Sadly I have not been out of my house since I got home last Saturday. Clearly, I haven't missed much but a lot of grey skies and rain, ugh! I was anxious to get to my follow up with plastic surgeon because I had a lot of questions.
I really like the plastic surgeon, he is great but he wasn't too helpful in the post-op area. He just said I would be in a lot of pain and take my med. I like for things to be more specific than that. For example, the shower confusion. The nurse at hospital said I could not take a shower for at least a couple of weeks (ICK!) but on my discharge papers, the doc said I could shower. It seemed to be routine to get an antibiotic after surgery to prevent any infections but I didn't get that either.
My only instructions at discharge were 1) I can shower 2) empty grenades 3-4 times a day 3) open binder a few times a day for 10 minutes or so 4) rest, alot. um....ok.
So that is that I have been doing. Except for the shower part...I tried that once, it hurt. I won't be doing that again for a few days. Not to mention it was too much work with the drainage tubes going every which a way, not being able to bend to wash some places, etc. Overall, just a pita. So I will just continue with my sink bath and get Marcin to help me wash my hair. I tried the No Rinse Shampoo....very interesting stuff. Worked pretty well....my hair looked clean for about 2 days. not bad.
At my follow up today, the nurse Dana was SUPER helpful! I asked her where she was a week ago and why she is not doing rounds at the hospital to help out the patients! She said she is currently putting together a post-op packet. I told her I would be happy to help because I feel I have learned a lot the past week that could be helpful to others. She gave me her email....I hope she is prepared for my email LOL
So Dana took stitches out of my new belly button. That was weird...being that my entire stomach is numb and tingly ( IF you have had a c/s, remember the numbness around c/s scar? think of that but all over your midsection, weird.) I don't like to touch it because it freaks me out to know I am touching it but can't feel it.
I digress....she then proceeded to hold one end of the tube close to my stomach and then squeeze all the way down the tube to the grenade.UM WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! lol it did not hurt me but seeing her do it made it hurt. She explained I should have been doing this all week. I told her no one told me to do that. She also said I could let the grenades just hang down....currently they are safety pinned to my binder. They are not something I feel should just be 'hanging' down....what if one comes out? what if I get wrapped up in them while I sleep? the tubes are as long as my legs! I told her that was not a good idea for me but good to know :-P
I inquired about showering..she said that yes absolutely I could shower. THANK YOU!
Back pain....comes with the territory. She had some ideas for sitting and propping legs up, blah blah blah. I have already tried those things...did/does not work. I will deal with it and thank god for percocets!
She gave me a fancy new binder...it is super sexy too!!! Blogger isn't letting me insert a pic but picture this.....nude color biker shorts that go from bottom of chest to top of knees. S.E.X.Y. This is soooooo much more comfy than the other binder the hospital gave me. I am loving Dana at this point! lol
She said to keep on my pain meds as I need them...I told her that is about 2 every 4 hours. She suggested I alternate with 800mg tylenol with the percocets. hmmmm....maybe next week ;-)
I go back to see her next week to have my drainage tubes/grenades taken out. HOORAY!!! YIPPEE!!!! WOO HOO!!!! I hate these darn things....always in my way and stress me out! She said to keep them in as long as I tolerate them, up to 10-14 days. I asked her what the point of the drains were, she explained that the area of my surgery is so large and will produce too much fluid for my body to absorb, the drains help with that. Some surgeons do not do the drains but the fluids will then build up in your body and you have to go to doc to get them drained. YUCK! *sigh* so one more week with the darn drains. One week down....I can do this!
I was thinking this morning, I feel the best in the mornings, that overall this experience has not been awful. It is a temporary inconvenience and fortunately we have fantastic family and friends helping us out. I wouldn't want to do it again by any means but I know some people who are considering this surgery and on a scale of 1-10, I would put it around a 5. It is tolerable.
