I'm getting surgery! Now a General Update Thread

[geek]

Today is the day! I got admitted last night, barely slept, fell asleep around 5am, only to be woken up at 6:30am by several nurses swarming in turning the lights on and telling me stuff o_o very much looking forward to drug induced sleep later!

wishing you luck and a speedy recovery! hope you post pics later! good luck dude!

[Bimmer Guy]

By now you are probably in surgery/have already have it.  I hope it goes well.  I'm sure it will!  Keep us updated.

[aleon515]

I imagine you're finished! Good luck on the healing!

--Jay

[Jeatyn]

All finished =D

I can't believe it guys, I am boobless, they're gone and I never have to look at them or feel them bouncing around EVER again.

At the moment it barely feels any different because I'm covered in bandages and what the nurses are calling a "corset" o_0 - not the word I would give it - tis basically a binder.

The op took freakin' ages and I missed dinner, now I have a very poor, dry excuse for a turkey sandwich, not amused after being starved all day ... I also asked for coffee and they brought me tea. I realise they're not running a hotel here but c'mon guys I've been looking forward to food and coffee all day

I actually feel like I could have done work tonight, I feel great! No grogginess at all, though of course for all I know I will read this back tomorrow and realise I'm not as coherent as I think I am.

I am hating not being able to move around or get up much. I did not get a catheter - woohoo! Though this does mean bedpan - boooo =( which just so happens to be the duty of a very hot young nurse. FML. I genuinely feel like just getting up and walking to the loo would have been way less effort than using a bedpan, but they insisted I don't get up.

[Bimmer Guy]

Congrats on the surgery!  It has been two months since mine and I still wake up with a huge grin on my face when I remember they are gone!  I think it is so wild they don't let you get up. I walked out to my ride two/ three hours after surgery. We don't stay overnight here in the U.S.  It is same day surgery.  Definitely no bed pan!

Glad you feel so great! 

[AdamMLP]

Congratulations! I would ask if they would let you go to the bathroom if you were accompanied to the room/stall in case anything bad happens, which I'm sure it won't. It's worth a try and might keep them happy enough to let you.

[Jeatyn]

I demanded they let me get up to go and pee  I was totally fine

My morphine machine thingy unfortunately gets angry when it gets unplugged, it beeped loudly the whole time, I hope I don't have to pee in the middle of the night or I'm gonna wake everyone up xD

I'm just waiting for a nurse to stop by to look under my bandages before I go to sleep, I'll get to have a cheeky look at my new chest yay 

[Arch]

Awesome! You have waited a long time for this!

[Jeatyn]

I am thrilled with the results already, photo from last night:



The little peep holes for my nips make me chuckle xD

There's a chance I'll be discharged today, I'm doing much better than predicted, my original proposed discharge day was Friday. Hardly anything coming out my drains, pretty much non existent swelling and bruising. Pottering about by myself no problem.

The only reason it's not a definite discharge is that I am having trouble keeping food down  despite two anti-nausea shots, damn you stomach I want to go home!

[Bimmer Guy]

You look great!  The worst for me was that Garramone wraps an ace bandage around your chest until your post op appointment.  You can't see your chest for 6 days. (actually the worst part of it was the itchy tape!  It drove us all - all 3 of the guys I was in the house with -  bonkers!)

Congrats on the great recovery!  I hope you got a decent amount of school work done so you don't have too much to do while resting.

[Jeatyn]

I handed in two assignments and got an extension on one, so I can just chill for a few weeks.

I was not discharged today, booo, hopefully tomorrow. I was also moved to a ward instead of a private room...I could barely sleep in that room because of all the noise, I highly doubt any sleep will be had in here o_o especially now the morphine is gone.

I was getting cabin fever earlier so I decided to go for a walk outside around the hospital, this was a mistake! My heart rate went way up and everything has felt really tight and uncomfortable ever since. I'm going to try my hardest to just sit and do nothing for a while now.

[aleon515]

You are looking good!!! Yikes they are nurse maidish around you, but nothing much you can do about it I suppose. Funny little peep holes!

Itchy tape was the worst for me too Brett. I also had cabin fever. But Netflix was great.

