The surgery

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The evening before I had some great Chinese food, and I drank my water right up to my midnight NPO (nothing by mouth) deadline. I did get some rest thankfully and I did not need anything to help me sleep. I had to be at the hospital at 6:00 AM so we got up around 4:45 and I took a very quick shower and we left to arrive at the hospital. We arrived on time, and had to enter through the Emergency Room entrance. I was signed in and brought up to the pre op area. I was given a gown to change into and was covered up with a nice warmed blanket. An Iv was started and I was given Lactated Ringers with a piggyback of Ancef. Lactated Ringers is just an intravenous solution that is used to replenish lost fluids and electrolytes. Ancef is an antibiotic.

I met the anesthesiologist and was extremely squeaky about not wanting to be sick, he reassured me he could give me something. I am not sure what he did give but it worked. :-) Then my Plastic surgeon came in and asked me how I am doing, and proceded to do my markings. If I am able I will try to get a picture of my markings since he did take a Polaroid of them after he did them. He told me he would see me in the OR and was just as kind and professional as ever. About that time the OR nurses came in to get me, and as soon as we hit the OR I started asking who the assistant was. The Assistant in my surgery was an RNSA, which is an Registered Nurse Surgical assistant. This nurse goes through extra training to learn the fine art of suturing in surgeries. I asked mine how she did in home Ec Sewing in high School. She assured me she passed with an A+ :-) The staff in the OR was wonderful and they were very high spirited for 7:45 AM. About this time I scooted over to the OR table, and they placed a pillow under my knees and put a strap over my thighs and they were so sweet about it saying it was to remind them how tiny the table was so they would not bump me off. I then had my arms fastened loosely down at my sides, and I was told I was going to be getting tired. That’s about all I remember. I never even took my gown off before going under.

When I woke up initially it was about 12:30 PM. I was in recovery and all I remember were 2 things, one I had a burning sensation in my chest, about a 7 on a scale of 1 to 10 , and I had TERRIBLE breath! I even spit up a bit because of the breath! Ewwww, can anyone say ‘Tic Tac’ lol I asked for something for the pain and when I was not hurting anymore I went back to sleep. I was already in a clean gown (or the OR crew was incredibly neat about my old one), and in my regular bed. I had on a size 38 Bestforms eyehook in the front sports bra. Yup the kind you can buy for $6.97 at good old Wal-mart. Stuffed in this little bra was some gauze and padding. I have to say it was the first time in my life since I was about 10 I ever had a stuffed bra. :-)

About 2:00 PM they moved me to my room where I would be spending the night. My husband was there waiting already I remember saying hi to him but I was pretty out of it still. I was able to rest pretty comfortably so I decided I would stay sleeping. I was given a private room even though the place was packed. I woke up briefly to tell my husband that I wanted to just sleep and to not bring my mom up to the hospital with the kids, and I slept until about 7PM. I woke up and I took some Darvacets and watched some TV. I went to the bathroom a couple times (still not sure if I had a catheter during surgery), and other than manuvering around the IV stand (still getting Lactated Ringers and Ancef) and moderate discomfort when I moved the wrong way, I was doing pretty good. For my overnight stay I was put on the maternity ward. so most of the techs who came around to take my vital signs didn’t realize I was pretty sore from Breast surgery and not from childbirth, so I had to scold a few with their briskness with the blood pressure, but the big headache came about 7:45PM.

I finally had my voice back ( horse after I woke up) after a lot of water, and Ic alled my mother to appologise for telling her to stay away. While talking to her I realized my IV was starting to infultrate, which means the catheter going into my vein pulled out enough that the IV solution was still running into me but instead of into the vein it was running into my hand causing my hand to swell up like a balloon. I called my evening nurse who I was yet to meet, and 15 minutes passed and still no one came. I called again… another 15 minutes still no one... By this time my hand was huge so I did what I do not recommend anyone to do, but I turned off the IV. I then called the Nurses station and told them I shut off my IV… Well then my wonder nurse came finally, and I explained my hand was a water balloon... so she looks my hand over, and after a few minutes she says through very broken English I needed a new IV... (I could have told her that...) So she gets the IV start supplies and decides she needs to start the IV in my other hand since my left hand looked like a puffer fish. I sit back to let her do what I hope she knows how to do... and OUCH she totally blows the vein. Now both of my hands are really hurting, much more than my new breasts… how ironic is that LOL. I politely ask her to get someone else to do the IV, and I think she said she was going to call the Dr to see if I really needed the antibiotic… I wish I could have been a little bird on the line and could have heard that conversation LOL So about 8:45 another nurse came in, and very nicely put in my new IV, it was painless but it was in my right wrist which was a little tricky. She then noticed that I still had the old IV in my left hand, she asked me if I would like that removed LOL she took it out and was so sweet about it and brought warm packs to out on my terribly sore swelled up hand. I do not know where this nurse usually worked, but I felt better knowing she was there that night.

