with all the good things happening, I do have some minor setbacks – or annoyances as my doctor likes to call them.

Annoyance # 1) HEMORRHOIDS, HEMORRHOIDS, HEMORRHOIDS !!!

ouch

Apparently, hemorrhoids are pretty common after having your abdominal muscles tightened and being squeezed to death by a tummy binder; it has nothing to do with constipation. Since I wasn’t allowed to shower while my drains were in, I wasn’t allowed to take a sitz bath to get some relief from the hemorrhoid pain. So instead, I tried to shrink my hemorrhoids with ice by sitting on an ice cold, rolled-up wash cloth that I’d shove between my butt cheeks. This at least provided some temporary relief.

<——— The picture my Mom will blackmail me with
This is me sitting on my walker with an ice-cold, rolled-up, wash cloth shoved up my ass cheeks

 

 

Annoyance # 2) BLISTERS !!!

BlisterThe tummy binder has been rubbing so tightly on my hips that I’ve developed a few blisters. And the bra that I’m required to wear after my breast lift / implant has given me another blister on the underside of my breast. This is soooo annoying…. and painful. So far, 3 of my 4 blisters have popped and are oozing. Hopefully the big-ole-blood-blister won’t pop and will heal on its own. So in in the meantime, I have excessive medical padding and 3 layers of cloth on my hip blisters all compressed under my tummy binder.

 

Annoyance # 3) Breast Massage

Today my doctor taught me how to massage my breasts so that I don’t develop capsular contracture. Capsular contracture is the scar tissue that can form around breast implants which causes the breasts to harden and sometimes look deformed. A lot of times capsular contracture is very painful and can make the breast feel very lumpy and tight. So to massage my breasts, I have to pinch the breast tissue below my nipple, push inward and upward until I see my implant hit my collar bone. Yes, you read that right, I literally am pushing my implant out of my breast and up into my collar bone and upper chest area. Surprisingly, it isn’t as painful as I thought it would be – just a really weird annoying feeling.

I have to say, overall the tummy tuck and boob job was not very painful. I think the best word to describe the entire experience would be uncomfortable. The back pain, the hemorrhoids, the tummy drains, and the blisters have been more painful than anything else.  Granted, I say this as I am no longer on pain medication. I stopped my pain medication 4 days post-op and have only used Tylenol and ice ever since.

Well, my next post-op appointment will be on Tuesday and my doctor plans on taking off the surgical tape around my incisions. This will be my first view of my scars.

Also, Sunday will be my last day at Casa-de-Mom. I have been staying at my parents house since the day after surgery. I’m a little afraid to go home. I’ve been so spoiled here and well taken care of. I can honestly say that my recovery has gone so well due to the care I’ve received here. As much as I miss my husband and my children, I know that being away from home is exactly what I needed for the beginning phase of my recovery. Once I go home, I’ll need to be a mommy again; and as selfish as I feel saying this – I have mixed feelings about going home.

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Post-OP Day 1 – 3

June 17, 2016 – June 19, 2016

Discomfort would be the word to describe these three days. The tummy binder has been squeezing me so tight that my ass decided to push out 2 grape-sized hemorrhoids, the skin on my torso has developed permanent indentations, and my uterus started bleeding 9 days early. Not to mention that I’m still walking with my back hunched over and it’s killing my lower back. Also, still no bowel movement yet – definitely scared of what that will feel like. But maybe tomorrow will be the day.

Tomorrow will be my first follow up appointment with my surgeon where I’ll get to see myself for the first time. I am super excited, nervous, anxious and everything in-between; and if I know my body best, I’m sure I’ll have a few nervous episodes in the restroom before tomorrow’s appointment – haha. But in the mean time, I’ll just say in my comfy recliner in my parents living room.

recovery

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Fast Forward 5 hours later …

June 16, 2016 – June 17, 2016

As I awoke from surgery my immediate focus was on my impending nausea. As I laid there half conscious, I remember politely demanding to have my anti-nausea medication and some ice-cold ginger ale. As the night-time nurse went to gather my requested items, I quickly realized that I didn’t have any nausea! Zero! Zilch! Nada! AMAZING I thought. The anesthesiologist was right! He made the absolute perfect anti-nausea cocktail that continued to run through my IV. Now I could rest comfortably.

As I took my first deep breath, I quickly realized that the nausea was the least of my worries; there was another troubling issue. My lungs had filled with fluid. As I pushed-out my first deep breath, I could hear the fluids bubbling around in my lungs. The evening nurse told me that I needed to cough-up the fluid immediately. This did not sound like a good idea – but I did it anyway – and my God did it hurt. It felt like my abdominal muscles were going to protrude out of my stomach like a cork pops out of a Champagne bottle. While I tried to gently hack-up the fluid in my lungs, the nurse held a significant amount of pressure on my newly-sown-together-tummy-muscles so that the sutures don’t rip as they contracted with my coughing.  The added pressure on my stomach did feel a little comforting and supportive though.

