4 days later....

The last few days have not been fun.  They kept me over night Monday even though it should have been an outpatient surgery.  I woke up at 2am with a bad headache that continued to worsen throughout the day.  My blood pressure began to drop Tuesday to as low as 82/52, which posed some concern. They were able to get it to come up to 100/56.  They released me at approximately 4:00 Tuesday.  My headache worsened through the night and I spiked a 102.2 fever.  The headache became so unbearable that my general practictioner told me to go to the ER.  They ran blood cultures (which I won't know results of for a few days) and gave me an IV cocktail for my head.  My blood pressure was lower again yesterday while I was there...90/51.  Not quite sure what is up with all of that...or anything else for that matter.  On the bright side, the terrible pain I had experienced for 8 weeks on my left side is GONE!! I feel better knowing that my pain and suffering is validated and I was not just making this up in my head.  I am just not happy that my surgery failed and I have to go through this process again with an additional flap surgery.  Very depressing, but I am accepting it!!  Better than having cancer any day!!

Oh well...guess I will just sport my uniboob!!  Maybe I will just always turn and face everyone with my right side...lol.  I have opted to try a prostheses on the left instead of removing saline from the right.

I will keep you posted with any new changes!

This day really sucks

Well...when I woke up from surgery, my mom delivered the bad news.  They went in to remove my scar tissue tissue expander on the left side and replace it with an implant.  They were unable to complete the procedure.  My surgeon described the inside of my left breast as 'A MESS." I had excessive bleeding and the skin graft sling she created to hold the implant did not grow into my tissue.  If she was to place the implant in, she said it would have moved up and out of my chest so far that it would have actually protruded through the skin.

SOOOO...she didn't even do anything on the right side.  Now my only option is the flap surgery, but I have to wait at least 6 months.  Needless to say I broke down in tears.  I have wasted 2 months of my life in excruciating pain and now have nothing to show for it.  So depressing!!  I now have a concaved  breast on the left and a breast on the right.  I asked her to remove the saline from the right tissue expander to flatten me out so I'm more symmetrical.

OH WELL...LIFE GOES ON!!

Exchange Day!

Today is the day that I get my permanent implants.  Hopefully this will alleviate all my issues...pain, infection, and constant drainage!!

Outpatient surgery @ 10:45...Arrival time at 8:45!

Wish me luck! I will blog an update on my progress as soon as I am able :)

Hamster Wheel...will it ever stop

Well...so here is the latest..

I started not feeling well again last week and the low grade fevers returned.  I went to my scheduled appointment on Tuesday (hoping to get my drainage tube removed).  Prior to the appointment I had spiked a 100.5 fever and was feeling pretty yucky.  My doctor then gave me the news that my fluid culture grew a rare bacteria and they were concerned since I have been running fevers for such a long period of time. Therefore, they gave me a new antibiotic and 2 options:
   
    1. Do the exchange surgery now and remain the size I am.
    2. Do the flap surgery we originally planned (the choice I should have made in the first place)

I chose option 1 and am scheduled for the exchange on Monday, June 25th.  They will remove my tissue expanders and all the hard scar tissue and replace them with silicone gel implants.  This is an outpatient surgery.  I can not even begin to tell you how much I am looking forward to this.  I have been through 7 weeks of absolute hell and am ready for it to be over.  This hard brick I am carrying around on my chest will finally be gone!!!

Tuesday night after leaving the doctor, my family and I headed to Lake Cumberland.  By the time we arrived, my temperature had spiked to 103 degrees and I was miserable.  We got it to come down but have to say it scared the crap out of us!  I have continued to run low grade fevers, but nothing above 100.3...but it is enough to make me feel sick.  

I will update you later!

CT Results

CT scan results are CLEAN and CLEAR baby!  Next scan will be scheduled in the fall...sometime in October or November.  

They also do a full blood work up.  My WBC and RBC counts are normal, but I am slightly anemic (always have been).  The results for my liver enzymes and something else (I can't remember) will be in tomorrow. They will only call me if it is abnormal, which I don't expect.

Now...if we can just get past this whole tissue expander thing....