Right in the middle of a good ol' Indiana Winter Storm, I headed to the surgery center and checked in at 9:05am. We passed a slide off and multiple salt trucks on our way. The roads were icy and we had to take it slow. I was praying that my surgeon was going to make it on time, so my surgery wouldn't be postponed or cancelled. Shortly after I checked in, they took me back to the pre-op room, where I went through all the medical history questions and they accessed my port. Once I got into the lovely gowns and hair net, everyone came to visit. First, my Navigator Nurse Sharlee. She came to say Hi, introduce me to the new Navigator, and wish me well. Then, my parents were let back. Then, the Anaesthesiologist paid a visit to go over what he would be doing and what I should expect with the anaesthetic. Lastly, my plastic surgeon arrived, marked me up for surgery and explained what he would be doing. Finally, an OR nurse came to get me and walk me back to the OR.
On the way back, she asked me what I would be doing if I wasn't there getting surgery. I said I would probably be working. So, naturally she asked what I do. Of course, she thought a CSI was cool and when we entered the OR, she told all the others in there that I was a CSI. To my surprise, one of the other scrub nurses (Inna) remembered being in on my last surgery. She said " it had to be you. How many other female CSIs are in Indy?" We all had a good laugh about that. Another funny thing I remember was the Anaesthesiologist was wearing a winter coat under his white lab coat in the OR, but to his credit...it was FREEZING in there. He had it on when he paid me a visit in pre-op, but I thought he would take it off for surgery. Nope. LOL.
After 2.5 hours I woke up in recovery. I was wearing a compression bra and had ice packs on my chest. I stayed in post-op for probably 3-4 hours. I was really wobbly when I finally got up to get dressed, I felt like I was learning to walk for the first time.
The surgery went well. The surgeon was able to remove a lot of scar tissue around the incision sites, and said that he didn't see any scar tissue behind the expanders (which is good). He was also able to lift up my right breast, which was lower than the left after the mastectomy. But because of this extra reconstruction, I am in a lot of pain under my right breast. I describe it as feeling like I've been stabbed and then repeatedly punched in that area.
I'm recovering at my parent's house now and will be here for probably 2 weeks. I am very sensitive to pain medication and I'm having trouble managing the meds. They prescribed me Dilauded, but I don't get much relieve from that. I had Percocet left over from the last surgery, which helps tremendously with the pain, but it gives me a headache and makes me nauseous. So, I think I'm going to try taking a strong dose of Tylenol and see if that works. I was nauseous all day Friday, yesterday, and this morning because of the pain meds. Today, I haven't taken any prescription pain meds yet. (It hurts SOO bad when I vomit because of the stitches, so I want to give my body a rest) I feel the least amount of pain when I'm laying down, so I've pretty much been planted on the couch.
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