Lots has happened since I last blogged… I had my implant removed on 8/12… on 9/6 my incision ruptured. It’s been quite the journey… I basically have an 2.5X2.5 gaping wound on my chest… I’ve been packing & wrapping it twice daily since this happened. There is currently not enough skin present to close it. So, I will be required to have more surgery and my procedure will be 10/5. I’ve also had pseudomonas, which is an infection of the area… it seems to have cleared up, but we have been using a bleach solution called Dakin to clean and disinfect the area…

On, 10/5.. the surgery is going to be quite involved… 2 doctors will spend around 8 hours to harvest a flap of skin that is taken from my hip/butt region… and they will have me on a table and then flip me over to graft this skin and fat onto my chest to create breasts. At this point, I’ll be thrilled with whatever the outcome… Having just one breast has been quite challenging. I obviously cannot wear a prosthesis or a bra, since it’s raw and sore…

I will spend 5 days recovering at CMC and then I will have a total recovery time of about 6-8 weeks.

Here is an example of how the surgery will take place…

http://www.davidgreenspunmd.com/restorative_techniques/perforator_flap_reconstruction/flap_procedures/

Til next time… ❤

It was a fine Sunday morning this past Sunday, I had a much needed good night’s sleep… I was well on the road to recovery…. my incision seemed to be healing nicely…. I yawned, I stretched…. and I felt a POP. And then I felt warm liquid. I sat straight up in bed and said “it ruptured”… and Darrell panicked, “what ruptured” and then he saw the mess…. I texted my plastic surgeon (he is amazing and gave me his personal cell number), he didn’t reply so I called the office…

In the mean time, I get up… and go to the bathroom to look… and was SHOCKED by what I saw… it wasn’t just a little rip in the incision, the entire chest wall was showing, the entire incision was open… It takes a lot to get me woozy, but I nearly fainted… felt sick and had to put my head between my knees.

Then, the doctor on call… called back. He said that although it probably seemed shocking, he would recommend to put saline soaked gauze pads on the affected area and then take a dry dressing on it…. My husband said, he doesn’t know how big this is…. so my Mom came and we went to urgent care. The PA at urgent care was amazing…. they showed me how to pack it, how to clean it… and wrapped me up.

Off to work I went…

This morning I went to the plastic surgeon’s office because they were back from the holiday weekend. The doctor who saw me in lieu of my doctor… suggested to put Silva Dene cream all over it, like frosting… well it immediately was burning. I went off to work anyway… when I got to work, I started feeling off… I started to get nauseous, it burned so badly… and then I got a terrible headache…. and then I felt like I could cry. Mostly because it hurt so bad. I have a very high pain tolerance, so when I’m crying from pain, it’s not good! I got home…. and took my temp.. 101.4, this was not looking good. My temp went up to 102.5…. Tonight when I went to dress it, it was oozing…. with infection.

So tomorrow, I’ll go back to the Plastic Surgeon’s office… and we’ll see what his recommendation is. Obviously, with it open… it’s at risk of infection. But, they told me it can stay that way for as long as they think it’s necessary…

This is the nightmare that doesn’t end! My PS told me that I could write a book… I’ve had so many things go wrong and it’s honestly, so wearing. He said I can’t catch a break!