When my regular nurse came back to reset the pump and turn back on my IV at 9:45PM(yes it just sat in my wrist for an hour), I asked for some regular tylonal. After yet another struggle to understand she realized I just wanted the tylonal for my sore hand. I was not in any real pain to warrant the Darvocet. She brought that in and I stayed up until 2AM when my IV bag ran out and I had to get the nurse to bring another. There was no way I was going to let another IV site go bad . When she came in I pointed out to her I had some drainage though the bra on my right side. She took some gauze and stuffed it in the bra and said I was fine… I was pretty irritated but I figured I would not see her again with any luck so I went to sleep. I have to say though I am glad I stayed in the hospital since I was pretty out of it until 7PM, but I kind of recommend having someone hang around with you until you meet your nurses lol

I slept from 2AM to about 6AM (vital sign girl woke me up taking my blood pressure on my elbow LOL), and at 7AM my day nurse, apparently the same one from yesterday when I came up to the room, came in to ask about my night. I guess I was the talk of the day nurses report with my swollen hand… lol she brought me a nice new CREST toothbrush and some towels and ask if I needed any help getting cleaned up. She was really a great nurse, kind, caring, and even apologetic for the other nurse. I changed my gown and for the first time tried to check out my new girls. I could not see much but I could tell a HUGE difference… well as huge as you can tell when you are 5 feet tall and on tip toes trying to get a look at your new profile in the mirror while in a hospital gown. Lol

Shortly after my ‘bath’ my Doctor came in, he made a few comments about strange nurses and loose screws, and wanted to make sure I made it through the night ok. I said I did and we both had a little chuckle, and he said it was time to see how things were, he peaked in a bit and said he saw nothing out of the ordinary and said he would be back around 11AM between his morning surgeries.

My hand was still all swollen and that was the worst. I actually felt good, I ate some of my breakfast and my husband arrived around 9AM. I took nothing but tylonal that morning, and about 11AM my Doctor came back to take his first real look.

I laid back on the bed and was about to have my first real look at my new little perkies! I remember thinking how surreal it was, and worrying a little about what my husband would think. The Doctor opened up the bra and took off the padding, and I swear they looked so perfect! I mean from my angle all I saw were the tapes around the areolas, but the shape was so great! He touched both of my nipples and my right one was like super sensitive, but my left one, (the bigger breast to begin with) was pretty numb. Actually most of that breast was numb, but both nipples totally reacted to touch! The color in both was perfectly normal, and even without the feeling I was so happy! Even my husband was impressed! I was worried he would think the initial viewing would be gross, but he looked right at me and said, “Wow that’s nothing at all, they look great!” Coming from my Steven Segal want-to-be tough guy husband this was a huge relief for me.

The doctor put a few pieces of gauze over my steri-strips and put my bra back on, and asked me if I wanted to go home. I said sure, and by noon I was out the door! I was told to go home and rest, to not take a shower until after the next Dr appt 4 days later, and to call if I was worried about anything.

I came home and started drinking water… I bought a whole bunch of small 16 oz bottles of water and I just drank a bunch of them… I have no real idea how many I drank lol but I was sure my kidneys were working hard to get that anesthesia out of my system. I really had no itching, (other than one steristrip), and I felt really good. A lot better than I thought I would feel. My Doctor had given me a precription for Tylonal three’s (with codeine) and I had filled it prior to surgery, I decided to take a couple not really for pain but so I would not be so stir crazy. I felt like I had a lot of energy, but I knew in reality I did not, so I stayed in my recliner and enjoyed watching the kids and having my husband and mom get all the bottles and fix all the snacks. I went to bed about 10pm and slept in my recliner padded up in pillows. I actually slept very well, I did not wake up until almost 8AM, it was the most sleep during the night I have had in a long time.