Once I got the fluid out of my lungs, the nurse then wanted me to get out of bed and walk.

Seriously? I just killed myself by hacking-up a bunch of fluid from my lungs, and now you want me to stand-up and walk? I don’t know about this.

grandmaAlthough 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.

After our slow walk up-and-down the doctor’s office hallway, I asked the nurse how often we were going to be doing this. “Every two hours my dear” was her response. I guess they don’t want you resting after surgery huh?

Our next nightly adventure was trying to pee. “Okay – to sit down on the toilet, you’ll want to startle the toilet with your feet and use your leg muscles to sit down onto the toilet WITHOUT using your core muscles.” WHAT? I thought to myself. How is that possible? It took a lot of energy and balance for me to sit down on that toilet – and it definitely hurt my core. I could feel the center of my muscles contracting and I kept thinking: Please don’t ruin your abdominal stitches Kelly.

Once I finally sat down onto the toilet, I realized I couldn’t pee! My body wouldn’t let me! I think my body was still in shock from all the trauma it had endured during surgery. When the nurse realized I couldn’t pee, she turned the sink faucet onto a trickle. It was a nice try, but it still didn’t work. It honestly just made me frustrated. So before I got too flustered, the nurse told me that we’ll try peeing again after our next walk.

Once I returned back to my reclining chair, it was time for me to take my pain medication and muscle relaxer. Since my medications must be taken with food – to avoid nausea – my nurse brought me some of the gold fish crackers I had brought with me in my over-night bag. And my God I couldn’t even eat them! My mouth was as dry as a desert! The cracker turned into a bunch of sandy-clumpy-dirt as I tried to chew it with my dry mouth. I couldn’t even  swallow that dang gold fish cracker my mouth was so dry. When the nurse realized that my snacks weren’t going to work, she went to get something for me to eat from my doctor’s secret food stash. What she brought me was the absolute PERFECT snack! She brought me some mashed potatoes! This is exactly what I needed. Apparently a lot of the patients bring the wrong after-surgery-snack, so my doctor likes to keep a stash of mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese on hand for his overnight patients.

Eating the mashed potatoes was like eating a warm piece of heaven as it slipped down my throat. It was the perfect starchy, soft, warm, filling food that I needed right after surgery. Once I finished my mashed potatoes, I was able to take my pain medicine and muscle relaxer.

The rest of my over-night stay was a blur. The nurse and I continued our nightly routine of resting for 1-2 hours, walking like a hunched-back-grandma, trying to pee, eating more heavenly mashed potatoes, and taking my pain and muscle relaxer medications.

At 6:30 the next morning, my Mom returned to take me home. Before she could take me home, my Mom was given the quick-and-dirty rundown of my home care instructions. One of the most important components in my recovery is how to wrap my tummy binder. The binder needs to be tight, tight, tight! Comfortability and breathing are secondary. Seriously, this binder needs to be super tight.

 binderbinder # 2binder # 3

The other important component to my home care instructions requires a daily belly-button dressing change in which you need to stuff a new piece of gauze into my newly formed belly button hole. At least I get a few minutes out of the crazy life sucking binder.
drain tubeLastly, 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.

 

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Surgery Day!!

June 16, 2016

I woke up this morning feeling very nervous and anxious. As embarrassing as it is to admit, I always get very loose stools the morning of an exciting event; the morning of my wedding, the first day of school, hours before a job interview, etc. – and this morning proved to be no different. All I kept thinking was, I hope the surgeons can’t smell my fear. So to avoid smelling rank, I made sure to wash my behind with the required antibacterial soap after every one of my morning episodes. Unfortunately, I think I left myself a little raw and irritated with all the nervous scrubbing I did.

GirlsBut 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.

Well, thank goodness my Mom and I decided to leave an hour and a half early because the morning traffic was intense. What should have been a 30 minute car ride turned into a 75 minute-red-tail-light-party on Interstate 4. But we did make it on time – and with time to spare.

As I entered my doctor’s empty office, everyone greeted me the same way: “So are you ready Miss Kelly? It’s your big day!” With all the attention, nerves and jitters, I swear it felt like it was my wedding day again.

Pre-OpWithin 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.

As I lay down on the operating table, the surgical nurses started strapping down my arms and legs and sticking heart-rate and oxygen monitors on my chest and back. The anesthesiologist was standing at the head of the operating table behind my head, and out of the corner of my eye I could see he was about to inject something into my IV. I immediately said: “Wait, wait! I’m not ready yet!” But it was too late. This was the last thing I remember.

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