The Blue Stuff
Let's travel back in time a bit. Come along, if you will, to mid-April 2014. The items I'll cover in this post were very fresh on my mind at that time - remember, my surgery was 4/15/14. So let's get into the really real truth...What the heck is The Blue Stuff? Honestly, I don't have any idea. Well, wait...I have an idea what it was for I just don't know the name. I guess I could research it like everything else but not right now. I'll get back to you...or if any of my doctor or nurse friends know, feel free to chime in! So, back to The Blue Stuff. If you've been a blog follower since the beginning, you will recall that I decided to let my SPECTACULAR surgeon have the honor of removing my bandages at my post-op appointment. You would think (at least I did) that I would have been wrapped and bound like crazy but that was not the case. I had relatively small gauze and tape arrangement for each incision. I know what you're thinking..."Well, duh! At that point there wasn't much that needed covering sister!" And you would be correct. The dressings simply had to cover the incisions and though both are lengthy, they aren't that wide so it didn't take much. Anyway, even though bandages covered the incisions I could obviously see the area that was prepped for surgery. When I was finally able to look in the mirror I was surprised to find a Smurf. I was blue from neck to ribs. Alrighty then. I'm sure it was used to help sterilize and prep the area and I'm sure that the blue helps the applicator to be sure that they've covered the area. (Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong) Whatever this stuff is, it does not just wipe off. I scrubbed as best I could but it took a while to get it off because I was a bit sore. Wait, is bruising on my list of topics??? If not, it needs to be.
Sorry, that happens from time to time. Now back on topic - Blue Stuff. I am not exaggerating when I say that it took a very long time to find and remove all of the blue stuff. My range of motion wasn't the best at the beginning so as I was able to move a little more and raise my arms, I was finding blue stuff in new and not so exciting places. An added "bonus" for me is that though I have a weird tolerance for pain and pretty quick recovery times, I have very sensitive skin. All together now "AWWWWWWW, poor baby." I know, right! So, you guessed it, I had an adverse reaction, very early on, to The Blue Stuff. I had, what I referred to, as Elephant Ankle Neck for several days. It was as lovely as you imagine it.
It was swollen, itchy and not the least bit attractive. I continued to try to scrub it away, turned several washcloths blue and even resorted to alcohol swabs at one point. After a few days of scrubbing and a little Benadryl, the worst was over...for my neck anyway. That was the site of the worst reaction but there was a bit of ongoing irritation in the other locations.
Lesson - if you have sensitive skin, be aware!
Diaper Rash
Now we shall move on to Diaper Rash. No, this is not going to be disgusting post about actual diaper rash. This was the term my FABULOUS surgeon used to describe the area of my incisions several days after surgery. I doubt this happens with ladies who are able to have reconstruction at the time of their mastectomy but I could be wrong. Those of us who have to wait get to deal with this type of thing. I'll try to keep this as not gross as possible so let's just say that the general surgeon has to leave the plastic surgeon something to work with...got me? Ya know, skin. When they warned me of this at our surgery consultation, I found this most troubling. Yes, I know. It's totally stupid. We're talking about cancer and removal of both my breasts and I only get weirded out by a conversation about skin.
I had visions of...well I won't go there but I'm happy to report that it wasn't as bad as I expected. At some point I'll share the description that my PT told me one of her other patients gave of her incisions. It's pretty spot on but I'll spare you for today. Anyway, as you might have figured out by now, the area around the incisions got a little irritated. Luckily, with surgery came numbness (is that on the list? it needs to be) so there was no discomfort. Couldn't feel a thing! The tip here is that you can have a rash and if you do, get some baby powder. Surgeon's suggestion and it helped.
Swelling
On to swelling. I've already covered this in a couple of posts but it's worth mentioning again. Especially for those of you who are having surgery or know someone who is having it. There were two causes for swelling in my recovery. The first was fluid build up after the drains were removed (are drains on the list? they should be). That was CRAZY! The other cause was/is scar tissue. My advise here is don't suffer with either - get some relief!!! For the fluid build up, go for aspiration. Yes the needle and syringe are large BUT you'll likely be numb and feel nothing. That was my experience. They give you a numbing shot before they break out the Big Daddy so that helps too. I only had to go for aspiration once but I've heard of women having to go back regularly for a while. My feeling was that I would rather go for aspiration every week or two than to have kept my drains. There are multiple reasons why, which I will cover in the Drains post. For scar tissue, if you have it, I highly recommend finding someone who does ASTYM. I mentioned this in my PT post but I cannot tell you how much it has helped. We discussed at my last session that we should have taken before and after pics. My swelling has gone down a lot...and I mean a lot! Do not suffer ladies!! I asked and even those who have already had their reconstruction can have ASTYM so don't suffer with scar tissue...please, please, please!!
So there it is. If you have questions about any of the topics covered here, as always, just ask.