DEFLATED

I am deflated....literally.  Back to square one.  Let me explain...

I had surgery back in June where they took my muscle and tissue from my back to make a breast mound on my right side.  They also put an expander in there.  Once it healed we were putting about 100 mLs of saline per week in the expander to slowly stretch my skin to make a breast about a C/D cup.  At this rate I would have been done expanding my breast the middle of September & able to have my next surgery where I have a reduction on the left side and they swap the expander with a implant.  I had a set back in August when my incision got infected and opened up.  I had to have surgery to replace the expander and flush out the infection.  If everything from this "bonus" surgery had healed and gone normal I would be back on track where I could have surgery in the beginning of November.

BUT, of course I couldn't possibly have things go "NORMAL".  That would not be the Gina way.

On September 9th I went in for a post-surgical appointment to make sure everything was healing properly....well guess what, it was not.  She told me my drain site and surgical site did not look good.  She said I had skin granulations....my body was healing too well (well that makes no sense).  She taught me how to apply silver nitrate to cauterize my drain site.  Ouch....this hurts.  Nothing like burning your inner flesh.  I was to do this every day and change the bandage on the drain site several times a day (it was still leaking a lot of nasty fluid). She then cleaned up my surgical site and I was to change this bandage a few times a day too.....it was leaking some nasty stuff.  She wanted the wound to stay as dry as possible.  She told me if these things started healing better we maybe could start fills in a few few weeks......aaargh I want to start again so this all can be over with.

So a week later I went back on September 16th.  Things were worse...much worse.  She told me to keep applying silver nitrate to my drain site.  But, the real problem was the surgical site.  It was starting to pull apart like it did before in August.  She asked if she could stitch it up for me.  So she scrubbed it all up and it was bleeding everywhere, numbed it up, and put a few stitches in.  Oh boy....good times.  Not the best appointment.  So once again she told me if it started healing properly we could start fills in a few weeks....aaargh.

I went back a week later on September 23rd hopeful that I would finally have a good appointment with good news.   NOPE....

She told me that it was looking better (yeah), but she wanted to take some saline out of the expander to put less pressure on the surgical site and the stitches.  She said this would give us a greater chance of it healing properly.  So she stuck the needle in and DEFLATED me back to the size it was in JUNE......BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The surgical site is still draining a lot of yellow liquid/puss.  She said she thinks it is fat dying.....what???  weird.  It is nasty and stinky.  I am getting a rash from having bandages on me for so long.....oh well....could be worse I suppose.

This appointment was so discouraging.  All my pain and suffering since June was for naught.

I have to wait 2-4 weeks before we can start fills again.  It will take 2-3 months to complete the fills.  I really, really, really wanted to have my surgery this fall.  I want to be done with this part of my life and be able to move forward.  (what a whiner)

Sooooo I am trying to be positive and accept this set back, but it has been tough.  I am a planner and this one refuses to stick with the plan.

So I probably will not have surgery until January.  So I am going to put a happy face on and let myself heal and enjoy the holidays of October-December with my family.  This is a good thing, right?  I can exercise and get my body stronger and ready for the next surgery.  January and February are pretty boring and gray months around here....a good time to recover from surgery.

So I am back to being the 1.1 Boob Wonder.

I also started this new heart medication called Metoprolol Tartrate.  It is supposed to help lower my heart rate so I do not have any more SVT (super ventricular tachycardia) episodes (those are scary).  So I started it and OH MY GOODNESS this medication made me TIRED and BUMMED.  I didn't want to get out of bed.  I wanted to nap all day.  I felt blue and sad.  It was AWFUL............So I went back to my cardiologist and we are switching medications.  Hopefully, this new one will be better.

So that is what is going on with the 1.1 Boob Wonder.  I go back to my plastic surgeon next week....I HOPE things will be looking good and improving :)

AND...My hair is growing and looking pretty good :)  I might just keep short hair for awhile!!