And just like that it’s been 3 weeks since my prophylactic bilateral mastectomy with immediate DIEP flap reconstruction. In the hospital I seriously had NO pain. Leaving the hospital I had NO pain. Soreness sure but no pain. In the AIRBNB, no pain. The ride home? You guessed it no pain. I’ve been extremely blessed and am so grateful for numb nerves. Last Thursday, however, I was in PAIN.
Thursday morning, I was feeling great. My morning drain output was higher than the day before, by kind of a lot. 5 vs 23. I wrote it down and shook my head thinking I’d have this damned drain for the rest of my life. I even said that on my instagram story. I sent a text to my friend Jana to see if she wanted to drive me to Target to get some Halloween decorations and random groceries that I needed. We did that, stopped at Barry’s clinic for her to have a quick appt, and then stopped at Ulta so she could grab some new concealer. I was cold the whole time we were gone but it has cooled down slightly in Florida and I thought maybe they hadn’t adjusted the AC to the new cooler temps and brushed it off. I did feel more tired in Target than normal. The aisles seemed way longer than normal and I didn’t even look at mommy clothes or shoes. When we were driving home, Jana got a call that her 1st grader had injured herself at school and Jana wanted to pick her up. I rode along and turned on my heated seat and finally felt warm. Jana dropped me off and bundled up in a sweater, fuzzy socks and as many blankets as I could find and passed out. I woke to the sound of Owen and Emilia walking into the house. I had checked my temperature before I fell asleep and it was 97.4º. I woke up and was shivering despite all the blankets and clothes. I checked my temp and in an hour it had climbed to 102.5º.
I tried to text Barry because I didn’t know what to do. I waited almost an hour to hear back from him and he never read the texts or responded. I texted Jana and she told me to call NoLa. (DUH in hindsight!) They immediately called in an antibiotic and Barry picked it up for me.
Y’all when I say this, I’m not exaggerating. I felt SO bad. My fever wouldn’t stop, even with tylenol. I had the worst headache that wouldn’t quit. My entire body hurt and I physically couldn’t get out of bed by myself. My core was so weak. I mean, yeah that is pretty common after DIEP but not 2 weeks after DIEP! Barry had to help me sit up in order to get out of bed. I was a mess and I couldn’t stop crying. That night, my night drain was over 90 cc/ml. It was bad.
I felt like a complete failure. It had been 2 weeks and I was back to being in my bed for the near future. I couldn’t parent. I couldn’t even sit up to go pee by myself. It was horrible. The next day, Barry went in late and came home early. He brought me nachos bel grande from Taco Bell, because I’m classy and hungry and watched Real Housewives of Beverly Hills with me. He did 100% of any and all parent responsibilities. The antibiotics worked swiftly and by Saturday I felt almost human again. I could at least get up to pee on my own. Drain output continued to decrease. Leftie started to improve. I thought everything was in the past.
Today, when Barry was leaving for work he barely brushed against my drain tube. It HURT SO BADLY. I didn’t think much of it and hadn’t noticed it being red at all. I showered today and saw it without betadine surrounding it. The site is red and enflamed. That + pain = infection of some kind. I emailed NoLa and they want me to start a second antibiotic, concurrent with the other. Since output is still too high they think the infection is likely there and likely was there. Hopefully this second antibiotic will get me all cleared out of any bad bacteria and I’ll be drain free soon!
