Today was a red letter day for my doctor's appointment. I was going to get the stitches out that were holding the skin on my breasts next to my nipples. I had 17 stitches in the right and 16 stitches in the left. I was not looking forward to today at all. When I got the stitches out as the drains were removed, they hurt, so I was assuming that every little stitch was going to hurt.
But, before we get to the doctors, I took a shower today and for the first time I was able to wash my own hair by myself and put my own conditioner in. I still needed help putting the shampoo, conditioner, face wash and body wash in my hands, but I was able to use all of them by myself. I kept my elbows close to my body while washing my hair and it was a little awkward, but I did it. I was so happy. It's nice to have your husband do it, but my husband has been so worried about hurting me (even though my head didn't have surgery) that I wasn't sure he was getting my hair actually clean.
I did ask my husband to wash my back...and he ended up washing my legs, too, since I'm not supposed to bend over and I'm still taking pain meds, so balancing on one leg to do my other leg isn't easy.
I stood for a while in the shower letting the water run over my body. With the itching of my surgical areas, the water washing over them feels really good.
I was also able to put a shirt on over my head. The shirt was fairly loose and had large armholes, but it felt good to wear an outfit that made me feel good while heading to the doc.
Now, back to the doctor. When Dr. S came into the room and asked if we were ready I told him "NO!" My husband told them I'd been nervous and I didn't sleep well last night thinking about it. Dr. S asked me if I just wanted to leave them in and I said, no, not really, so he opened the front of the gown that I had on and he started on the right side. I had a couple of little twinges, but for the most part, my worry was much worse than the actual.
He then moved to the left side and there seemed to have been more feeling in that nipple because it hurt a little bit more, but still, my imagination was worse than the pain of getting the stitches out. About halfway through getting the stitches out of my left breast the doctor said...'Diane, it's ok if you take a breath." I didn't realize that I'd been holding my breath! lol
I put on the clean surgical bra that morning so we would know how much bleeding occurred after the stitches were out. There's been a little, but not as much as I expected.
I did forget to ask the doc some of the additional questions that I had, so I sent an email to his assistant, but it was after hours today, so I'll have to wait out the weekend to find out about wearing my bra all the time, the Arnica Montana rub that they recommend and when I can start a little more exercising!?!
We had leftovers for dinner, which I was able to put on the stove and cook myself.
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