24 hours post op

Well it's been 24 hours since I came out of surgery and I have to say, I'm feeling pretty good!  Last night I slept in my bed with all 12 of my normal pillows that's I've needed since my mastectomy (I'm exaggerating, but I really do have a lot of pillows!). I woke up once in the middle of the night to pee and I felt very sore and achy in my shoulders and back. It was hard to get out of bed. I had the intention of taking another oxycodone but it was too much effort to go find my pills and get a drink so I just went back to bed and fell right asleep. I got up at a regular time this morning, was able to brush was daughters' hair and help them tie their shoes, and they went to school. All I've taken today is Tylenol and I'm okay with that. My incisions itch like mad though. I want to tear off the surgical glue and scratch and scratch. I know the itching will subside in a few days and that it's a sign of healing. But it's still driving me crazy!  I can't take a shower for another day, which is pretty gross. But I feel really quite normal. Just itchy and sore. But I can live with that!  I anticipate I'll be mostly back to normal within a week. And the more I look at my new boobs, the more I love them!

Reconstruction: Complete!

Today I had my reconstruction and implant surgery. It was scary again, but much less so since I knew the drill already. I had a different anesthesiologist but Dr Chang was awesome as always. The surgery went quicker than expected, just like last time. This one was outpatient, and they don't play around!  I woke up, ate some crackers and had a diet coke, they brought my mom back, gave me more crackers, got me dressed and sent me on my way!  I was in recovery for maybe an hour. Also, a funny little thing about my new boobs: they come with an ID card!  Apparently they have serial numbers hahaha!  So my boobs are registered.  For some reason this cracks me up (maybe its the pain meds....).

My mom brought me home to my husband and youngest daughter, who had bought me a balloon and some mums and a pumpkin cake. Then I spent the afternoon sitting in bed watching movies on the DVR that I've just never had time to watch. It was a nice day. 

Now to the important stuff. The boobs. Overall I am quite happy with them. They have a really nice, natural shape and they're a great size for my body. Right now they're swollen so they look like a large B/ small C. But Dr C has assured me they're a B, which is exactly what I wanted.  He also did lipo on my ugly man-boob area under my armpits so that's smooth now. My boobs are nice and round and perky and symmetrical. The only thing I was displeased with was the incision. I knew it would go back to my armpit but I didn't realize it would come all the way to my cleavage. I was a little disappointed when I first saw it. My mom keeps reminding me that the incisions will fade and become almost invisible in time, as hers did. I know she's right. But it's hard to look at right now since they're all red and scary looking. My mastectomy scars (which are gone now) healed nicely and were almost invisible after just 5 months so I know these will heal too. I'm still very excited about the whole thing though, because the shape is simply gorgeous. You'll have to take my word for it because I'm not completely comfortable posting topless pics. 

However, I do have pics that are PG!

You can see I'm still covered in purple marker, which takes forever to wash off. Not to mention I'm not allowed to shower for 48 hours (eww). But you can see the incisions in my cleavage and then the other end under my armpit. Use your imagination to visualize that the incisions go all the way across on both breasts, and there are no nipples. I know it sounds freaky but I'm pretty used to it by now :)

Follow up with the gynecologic oncologist

Yesterday I went to see Dr. I.  Even with an appointment at 7:30 am, I still waited an hour for him to swoop in, do a ten second exam, and swoop back out.  I did see him in his office afterwards and we discussed my mastectomy, and my future with him.  He's going to continue to monitor me for ovarian cancer every six months as we've been doing.  I have a prescription for my annual CA-125 blood test, and my internal ultrasound of my ovaries.  I did ask him about the possibility of going on birth control pills as a means to reduce my risk, but he feels that it doesn't provide enough of a reduction to make it worth having to remember a pill every day for who knows how long.  He said if I want it, he will give me a prescription though.  I decided to pass.  So, for now, I'm just being monitored same as always!

Surgery #2!

