Tag: surgery

I had my 5-month post-op appointment on July 9th. I braced myself for the worst (i.e.: another steroid injection in my right boob). The doc came in to check me and said I looked good, even though I did have a slightly pink spot under my left areola. I finally had my phone charged during my visit and could show him the photos of those weird, itchy bumps I get randomly and then disappear. He said I probably developed an allergic reaction to something (what’s new) and asked me if I’ve eaten anything out of the ordinary, or ever been allergic to latex. I said, “I have been eating a lot of fresh parsley.” He chuckles and says he doesn’t think it’s parsley, how about latex? I said I’ve never been, that I know of, but he said I should be careful, just in case. 

Then he did that test where he presses his fingers into each side of my breast…and lo and behold: no pain!!

I practically skipped out of the office. I was thrilled.

The next evening comes and that pinkish-red spot under my left areola is brighter, but I feel no pain. Jorge checks me and says I should go back. I said yes, I’d call the doctor the next day. But I’m super busy at work and forget to. When I take my clothes off that night, the spot looks even worse, this time with a pale, almost whitish area in the center of the red spot and I’m so paranoid the first thing I think is “PUS!”, so I call the doctor the next morning. They schedule me that same afternoon and I go in. 

There are tons of people, and they eventually get to me. I was the last patient it seems. The doc finally comes in and checks me and says, “It looks like there’s something in there, we’ll transfer you to the other room.” The room with the examination table. Ugh. The doctor tells me to lay down with my left arm above my head. A nurse hands him a scalpel and he attempts to pierce me 3 times before he succeeds. Tears were involuntarily running from my eyes and I couldn’t stop. No anesthesia or anything to numb the area, I was so upset. Then he has to squeeze whatever’s in there…and it’s even worse!! Worst. Pain. Ever. I ask why this happened–was it from working out or cause I’d been sleeping on my side or what?? He says no, a suture must have still been in there and it never broke down and tried expelling itself so it became infected.

He says he’s going to have a nurse pack the lesion…and it was as painful as it sounds. She shoved a piece of gauze in the literal hole that he’d just dug and it hurt so bad. She put gauze and tape and pressed down and I cringed and squealed. She said, “That hurts you?” Um, they just stabbed me with a scalpel and pinched the crap out of my skin, so yes, it hurts! This is around the time I heard someone yell down the hall, “It’s already 5:00??”

I asked if they were prescribing antibiotics. She says no, to use Neosporin or Bactroban. No instructions on when to take out the packing or anything, and I was so distraught I forgot to ask. I’m walking out the door into the parking lot and by the time I realized they forgot to give me my appointment and I turned around to ask, all the ladies were outside, standing in front of the locked doors. One of them says, “Sorry, we’re closed.”

I was so upset, that for the first time ever, even after alllll the complications, I said, “Why the heck did I do this!??”

I got weird pains in the incision area and above my areola near my collar bone. I had to take Ibuprofen for the pain all evening and the next day.

Since I’d gotten no instructions, I had to Google what to do the next morning about when to take the packing gauze out and how to handle it. I was so annoyed and worried I’d do something wrong.

One of the nurses called with a “courtesy call” to give me my new appointment and with another the day after, Friday, to ask how I was doing. I said I was in pain, and that the spot was red but it may be bruising from the squeezing. She asked if it was hot, but I was outside at the Food Park with EZ and Ryan getting ready for our event that night, so I wasn’t sure if it was me or the already-gross temperature. She said not to worry, she had called in antibiotics. I would have thought it would be better to prescribe them, oh, you know: 2 1/2 days before…

So I was really careful, using brand-new towels after showering and washing my hands extra well when changing dressings. By the time I went back on Monday it was closing up, thank God.

Had my follow-up appointment today, Wednesday, August 3rd, and have improved 100%. I just hope I don’t have any other surprises so I can finally start–and continue–to work out!! This is the 4th time the doc “releases” me.

I’ve spent many hours reading up on complications regarding breast reductions. MANY. I’m not even sure how some of those stories became so severe; you’d think they’d run to the hospital when they’d see, oh you know, PUS! So with that said, 3 months to the day of my surgery, I’m a bit paranoid about the pain I’m still feeling on my right breast, plus I got a small, blister-like spot near my areola scar, plus the redness on that same areola towards the bottom scar. AND, my T-intersection on my left boob still has a small scab. So I made an appointment for Thursday afternoon, just to be on the safe side.

I started experiencing these things about 2 weeks ago 😳 and Jorge scolded me for not going in sooner. At first I thought it was irritation from my sports bra since I took up running (occasionally!), or that the pain I was feeling was because my nerves were waking up (that was the boob that was really numb at first), or that maybe the pain was from my menstrual cycle, but nope. Still have it.

Other than that, I feel really good! I can run, drive, lift my arms, I’m doing yoga again and I’m still walking around without a bra at home most of the time, so I feel really grateful. I’m sure it’s probably nothing, but the hypochondriac in me NEEDS reassurance.