Maybe....just maybe I will post my before and after pics. If you want to see, I will happily email them to you but I am not ready for them to be in blogger world just yet :-P
I really like the plastic surgeon, he is great but he wasn't too helpful in the post-op area. He just said I would be in a lot of pain and take my med. I like for things to be more specific than that. For example, the shower confusion. The nurse at hospital said I could not take a shower for at least a couple of weeks (ICK!) but on my discharge papers, the doc said I could shower. It seemed to be routine to get an antibiotic after surgery to prevent any infections but I didn't get that either.
My only instructions at discharge were 1) I can shower 2) empty grenades 3-4 times a day 3) open binder a few times a day for 10 minutes or so 4) rest, alot. um....ok.
So that is that I have been doing. Except for the shower part...I tried that once, it hurt. I won't be doing that again for a few days. Not to mention it was too much work with the drainage tubes going every which a way, not being able to bend to wash some places, etc. Overall, just a pita. So I will just continue with my sink bath and get Marcin to help me wash my hair. I tried the No Rinse Shampoo....very interesting stuff. Worked pretty well....my hair looked clean for about 2 days. not bad.
At my follow up today, the nurse Dana was SUPER helpful! I asked her where she was a week ago and why she is not doing rounds at the hospital to help out the patients! She said she is currently putting together a post-op packet. I told her I would be happy to help because I feel I have learned a lot the past week that could be helpful to others. She gave me her email....I hope she is prepared for my email LOL
So Dana took stitches out of my new belly button. That was weird...being that my entire stomach is numb and tingly ( IF you have had a c/s, remember the numbness around c/s scar? think of that but all over your midsection, weird.) I don't like to touch it because it freaks me out to know I am touching it but can't feel it.
I digress....she then proceeded to hold one end of the tube close to my stomach and then squeeze all the way down the tube to the grenade.UM WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! lol it did not hurt me but seeing her do it made it hurt. She explained I should have been doing this all week. I told her no one told me to do that. She also said I could let the grenades just hang down....currently they are safety pinned to my binder. They are not something I feel should just be 'hanging' down....what if one comes out? what if I get wrapped up in them while I sleep? the tubes are as long as my legs! I told her that was not a good idea for me but good to know :-P
I inquired about showering..she said that yes absolutely I could shower. THANK YOU!
Back pain....comes with the territory. She had some ideas for sitting and propping legs up, blah blah blah. I have already tried those things...did/does not work. I will deal with it and thank god for percocets!
She gave me a fancy new binder...it is super sexy too!!! Blogger isn't letting me insert a pic but picture this.....nude color biker shorts that go from bottom of chest to top of knees. S.E.X.Y. This is soooooo much more comfy than the other binder the hospital gave me. I am loving Dana at this point! lol
She said to keep on my pain meds as I need them...I told her that is about 2 every 4 hours. She suggested I alternate with 800mg tylenol with the percocets. hmmmm....maybe next week ;-)
I go back to see her next week to have my drainage tubes/grenades taken out. HOORAY!!! YIPPEE!!!! WOO HOO!!!! I hate these darn things....always in my way and stress me out! She said to keep them in as long as I tolerate them, up to 10-14 days. I asked her what the point of the drains were, she explained that the area of my surgery is so large and will produce too much fluid for my body to absorb, the drains help with that. Some surgeons do not do the drains but the fluids will then build up in your body and you have to go to doc to get them drained. YUCK! *sigh* so one more week with the darn drains. One week down....I can do this!
I was thinking this morning, I feel the best in the mornings, that overall this experience has not been awful. It is a temporary inconvenience and fortunately we have fantastic family and friends helping us out. I wouldn't want to do it again by any means but I know some people who are considering this surgery and on a scale of 1-10, I would put it around a 5. It is tolerable.
Maybe....just maybe I will post my before and after pics. If you want to see, I will happily email them to you but I am not ready for them to be in blogger world just yet :-P
Hooray for Dana!!! Great news all around! One more week! (PS - of COURSE I wanna see before and after shots!)
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