redwinelover's Journal, 08 November 2010

Today it's been 19 days since surgery. I'm feeling really ... pretty good! I had a re-check today and that went very well. The doctor was pleased with my recovery so far and I'll go back in three and a half weeks - probably for the final visit. He's such a great doctor - I forgive him for being young, male and great to look at! He answered all of my questions and addressed all my concerns. The good news is I'm healing well. The bad news... can't work out at all until he clears me at my next check. I guess some of it has to do with using this Strattice stuff in the breast. He said there are no hard and fast rules - some doctors recommend wearing the band over the bra for 6 weeks, some not at all - he said it's kind of like voodoo (I SWEAR I think he said Whoo-doo Voodoo!... ) in that they know the body's tissues begin to grow into the Strattice by about three weeks and they think it's fully grown/fuzed by about 6 weeks, but no one knows for sure. But he said I could stop wearing that as everything appears to have "dropped into place" so to speak :D. Just to not do anything to pull or stretch too quickly and risk any tearing of the tissue inside and/or bleeding. He told me to slowly raise my arms over my head an inch or so higher per day until I can raise them all the way overhead. But no quick movements. No lifting - still restricted to a couple of pounds. Only exercise is I can take half hours walks - STROLLS around the neighborhood, but not to view it as 'exercise'. Can get the heart rate up or blood pressure up for three more weeks. Well... okay... I miss working out. Or.. I miss how I FEEL when I've worked out. That's more like the truth. I'll be walking a tightrope here - trying to maintain my weight without any exercise. And the holidays coming up.
I may have WINE tonight, though... it'll be 5 weeks tomorrow without a drop. I missed it more in the beginning... probably as I know it's a stress reliever for me and I was stressed before the surgery. Man! I'm still so HAPPY that I've had it done! This was the BEST thing that's every happened to me... I mean other than my husband and having my kids...but to "just" me... the best! I feel SO much better about myself. I cannot wait to be able to put on some jeans and not feel sore from them... probably another two weeks for that one! I sure hope I can wear jeans by the 23rd... that's when my company starts to arrive. I haven't told anyone in the family about the surgery. Lots of reasons for that one.
I thought I'd finish the story of my surgery/recovery here. Okay, so after that first night at the recovery center ... NOT loving those two nurses much... not sure what to expect. As I said previously, though, the day nurses came in and brought hope and pain relief and kindness with them. The day went fairly well and I got up to walk and made it past just the bathroom. The nurse asked if I wanted to walk in the hallway. I said sure! So I go out into the hallway and it's beautiful in there. One wall of glass facing a courtyard, soft music playing in the background, a nice fountain and candles glowing... it was very nice. So I start down the hallway and THIS nurse is letting me go at MY pace. Again, big difference between night and day nurses there. So the other nurse is sitting in a small office at the end of the hallway and she looks up and SMILES and says, Oh, look at you move! You're up! Cheerful, kind... I smile and see the door leading to the courtyard just outside the office door and tell her I'm making a break for it! Turned back to start down the hallway and realize there's another room with patients open there, too. It was the men's unit. I know there were at least two men in there. I still think I was fortunate that I had my room to myself, given that I was kind of sick anyway. I wouldn't have wanted to be recovering from surgery in a bed next to ME, either. The percocet seemed to help with the pain, too. I guess they were right about that one. She asked if I wanted to sit up for a while and I said sure. My lungs were getting crap in them and I knew I'd cough more if I sat up for a while. So she pulls over this WICKER chair with a semi flat pillow in the seat. I gently sit down and OUCH. I swear to you, I felt like the Princess and the Pea. I swear I felt every strand of wicker through that pillow! I jokingly asked her who the sadist was that decided to put a wicker chair in there. She said, you know... I think it's silly, too. Well, next time we have you sitting up, I can bring you the leather chair from the hallway. See? NICE NURSES. So the day goes and I'm mostly resting and sleeping the day away. Next thing I know... it's night time and in walk Nurse Ratchet and her sidekick. Or, another pet name for them - Dumb and Dumber. And yes, I wake up in pain and it's time for meds, but NO... they want me to get up. Finally I said, You know...we've really got to start timing this better! This getting me up and moving around when the pain is back full force has to go. Don't think it made much impact. So I get up, do my walk to the bathroom, finally get my pills. Goodness. I'm absolutely shocked by the intensity of the pain. I don't know why. I had my gallbladder removed a few years ago and that was done laproscopically... and THAT gave me a lot of pain, too. So I'm a wimp. But again, knowing that was why we opted for the