Recovery - Day 14

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Today marks two weeks post-surgery, and it also is the first day where I've looked in the mirror and felt that my breasts looked almost normal again - or at least I can see how they're going to look almost normal, eventually. That won't be until after the permanent implants are in - these tissue expanders are quite strange looking and feeling, much firmer and stiffer than real breasts. I assume they'll improve a bit when I start getting fills; the first fill will be 50cc at the end of this month, and then we'll keep going until we get to my ideal size, which I doubt will take more than two or three fills. When I saw Dr. Trott for my checkup on Moday, she said that she doesn't want to do the exchange procedure (where they swap out the tissue expanders for the permanent implants) until after I finish adjuvant chemo in October; even though chemo did not affect my white blood cell counts, she doesn't want to take the risk that the chemo drugs could impair my healing. I think she was a little spooked by my mysterious fevers in the hospital, but I don't want to take any unnecessary risks either, and I can live with these wacky expanders for eight or nine months (especially since I don't have to wear a bra with them - another small silver lining!)

Dr. Trott was really pleased with how I'm healing - she said I'm an "A+ patient" and that no one would ever guess that my surgery was less than two weeks before. She cleared me to resume chemo next week and to drive immediately. However, I still have to wait until six weeks post-op - mid-March - to lift anything over 10 pounds, including and especially Ike. It's so hard not to be able to pick him up - I've realized that with a baby his age, holding is a major form of communication with him. Also it's really inconvenient not to be able to put him on my lap to feed him, put him on his changing table to change his diaper and dress him, lift him in and out of his car seat and stroller, etc. But I really don't want to mess anything up - tearing internal sutures is the big risk - and then need more surgery and more recovery. So I'm going to continue resisting the urge to pick him up. He seems to understand the situation better than you might expect for a nine-month-old.

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