Recovery - Day 4

-
It is Day 4 of my recovery and I am still in the hospital, an unexpected and frustrating situation since most mastectomy patients go home on Day 2. However, I have been having mysterious fevers and my doctors don't want to let me go until they have figured out the cause and/or the fevers have stopped. Possible causes could be an infection in my lower lungs, an infection in my chemo port, or an infection of one of the surgical incisions. I'm getting two kinds of antibiotics intravenously, a lung treatment administered through an inhaler, and a topical ointment on my incisions. My guess is that they never will be able to determine the cause, but that the fevers will stop through one of the treatments or on their own. My last one was yesterday at noon, 100.5. Since I've now made it more than 24 hours without another one, everyone is starting to feel a lot more comfortable - but tomorrow is still the very earliest I might be discharged, and it sounds like it might not be until Tuesday.

Ironically, the rest of my recovery is going exceptionally well. Dr. Trott is really happy with how my breasts are doing - she didn't have to use any Alloderm or other filler, and she was able to put 200 ccs of saline in each tissue expander, which means that my breasts actually do look kind of like normal breasts right now, if you discount the incisions and the Frankenstein-ish markings all over them. She says my skin is looking great, no necrosis at all. The pain is not nearly as bad as I anticipated; I'm completely off the pain pump now and am taking one Percocet every five or six hours, which is not a lot this soon after surgery. My chest feels tight and every now and then the muscles clench up, which is painful - but mostly I'm not even aware of it. I originally had two drains on each side but my fluid output was relatively low - so Dr. Trott removed two of the drains today. I had heard from others in my support group that drain removal is really painful, but Dr. Trott uses Lidocaine to numb the incisions, and I honestly didn't feel a thing. Everyone also says that getting your drains out is a big milestone in your recovery, and I did feel pretty fantastic afterwards. I've also been walking the hallways a lot, trying to feel like a normal human being again, and it is starting to work.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

And So It Begins

-
On August 26th, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Since then, I keep trying to say it out loud - "I have breast cancer" - so that I can start to believe it, but each time it sounds like something that couldn't possibly be true. About a month ago, I noticed some lumps in my left breast. I thought that my milk ducts were plugged, and I started trying the recommended home remedies - hot compresses, massage, extra nursing and pumping, lecithin supplements, hot showers. Nothing made a difference and I waited in dread for mastitis to set in. But no signs of infection appeared.  After almost two weeks, at the urging of Seth and my doula Cheryl, I consulted an OB. Dr. Yashari examined my breast and said that the lumps were fibroadenomas, benign breast tumors that are common in young women. He said they were nothing to worry about and would go away after I stopped breastfeeding. He also said that normally with fibroadenomas, they would just monitor them every few months, but jus...
Read more

Dr. Armando Giuliano

-
Image
Dr. Yashari referred me to Dr. Giuliano, a former colleague from St. John's who is now at Cedars-Sinai. Dr. Giuliano is very renowned in the world of oncology; he pioneered the practice of sentinel lymph node biopsy as an alternative to removal of underarm lymph nodes, and we were later to hear from others who consider him to be the best surgical oncologist in LA. Perhaps through Dr. Yashari's influence, or maybe just the kindness of Dr. Giuliano's scheduler, Fernando, I was able to make an appointment to see him on Wednesday, August 27, less than 24 hours after receiving my diagnosis. The appointment has already become blurred in my memory, but certain things stand out. I remember Dr. Giuliano saying that my cancer is high-grade, which sounds like a good thing but isn't (it means the cancer cells are extremely different from my normal cells). He also said my cancer is HER2-positive, which used to be a bad thing but isn't anymore, because there are new therapie...
Read more