suggested but not mandatory SECOND night in the recovery center. Dumber came back to ask what I'd like for dinner and I suggested a turkey sandwich and some soup. So she brings my tray and it just didn't seem to have that loving, thoughtful touch of the daytime nurses. Oh well... I really didn't have much of an appetite right up until that point, anyway. I'd barely eaten anything except for a couple of bites from each thing from my meals. Which is just as well - sleeping doesn't burn many calories! Then all the water and tea is starting to have it's affect and I end up getting up a few times that night. At one point in the middle of the night, Dumber comes in and I ask if she'll help me to the bathroom and she grabs my arm and starts pulling me up! I sort of pull my arm out of her grip and tell her, Hey! They told me NOT to let anyone pull me up by my arms - even the nurses! (and she was there for those instructions, I'm pretty sure anyway, since she was the one that helped bring me from recovery room in the hospital to the recovery center and get me situated in bed that first night) And she said, well how would you like me to get you up? I said, that bear hug move they said, you bend down and I put my arm around your shoulders and you straighten up. I'm pissed! I'm supposed to teach her this? In my drugged state? What?? So I get up, use the bathroom and as we go back to the bed to sit down, she said, would you like to sit up for a bit? And I said, sure, okay. The next thing I know, she't OUT of the room! I'm sitting on the side of the bed with no way to get help. The call button? I have NO idea where it is. It's not anywhere in my field of vision. I'm thinking it's behind me somewhere, but without being able to twist in bed, it may as well be in the next room. So I sit there. And I sit there. And I sit there. Pretty soon I'm freaking myself out. I'm scared. I have no way to get anyone's attention, no call button, hell, I can't even reach my phone on the table. That's out of reach. I'm panicking now... crying. And of course - middle of the night, all alone, scared, feeling vulnerable and helpless... I start to cry. No, first I called out a few times... HELLO? But I can't yell yet, so no good. Then I'm crying. I felt like I was sitting there for 20 minutes. It may have only been 15, but felt like forever. IN walks Dumber, heads straight to the bathroom for whatever, then out the door. I'm dumbfounded. In walks Dumb and she comes over and asks, Are you crying? I said YES. I'm crying. She asks why. I thought, screw it! I'm PAYING for this care! I look at her and I said, Look... I've just had major surgery. Sure, it was elective, of my own choosing, (this recovery center is strictly for cosmetic surgery patients) but the fact remains that I am in pain and I do NOT feel like I'm being taken care of. I have to tell YOU to bring me medication instead of you just bringing it every four hours. THAT wasn't made clear to me... I was told I'd be kept "comfortable" and be taken care of. Neither of those is true. I do NOT feel taken care of. And I've been left her for 20 minutes to sit on the side of the bed with NO WAY of getting any help. Do you SEE the call button? Because I don't. And Dumb says, I just saw (so and so...don't even remember their names) and she JUST walked out of your door. I said, YES, she just walked out AFTER being WHO KNOWS WHERE for the last 20 minutes! She left me here on the side of the bed and walked out. Where was she? I DON'T KNOW, but she WASN'T in here with me. Suddenly she's all accommodating and fake nice... helping me lay back in bed, fixing pillows and crap. Yeah... a little short, a little late. So the rest of the night passes and all I can think of is...Let it be 10:30 so I can get out of here! And praying my husband will NOT be late getting me. He went to work early that morning. So I wake up and lay there and start texting him to make sure he's there on time to pick me up, I really REALLY want to go home. He assures me he will. Then in walk two new nurses and they come over and say good morning and introduce themselves and say they are going to be my nurses today. And I say, uh-uh... I'm OUT of HERE at 10:30! They sort of laugh, I guess maybe (hopefully) it didn't sound as rude as I feared. They were also very nice and kind and friendly. I almost felt like a lunatic... how could the night nurses be that bad if the day ones were THIS nice and sweet. Ate a bit of breakfast and Dr. Cohen came in again to see how I was doing, saw I'd had a fever overnight off and on, but it broke by morning. Wanted to make sure I was okay enough to go home and confirm the follow-up the next week. Then I got dressed and was ready when my husband arrived. Couldn't get out fast enough... hope the nice nurses forgive me! And I was wheeled to the truck... that was fun. Getting in the truck...not so much! But I was medicated and the half hour or so drive wasn't that bad. Came home and was SO happy to be home. My daughter was waiting there, too... the new recliner was in place... my husband was originally going to go back to work (!), but he decided to stay home with me. I'm so glad! Lots of pain pills, needing help just to move the pillow behind my head, let alone help getting in and out of the recliner. Seems almost far away at this point! Anyway, that was my surgical experience and the early part of the recovery.