Exciting news!  Today I got my paperwork for my reconstruction surgery.  It's scheduled for October 2, which is a Wednesday.  It's in the same surgery center where I had my mastectomy (within the same hospital).  This one is an outpatient surgery, and the recovery is much easier from what I'm told.  I should be back to driving within a week.  I'm so excited to get these damn expanders out.  They have seemed to soften over time, and I can no longer feel the edges of them poking into my rib cage, so that's nice.  But I can feel the ports on the fronts of them, and I have this really gross fat flap thing on the sides of my boobs, like almost under my armpit.  So even though I don't need a bra for support, I still need one for shaping.  (Whole other story, but OMG it was so hard to find a bra to fit!  Underwire won't work so I needed a soft one, like a training bra!)  Anyway, Dr. C feels that I am going to be super happy with my results.  I don't think he gets me at all, because I really couldn't care less what they look like!  I just want them to have a somewhat normal shape so I can wear my clothes sans bra, and sleep on my stomach again.  Scars don't matter to me in the slightest, especially since I just plan to tattoo over them!  I have my pre-op appointment on September 26th, and that will just be bloodwork and a check up.  My other pre-op consisted of bloodwork, a check up, and EKG and a chest x-ray, but apparently the latter two are valid for 6 months.  Yay!  It's funny, I'm not nearly as nervous about surgery this time, maybe because the first one went so well.  I really feel as though I had a good surgery experience, even though I had one hell of a recovery.  The procedure itself went well, the hospital staff was wonderful, and I woke up feeling pretty good, considering.  Fingers crossed that this one goes the same!

300ccs and 350ccs

I know I've been slacking with posts, but there just isn't anything too terribly exciting to report at this point. I got two more fills, and I have two more to go. I told Dr. C that I want to be a B for sure and I'm really excited to be done with the whole reconstruction and start my new life with perky little boobies!  In the meantime, here are the pics of my past two fills. 

300ccs

350ccs

Keep in mind that I'm wearing a bra in the bottom pic. It evens out my skin folds so I don't look so weird, but it also makes me look a tad larger than I really am. I can't wait to not need bras to smooth it all out!

Exchange surgery scheduled!

I met with Dr. C the other day. I got filled again to 300ccs (he said he could add 100ccs instead of the 50 we normally do but I was afraid it would hurt so we just did the 50). We also discussed my size goal, which is now a B. I feel that the bigger my chest gets, the less I like it. I really was happier with less boobs. So I'm going to go with a B. I really think I'll like that. I went to the store and took a billion bras into a dressing room and tried them on and stuffed them and checked it out with a shirt on. The B made me happier than the C. Anyway, so I told Dr. C that I want to be a B and he recommends 3 more fills. So I'll be at 450ccs. He wants to have it over expanded to have lots of room to work with when doing the exchange surgery. He also confirmed that he will do lipo on my lovely new underarm fat pouches, and that his goal is to have a great cosmetic result for me. I feel really confident that he's going to make me look good. I really don't care about the scarring and stuff like that, I'm mostly worried about how I'll look in clothes. I hate these fat bulges and its hard to find clothes that don't look funny right now. I know it's temporary but its very annoying. 

While I was there, we scheduled my exchange surgery for October 10. I was hoping for sooner but he's all booked up apparently. Fall must be face lift season or something. 

So I'm almost done getting fills, and surgery is scheduled!  Not much else will happen between now and then, so I guess in the meantime I'll just be waiting for this chapter to be closed :)

200ccs and 250ccs

I'm such a slacker. I forgot to post pics from my last two fills. So here they are!  I'm actually not liking them as they get bigger. I miss not having boobs!  I'm going to talk with Dr. C about this at my appointment next week because now in thinking maybe I want to be more like an A. I feel skinnier with teeny boobs and I can wear whatever I want and I like that. I think I'm going to go to a store and try on bras in all different sizes so I can see how I'll look in different sizes. It's so hard to decide what I want, knowing I'll be stuck with it!  Anyway, here are my pics...

Those are 200ccs. You can see the fat bulge under my armpit that will be fixed in my revision surgery. You can also see the healing red wound under my arm from where my drains came out. 

These are 250ccs. You can see my weird dented boobs here pretty clearly. The dent is where the incision is. The skin folds there because I had a skin sparing mastectomy so I have a lot of extra skin hanging out. It's pretty gross lol!  It will look much better after revision surgery though.