I went back to the doctor 5 days after surgery. It was a bit unnecessary since all she did was look at me to make sure things were healing okay...but it was reassuring. And I got a new prescription for pain meds, so that's always good. The doctor sent me home from surgery with a prescription for Percocet, but I think it was giving me some pretty bad headaches and I didn't like how messed up I was feeling. Vicodin seemed to be a better option for me. After about a week, though, I started getting headaches again. I tapered off the meds and took Ibuprofen occasionally when needed, which wasn't often.
My second appointment, 2 weeks later was more invasive. The nurse removed the tape and adhesive from my incisions. I did not enjoy this. My skin is very sensitive and really holds on to adhesive, so it wasn't very easy to get off...and the idea of anyone touching my owies makes me freak out. This was probably the worst part of my whole experience so far. In some ways, it set me back a week. My wounds are more tender and have started to weep again, so I need to wear pads/bandages in my bra again. They are itchy. I'm just overall a lot more uncomfortable than I was last week. However, on the bright side, I look a lot better. All the dried blood is gone and the scars seem to be forming nicely.
There are a few areas that concern me on my sides where the skin is more wrinkled and not smooth, the skin looks folded. The doctor said that is something they can fix later. I'm not thrilled about "fixing" anything later. The nurse said that they had to work within the sterile field and couldn't roll me during surgery to work with detail on my sides. I guess that makes sense, but I'd prefer it was just done right the first time. She did say that once the swelling goes down, some of the wrinkly areas will smooth out. I guess we'll see.
I have been having trouble sleeping because I'm still very uncomfortable at night. I still need to sleep on my back...I hate sleeping on my back. The doctor gave me Tylenol 3 to take before bed and that seems to be helping, though I feel a bit hungover in the morning.
When I started researching breast reduction surgery, I came across a few helpful blogs. It was good to hear that I wasn't alone in my secret pain...and good to hear all the aspects of surgery that a doctor wouldn't think to tell me. I started writing privately just to sort out my feelings, but I think it's good to have this information out there. I hope it's helpful to someone. You are not alone!
No comments:
Post a Comment