Cody Updates by Mom

This morning we went in for another appointment for the plastic surgeon.  They have removed the final drain from my left side. YAY!  Do you know what that means?!?!?  Mel gets to shower tomorrow!!!!  I cannot express in words how happy I am that I will finally be able to shower.  It has been a very long 13 days of no showering.  VERY LONG!

While I was there I was there they also did another expansion.  They expanded the right side with an additional 120 cc’s and the left with 80.  Dr. Mann believes that Dr. Fox had to remove more skin on the left due to the tumor on that side so it is taking longer for the skin to stretch on the left.  There is also some swelling on the left that we will be asking Dr. Fox about at our post-op appointment.  I am now set up with weekly appointments for the next 4-5 weeks for my expansions with Dr. Mann.  So, I am lumpy and now lopsided too. Guess it matches my personality! 🙂

Since I no longer have drains in they will be manually removing any additional fluid when I go in for my expansion appointments.  They basically take a large syringe and suck it out slowly with the needle.  Not a very pleasant experience but not horrible.  I will take that over the not showering!  Really, I am being honest about that.

Overall the appointment went very well with good news.  The downside is that the amount of pain that I have had since the expansion is significant.  It varies from sharp pain to a constant ache randomly.  From a pain standpoint this has been a pretty crappy day.  The pain meds take a bit of the edge off but that’s about it.  I’ve spent a lot of time in bed and just now am moving around a bit.  Jim’s grilling some burgers for us and hoping there is something good to watch on TV.

What I learned over the weekend:

• When they ask you prior to a weekend if you want your pain med prescription refilled, say yes.  Don’t think, oh I should be okay even thought I have no idea how many are sitting in the bottle at home.  Rationing the meds to make it through the weekend makes for a really crabby Melanie. 😦
• When you feel pretty good on a day, don’t think you can suddenly do a whole bunch more. Got “talked to” for doing too much and sent to my chair due to pain.
• Whether its the pain, the meds or just the whole situation I cannot seem to get my brain to concentrate on reading.  This is very depressing since I have a whole bookshelf of books waiting to be read.  Very happy we have Netflix or I would be bored to tears!

Tomorrow we see Dr. Fox for our post-op appointment.  She will go over the pathology report of the tumor in more depth and we will be able to ask questions.  Still have to wait until Friday to talk to the oncologist.  Hoping that this is a week for more answers!

If you want to email me you can use the mdengnell@comcast.net email.  I check it regularly on my phone.

Gonna go watch Jim grill and harass him for awhile now that he is home from work.

Thank you again for all the prayers, cards and treats that you have been sending.  Everyone is being so very kind.

Caring Bridge Comments

Joan Axdal, ASLC Prayer Chain coordinator|Apr 17, 2014 11:13am