Then.....Saturday came. It was an absolute crash and burn. The aftermath had arrived and it felt relentless. But not in the ways we expected. The morning started out really well. We were rested, my swelling was reducing (I virtually had peed out Lake Michigan) and the pain was almost non-existent considering what it could have been. Then with one stop at the stop sign and a left turn it went downhill with no brakes. The rush of nausea was overwhelming and as the day went on it progressed to heaving and hoeing over and over again. Heave after heave without much output was wrecking the "does and don't" lists of post surgery. I literally asked Ron to make sure the drain was still stitched to my side (it was.) after one round. The only thing we can think is that the anti-nausea meds used during surgery had worn off and using the pain medication was adding to the problems 10 fold. Additionally, every thing I ate was getting stuck in my esophagus, perfectly portrayed by the snake swallowing the egg. I could not get anything to go down. And it was frustrating. Because surprisingly I was hungry. It was just a big ole situation of ugliness. All-day-long. The good news is we figured it out like we always do and we just got through it, because we've had worse and there were silver linings in that I had little pain and the drain was still my friend. We just stayed focused as we knew we still had to do the mandatory shower and bandage removal at 48 hours.
Long gone were the aspirations of capturing some photos for you dear ladies, and our only goal was getting through the shower with the contents of my stomach in my stomach and not part of our shower and with as little tears as possible. We became very goal oriented and just got it done. Thankfully, Ron excels as being task oriented, so we made the list and mentally checked it off as we went.. We had the foresight of my lying on the bed so we could get everything off without me falling face on the ground. First went the shirt. The surgical vest. The gauze fluff. The betadine orange crush slush. And then the bandages. I really wanted to capture a picture of the bandage for you, but as we got down to everything there really wasn't a way to do that tastefully, and I was just on super speed mode of getting this off our plate and me back to the sofa. Ron gently peeled the edges up (I recall him saying something about fort knox and that these boys sure did know how to seal a bandage) and was able to get it off with very few tears from me. Underneath, everything looked like it should - 7 or 8 steri strips over a glue sealant over an incision running north to south under the nipple (the same incision we had before just now reopened and resealed) and deep under the skin another set of stitches. Off to the side, under the arm pit, is the drain insertion site also bandaged with a stitch holding the drain in the skin. I now can say all of that without heaving. A huge increase from surgery number 1. I haven't yet looked at anything as yesterday was all about getting everything done and me back intact to the living-room. But Ron inspected it all and gave me the thumbs up that we could head to the shower. Basically it was more of me standing zombie like at the back of the shower while Ron did all of the work. I'm still restricted in that I can't raise my arms or use them to pull or push anything. So there is no reaching, no lifting to wash my hair, no anything. Basically, you are the car at the car wash. And very honestly, you just want to get through it. And we did it. And only with a few spilled tears. MAJOR improvement from previous times. I'm over achieving. We got the hair washed a dried, a sport bra back on, and back to the sofa I went...then, I'm sad to say for all of you that were praying me through my day.... it went further downhill. The GI symptoms came back in full force and that was the rest of our day. I will spare you the details, but know Ron and I have a few more moments under our mastectomy timeline and we were very grateful to be climbing into bed last night with hopes of today bringing something better. Though Ron gets total kudos for the rock star that he was. I get nothing. I was a wreck. I felt awful. Every heave had me exhausted and ever ho had me grabbing my drain. Needless to say, we slept 10 hour last night. No more vomiting. A little more settled stomach and as of mid-day yesterday, no more pain medications. I am choosing my battles right now and I would rather have a little soreness than experience anything close to yesterday again. I'm going med free and wishing for the best!
Today, I've successfully swallowed some yogurt. I have very little drain out put. And I am upright with no heaving and for the record and full disclosure, my lower gut is empty as well. I'm starting fresh today. A friend just dropped by some food for dinner so that we can think a little less about meals today and more about feeling better. Our goal is simply to be most improved. Yesterday, I didn't pass the SATs though my pencils were sharpened, and today I get to have a do-over. And I am grateful for that and that has me feeling a bit more optimistic. Though I fear another shower is going to have to come....baby steps.
We did it and Ron did smile at me this morning and I at him. We are always better for the worse. Post op day #2 done and now off to #3.
