The Post Op Truth
Updated: Dec 15, 2021
Came home from the hospital looking like a zombie but fortunately the following day some life came back into my skin and a little bit of makeup to help a girl out! 😂 Day 1 post op was a breeze. Oramorph became my new friend and Sams BEST friend as I went into dreamland! I told Sam he was the king of some island I had called ‘Tiepakachu’ and that I was chanting him whilst he stood on a rock with a spear in my hand! Safe to say that made his head a little bit bigger 😂. My day wasn’t too bad, reckon it was the sh** load of fentanyl and lidocaine they put into the boob. I was fighting against Sam trying to do normal house tasks as I insisted I felt fine!
Last night I wanted to have a shallow bath , get the stupid arrows with marker pen off me and wash my hair. Despite the dressings and the blue chaos going on I look so different. When I first came out of surgery I was so happy and relieved I still had some boob left and it didn’t seem that horrific. BUT change still sucks, they are not remotely symmetrical anymore. I had a good cry and Sam and I were in hysterics with him trying to wash and dry my hair 😂. I couldn’t even get dressed by myself! I may not have a ring on my finger (YET 😉) but I think we’ve mastered the ‘in sickness and in health’ part! 🙈
I woke up this morning with tears in my eyes so sore and fed up. Keeping on top of pain relief is all I do all day but I guess it’s keeping my nursing skills going. No more bleeding from my wounds so that’s a relief! When I first got home I was boasting about the fact I didn’t have a sore throat or anything from the airway during my op but my god my jaw hurts now! My jaw is so stiff I could barely eat cereal off a spoon this morning..it’s certainly not all plain sailing.
I have been tasked a set of exercises to do 3 times a day. Sam has become my PT! A couple of moves have been nicknamed the chicken and dumbo , they’re painful but it gets in some daily laughs! At the moment it’s like I have a broken arm. I have a dressing that feels like it’s glued my armpit to my side so doing a chicken dance is not so easy!
Positive: Managed my first post op outing today- the motivation was to get snacks even if the kitchen is exploding with them! I am so grateful that it was my right boob affected as me being a lefty I can still do Christmas wrapping that has been getting me through the day! Feeling positive! As one of my friends said ‘the darker days will only make you stronger and make the better days so much brighter’ .. thank you Mads ❤️