Another fill and poor Bella

posted Monday, 19 March 2007

Another 60 cc's in my expander and another 60 cc's of fluid pulled off my back. Lovely. Good news = I am starting to regain feeling in my back... Bad news = I am starting to regain feeling in my back (making the needle in my back a tad bit uncomfortable). Dr S says that this happens with about 30% of lat flap patients and it's one of the most frustrating complications. We just need the pocket in my back to heal up, so I'm going back again later this week. I'm also wearing a set of wide ace bandages around my back, with a big ball of gauze wedged in it to apply pressure... not very comfortable, but will hopefully do the trick!

Dr says 1-2 more fills and then I can plan for my exchange surgery in late May. Hopefully, that will go well and we won't need any "revision" surgery... after that, they wait for everything to settle down and create the nipples and tattoo on areolas... crazy, right? still not sure whether i'm going to go for all that, but people say it's nice to have the full package. and in comparison, apparently, the nips & tats are a piece of cake. my concern is that i saw my friend j suffer for weeks with bloody, crusty, nips after they were created... i should call and see how they are doing now! see, how many of you can call up a friend and ask how her nipples are doing?
Enough about me though.... my baby girl had her surgery today. Poor Bella. She came home from the vet, barely able to walk. She is so out of it - it reminded me of my first day home from the hospital.... in a drug-induced stupor. I gave her some chicken broth and she was trying to drink it and fell face-first into the small bowl of broth. She does not like being kept in the bathroom (they liked it fine their first few days at home - it was way bigger than their cage at the adoption agency, but now that they know what else is out there... they do not like being locked in there). Her belly is not great either - she's gotten sick a few times, which they tell me is normal, but still stinks, right? I can't wait to see her back to normal, wrestling with her brother and tormenting the O-man.