Had an appointment today with the plastic surgeon and got my left lat drain out. I was so happy I almost cried. 5 weeks to have a drain is a long time in my world. I told the nurse I was nervous that it was gonna hurt and she said I really should only feel a little pinch when she cut the stitch. All I felt was like someone plucked a hair out. The next thing I know she is showing me my drain. I didn’t feel her pull it out at all. That thing was long. It really was 18 inches long. I was expecting it to be really gunky and gross but it wasn’t. I can’t wait to sleep on my side tonight!

So I was telling you about the pain and puffiness in the right side of my body around my drain. Well apparently when I did my PT exercises yesterday I loosened it up and it put out 260 mL of fluid. I talked to the Dr. About it, and it was still a little bit puffy, but he wasn’t concerned. He said it was most likely an area of fluid that hadn’t been reached and moved around while I was laying a certain way or did a certain exercise. He said the fluid looked normal, no foul odor, and the drain is draining well so he is not concerned and hopefully it can come out next week. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

I had my first expansion today. It was an interesting experience. They use a little tool that is magnetic to find the port and made a mark where they are on both sides. Then they primed a 250 cc bag of saline, at the leur-lock he put in a 60 cc syringe. He pushed in my boob on the area where he was going to place the needle, and asked if I could feel pressure. I could but had no sensation. He put the needle in, felt nothing, and slowly pushed in the 60 cc. Did the same thing with my left side. I could feel the tightness, but not uncomfortable. The Dr. said tomorrow will be the day that I will be the most uncomfortable.

I posted pics under the Pictures page if you would like to see the results. If you don’t want to see my boobs, don’t look. There are parts that look like chicken skin because of some of the swelling, but he assured me that would go away when I am expanded to the right level.

PT on Wednesday….oh Joy! I wonder what wonderful ess they will have for me this time.