If you were one of the lucky ones, you may have received a text that read,
"Oh my gosh! Do you want to see my "boobs"?!
Today was my first follow-up appointment with the plastics and reconstruction team. I was still in significant pain and generalized soreness, so I was highly anxious about how this would go.
My father-in-law graciously accepted my request to chauffeur my mom and I as her driving my Tahoe was more than I was ready to experience on this day.
The trip there went as expected - basically 1/5 stars regarding being in a car 4 days post B/L mastectomy. The 1 star is for being able to get out of the house and have a proper medical assessment of my progress.
Ok. That wasn't fair.
I'll give it 1.5 stars.
The appointment itself was interesting. My compression bra was removed - initially, this was excruciating as the expanders shifted under my skin the weight of them plus all the swelling without support felt less than optimal.
The PA quickly swapped out the dressings and closed it all back up. Then left to call the MD to see if they could prescribe me more than the 8 initial pills for pain. Yup, 8.
"Good news, I can see the amount of pain you are in and while that is to be expected, Dr. Morrissey said we can re-fill the prescription, but just for 8 more. Also...I have to open everything back up and peel off the dressings that are adhering to your skin. I'm so sorry."
This sounded all too familiar...
I'm sorry, we can't give you your medication on time due to giving you something else I said would help in the meantime....
I'm sorry, we just yanked this compression bra closed over your insanely painfully swollen make-shift boobs and now we need to repeat the process....
I'm sorry but if we could be just a SMIDGE more competent at our jobs, things would potentially go a lot smoother for those being cared for. And while I know this sounds snotty, I've worked in healthcare for approx 20 years, patients are always my PRIORITY. I am not saying I do not make mistakes, but I minimally know the precautions and expectations of each session prior to working with my patients.
RANT OVER
Looking at the bright side, I got a PICTURE this time!
Perhaps it was morbid curiosity, perhaps it is the healthcare worker in me, or perhaps it was just because there was a significant alteration to MY body, I wanted to see and capture this.
It felt good to see exactly where the incisions are, the location and size of the expanders, and to get a look at the drains. That put my mind at ease and helped with a better understanding of my pain and discomfort.
I left in a better state of mind, even with the two dressing changes <insert eyeroll>.
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