[edited on Thursday, May 12]
I went in for my appointment today. The reason for making this appointment is because of the blister-like spot and the pain under my areola, but those healed already. But I already had the appointment scheduled, so I went in since I was feeling the pain on the right side of my right breast and my nip is still very sensitive. Running water from the shower makes it hurt type of sensitive.

The girls were welcoming and asked how I was doing. Then I got my vitals taken and I changed into my gown. My doc asked how’d I’d been doing and I said fine, BUT…and told him about my problems. He said the blister-like spot was due to my body spitting out a suture (which is exactly what I’d assumed). Then I told him about the lingering pain; I mean, even water trickling on my nip in the shower would cause a shocking pain suddenly. So he asked, “Does this hurt?” and told me to lift my arm and pressed his finger into the side of my boob near my underarm. I got this terrible pain! I cringed and said, “YUP, right there!” He said it was my nerve sending the pain across my boob into my nipple and that it could affect my ribs, too! No wonder my rib felt like it had a constant bruise!

He said it’s nerve inflammation, and that I could take Advil or Ibuprofen when I’m at home, but he could give me a steroid shot with local anesthesia if I wanted relief. So, as much as I hated the thought, I went for it. He said I would totally feel the pain subside in 3 days, but I’d follow up in 1 month in case the pain came back.

He walked out and came back with a syringe and an alcohol wipe. He apologized in advance for how much it was going to hurt 😯 !

He walked me over to the chair, then he pressed his finger along the side of my boob near my armpit until “it hurt the most” and kept his finger there as a marker. I asked how much of the needle would pierce me and he said, “The whole thing. It’s going to touch your rib.” I instantly felt nauseous and insanely nervous, but I gripped onto the seat and he stuck me. I felt pressure, lots of it, then the shocking pain when the needlepoint touched my rip. I squealed and gasped at the same time. I could feel the liquid flowing in. He said, “I know it’s at your rib, but now I’m going to insert it above and below.” So he proceeded to slightly pull the needle out, and reinsert. Ugh. It was the part that hurt the most, I think. He massaged the area and I said, “Ok, now when will you do the steroid?” And he said, “Oh! That was it, it’s 2 in 1!” Thank GOD.

I felt immediate relief on my nip and boob, BUT I did feel pain at the site. Driving back to work I was surprised to find that my seatbelt wasn’t hurting me like it usually does. But, once I got to the office, just plugging in my phone charger caused me to feel pain at the site. And now that it’s about 4 hours later, I’m feeling pain at the site (or my muscle?) when I lift my arm or pull it back 😕 . I hope it’s not nerve damage 🙁 . I hope this one shot helps! Need to go back in 1 month.

I hadn’t done a day-by-day update as of my most recent doctor’s appointment last week since there wasn’t much of a change. I guess I can update when there’s a more significant change from now on.

I finally finished my 3rd round of antibiotics last night (Bactrim). I’ve still been wearing a lycra/spandexy sports bra only when I absolutely need to (like to work, or grocery shopping). I have left the house without a bra (to the bank drive-thru, to the corner store with Jorge–but I didn’t get down, heh). NEVER in my LIFE have I ever had the nerve or confidence to leave the house without a bra on, not even to check the mail 😆 !
The rough, dark scab I had on my left “T” intersection fell off today! The triangular area is slightly red, but not scary red, and very soft to the touch. The scab on the right had already fallen off (I hadn’t even noticed because it wasn’t as severe as the one on the left). So now both “T” intersections match! Now I’m just waiting for the vertical scars to look slightly less pink. And around my right nip, too 😕 ? I just noticed that about 2 nights ago.

I’ve noticed that my boobies have begun to “drop” a little more, which means they aren’t as swollen and are settling into place. The weird points (dog ears?) that I was really upset about at the end of each incision near my underarms seem to have smoothed out a bit more, perhaps due to the “dropping”?

I still have redness/sometimes almost purplish in color spots on the “bottom” of each breast where the last bout of irritation happened, but I read that it’s due to circulation (or lack thereof) 😕 ? I’ve got a lot of scarring left from the skin irritation/rash due to the steri-strip tape, so I have to wait to get over that, too.

I won’t post a full-on boob pic, but I just wanted to show why you need to be absolutely sure you aren’t allergic to any type of adhesives/meds. I wish I had 😕 . This is what I’ve had to deal with in terms of recovering from the surgery AND the allergic reaction 🙁 .

All in all, after all these weeks, I feel pretty good, thank God. I can drive over any size dip/pothole and not feel immense pain. That darn seat belt STILL irritates, me though, so I still use my trusty pillow.

I can’t wait to be able to sleep on my stomach! I’ve found myself turning on my side in the middle of the night and I catch myself. I still have the “pillow wall” up between Jorge and I that he hates, but he flails his arms in the middle of the night and I’m terrified he’ll accidentally press down on my chest 🙁 . He already did it once, the one time I removed the wall!

Keeping my fingers crossed that this little “T” area heals well.