I'm Home

[Mary Jo]

Hi everyone,

I'm home now and feeling pretty good. It seems to have caught up with me since being home (where I can really relax) and yesterday, after 2 days with no sleep, kind of broke down and cried a little and realized how huge this all was.

All that being said, my recovery is going well. CONSIDERING it's only been 5 days since my 9 1/2 hour surgery I'm feeling pretty darn good. I'm able to do our stairway in our house just fine and pretty much can do most things EXCEPT OF COURSE - lifting or driving (haha) - but hey, you do what you can!!!

I was able to have 1 drain removed before leaving the hospital yesterday...so...came home with 5. Tomorrow we go to Dr.Hijjawi's office for a "look see" and I'm confident at least 1 more drain will go - my guess though is 2. The output isn't huge. The ab. drains (2) put out a bit more fluid and I'm sure they will be sticking around for a while BUT 2 is better than 5, right? I took myself off of all narcotics on Thurs. evening after starting to have bad dreams (percocet - spelling?) I told the nurses I only wanted Tylenol....plain old tylenol. That was fine for me and as of last evening haven't taken any of that. Pain doesn't seem to be an issue - a little discomfort - pulling - lower back stuff - but nothing major. I did come home with an order to take one 325 mg. aspirin a day. I was given an antibiotic infusion every 6 hours (Ansef) the entire time and came home with no antibiotic..............so..............that's that in a nutshell. As always after surgery - especially it seems when I have drain tubes in place - not to mention the stress placed on your body - my resting heartrate is a bit higher than normal. Normally my resting is around 58 - 60 (often lower than that) but since surgery is now hovering around 80 - 84.

For those of you who have had DIEP......I have this fear that "something will happen to them" if I'm not really, really careful. Did you feel that way too? I'm sure you did but I'm wondering how long it takes till you realize they are here to stay. Example.........yesterday right before leaving the hospital, I was giving my day nurse a hug good bye...as I walked out the door I bumped my new right boob against the door and I was afraid I'd have putten a dent in it...... I didnt!

So, for those who are considering DIEP and following my prognosis, here is an update.

Have a great day everyone.

Mary Jo