--Jay

[Jeatyn]

You know what's awesome. I just had 9 people staring at my chest and I didn't care at all (med students come by to gawp at me a few times a day) this would so not have been the case a couple of days ago ^_^

Getting my drains out later. Not looking forward to that =/ I can't imagine it will be comfortable. Be nice to not have to carry them around with me though.

After that I have to wait for my surgeon to come take a look at me to say whether or not I can be discharged, god knows how long that's gonna be, he's in theater at the moment apparently.


edit: Drains are out now, I actually didn't feel it at all. The hideous binder thing is also gone, I have a tube of fabric now. Like the sort of thing you'd put on a sprained wrist, just a big one. Feeling 100 times better now those drains are gone. All my paperwork is done and I just gotta sit and wait for my surgeon to come sign me out. They're predicting another two hours.....*sigh*

[aleon515]

Yeah the right drain bothered me a lot. I felt that one go out, but not the other one.
I was very happy to be done with them!!! Glad you are doing well and sounds like everythign is going like it should.

--Jay

[Jeatyn]

The fabric tube was rolling up and gathering right where my incisions are -_- not good, so I have swapped it for my original binder which is doing a much better job xD glad I didn't get rid of it straight away

I got home around 5pm, fell asleep at 9pm, it's now 6:30am and I'm wide awake o_o

This sleeping on my back malarkey SUCKS, my chest doesn't hurt at all but my lower back is killing me. I keep trying to roll onto my side and then remembering that it isn't an option.

[aleon515]

If you aren't still in the hospital, I don't know how to answer this if you are, but I have totally perfected back sleeping. Heck I like it. So here goes: you make a ramp with the pillows on your head. You really need a neck pillow, this cradles your head so it's not lolling around. There is also a V-pillow that looks excellent, maybe better. Then you put pillows on either side.

--Jay

[Jeatyn]

I got myself a sort of frame, that makes a triangle, so I can prop myself up, and lotsa pillows. It's just I have an old lower back injury and it's aggravating it =( I may have to see if my GP will prescribe me some stronger pain killers, my chest feels fine! Barely any pain at all, my back is a different story.

My partner is being amazing, I have only needed to get up to answer the call of nature, he's doing everything else ^_^

[Bimmer Guy]

I JUST began this past week to be able to sleep on my side.  Do you have a recliner at home?  A lot of people people will sleep on those.

[Jeatyn]

I don't unfortunately, the closest I have is a gaming chair, which looks like it would be super comfy and the perfect angle to keep all body parts happy however I feel once I was in it, getting up would be impossible, even when I have full use of my arms it takes a lot of effort to swing out of the thing.

I ended up snoozing on my side for an hour this morning, propped up with supportive pillows. It was heaven for my back, felt ok for my chest but not ideal, I could feel things pulling.

You're two months post op right Brett? Would you say side sleeping is 100% now or is it still a bit iffy?

I'm starting to get sensation back in my nipples, is it just me or is that really soon? o_0 I wouldn't say it was pain I'm feeling...it's like...an intense shooting tingle, and they are reacting to cold. Trying to keep warm because them tightening up doesn't feel great xD

[Bimmer Guy]

It just started not being iffy the last couple of days. In fact, my partner commented this morning that I slept on my side. Otherwise, about a month in, I was able to sleep partially on my side. Hard to explain, but I was half way on my side, half not, if that makes sense.

How about when sleeping on your back, putting a pillow under your knees?  That helped me a bit. Also flip your mattress plus maybe sleep on the opposite side of the bed. Sounds weird, but finding a softer spot or a harder spot may help (it did me)  garramone specifically tells you to not sleep on your side for 3 weeks, so it isn't just a co.fort thing. Although for me it was too painful to sleep on my side anyway ( if I rolled onto my side while asleep, the pain would wake me up), consider if it is actually worth it if it would actually effect the outcome of your healing/results.

GIn terms of the cold, did you get free nipple grafts?  With mine being nipple grafts, I do not feel the cold, however, pretty quickly after surgery my areolas could feel touch. I don't know how much sensation does come back with nipple grafts, I guess it depends.

Glad to hear you got a chunk of work done prior to your surgery.