Yesterday offered unbelievable release for me, and I am very thankful. With a friend in surgery, awful binding pain constantly in my back and entire body, and a transportation truck a week behind in moving my race truck, I needed some good news yesterday!
Great news from Denver, it seems that doing Yoga caused the ports of the expanders to show thru my muscles and skin, but I don’t have to worry about the ports wearing thru and causing damage. That is great news.
Even better, we sat down and scheduled my next surgery date. I will be having surgery Friday, October 15th. They will take out my awful expanders and put in implants on that day. I should be able to go home that day, or at least to a hotel if I don’t feel like making the ride across the Rockies, and will need to take a few weeks off of work. But it’s exciting to be finally moving forward again.
I hope this update finds you all happy and healthy!
I had quite a surprise 2 days ago when I got undressed. I looked in the mirror and could clearly see a large circle on top of each breast. The circles look like perfectly round seams of the expanders. They don’t hurt, but my worry is that with the stitches that are making their way through my muscle and skin, I certainly don’t want to experience something this large doing the same thing! I little stitch is very different than a 3 inch ring!
The summer is well underway at last, and its time for serious fun and play time. But for some of us the summer brings stress and surgery and uncertainty.
So many of my new Courage friends are dealing with new expanders and are a little concerned with the way they look. I wanted to take a minute to let everyone know I’m doing okay, while also comparing 2 weeks post op to 3 months post op so that you can see that although there is still a long way to go, the results improve dramatically after a few months.
I’ve had tons of questions about the expansion process, and my doctor was kind enough to allow me to record my final expansion appointment. It’s not gross or awful, I promise! At the end he is removing some of the stitches that had worked their way out of the skin, but as you can see, I don’t feel a thing!
This blog did get a post awhile back from a man going through this surgery with his wife. I was on the road and couldn’t give it the time it deserved and want to talk a bit about it now. Also, some of my medical posts are so far down the blog that some people don’t see them, and don’t know what this surgery means for women.
Alex, although you have probably started going through this already, your wife will be almost crippled by her surgery. After a mastectomy a woman can not use her arms, can not sit up by herself, can not eat, brush her hair, or even clothe or go to the restroom by herself.She will have drains and bulbs full of blood hanging out of her body that are constantly pulling on injured muscles and causing her tremendous pain. She will look into the mirror and see a butchered body where her beautiful body once was and not even recognize herself. She will have to face the fact that she will never again feel her body react to a man’s touch or to cold, and she will deal with people who think this operation is just like getting implants.
Two weeks and two days ago, we were at 1,200 visitors and 13,000 video views. Today we are at 1,600 visitors and almost 25,000 video views! That is a wonderful accomplishment for 2 weeks!
I realized last night, while I couldn’t sleep, that I’m half way through my process with expanders. It’s a little sad, I would be having my implant swap right now if I had not lost my job while in the hospital. Implants will be so much more comfortable, and now I have to wait until September for my new insurance to kick in.
I can’t tell you how important it is to do a breast self exam, every month! Early detection of problems can save your life! I had troubles finding online information for myself, so I decided to make a video to help others that might be searching for information too.
This is a walk through of how to do your breast self exam and talks a little about what you might feel while you are examining yourself. You’ll notice I bend forward in the video, but don’t talk about what I’m doing; bending forward helps you see the drape of each breast to make sure you don’t see any indentations or dimpling that could be an indicator of a problem.
I hope this helps, and remember to examine yourselves every month ladies!!
Please forgive the bags under my eyes and my pinched look during the exam, that part of the video was filmed the day before my mastectomies. I wasn’t sleeping well and was pretty stressed out, and boy does it show on my face! Yikes!
Thanks for checking in, and I’m sending you lots of love and happy thoughts!
Yesterday’s trip to Denver was a success, I was able to have all 4 drains removed from my chest and the pain has been reduced tremendously and I have a much better range of movement. I have taken myself off most of my pain meds, they seemed to be making me more sensitive to pain and of course very groogy. I feel much better and only use them now to help with the pain laying down and trying to sleep. I have a few more days of shots in my stomach, on Monday I will go in for a blood test…the magic number is 2! If my number is 2 or above I will be okay to stop these awful shots for my blod clot. Keep your fingers crossed for me!
So much has happened in the last week that I don’t know how I’ll catch up with my updates, but I have learned so much and have so much to share.
First, let me assure you that I am doing okay. There have been some bumps in the road over the last 7 days, but today is a wonderful day and I’m finally feeling myself. I will post some additional posts and videos this weekend, but all in all the surgery went very well and I’m on the road to recovery.
Good Morning! It’s a little overcast here this morning, so we’ll probably run into snow over the mountains as we make our way to Denver today. We will be staying with great friend in Boulder tonight and having dinner with some old friends. Check in time is 7am tomorrow, and I can’t imagine what it will be like.
Well, it’s less than 5 days until I will be in surgery. I am very frightened and nervous. I am trying to stay busy, and to get all of the household chores done before I have to leave. I want to come home to a nice clean house, comfy pillows, and a sweet smelling room. I hope I can get everything finished before leaving for Denver! Read more…
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