Some news from the other side… The surgery lasted a couple of hours and I was able to return home the same day. (Someone get me some of that oxygen!!)
Ten days on from the surgery, I am able to report they have removed the entire left breast and all the tumour(s) in it. (Strange thought my boob is now lying in some lab in Maidstone and I am sitting here writing this). The collection of lymphs also affected in the armpit has been looked at but couldn’t be removed due it being attached to a bloodvessel and deemed too risky. We knew this in advance. This is also the reason the won’t consider a reconstruction until I am cancer free.
Nervous giggles just before surgery.
I was naturally very emotional after the operation but seemed to cope reasonably well over the weekend, probably due to residues of the anesthetic and adrenaline. However, the following few days were continuous cycles of weeping and sleeping. Much grief had to move through, and out of my system. Then, from Wednesday onwards I had temperatures which came and went. Also, the liquid in my drain was no longer clear but milky. The Nurse At Home Team, which check in with me every day to see how much fluid I secrete, were not happy with the situation by Saturday so they sent me to A&E. I spent 6 hrs+ in A&E and SAU in Pembury to establish I needed to be on antibiotics. So have been on that. As they were still concerned, I had to return to Maidstone this morning where I saw the assistant surgeon who operated on me. She took the steri strips off to have good look. Most of the wound is now closed but I still need a bit of cover on it. I was quite a difficult experience to see my chest in this state… It is going to take me a while to get my head around my new body.
She said she didn't think it was an infection but that the milky stuff came from the lymph (we are confused at this point) yet she could see the antibiotics were doing well and wants me to be on them for 10 rather than 5 days. I do feel they are working. I had no temperature this morning and the fluid is reducing greatly and improving in clarity. She also managed to get a small bit of fluid out the wound to get tested. She told me to take it easy on the exercises also.
Painwise it hasn’t been awful, apart from when the fluid was building up before I had the antibiotics. Since then I haven’t needed to take any pain meds. It was far more painful on a daily basis with the large tumour. It is strange though, I get the occasional itch or twinge ‘in my boob’ and I go to touch it and it isn’t there!
I could have done without all the trips to hospitals though in terms of my energy levels. I definitely need the rest to heal. Overall all the staff and nurses have been lovely but it is painfully obvious the system is beyond broken… The journey continues.
Walking out of the hospital minus left boob.