5) Banishing The Evil Twin

                                               
                                                 
***Warning - this page contains images that some people may not want to see. They're not gruesome, but maybe not everyone's cup of tea! I feel they are important to include them as they are important to the story and to answer any possible questions.***

Mastectomy day - I can't tell you too much about the surgery as thankfully I was asleep! I had a 'skin sparing, nipple sparing mastectomy with lymph node clearance and reconstruction with implant and Braxon Mesh' - just a short title! I think the surgery took around 4 hours, and afterwards I pretty much slept, so I'll skip to the following day.

The first thing I did was look down my top - it was AMAZING!! where my 44 yr old, slightly drooped, 34B, cancer infused Evil Twin used to be was now a pert, round, rock with a nipple! I was beyond impressed, I was ecstatic - the Evil Twin had been replaced by 'The Barbie Boob'. I couldn't see the scar as I had dressings covering the incision wound, and I had the 2 drains which I had been warned about. I felt OK, until I reached out with my right arm to pick up my glass of water ...... bloody hell! a spear of fire shot me through my chest! It took a few attempts to get it, I realised that I had to kind of move my whole body and not twist. Luckily the nurse came round and offered me some paracetamol which I eagerly accepted - and paracetamol was enough, it is a little miracle drug. soon after this I was helped out of bed and walked with my drip stand (just having some fluids, nothing scary) and drains to the toilet. By 10am I was out of bed, washed and into pyjamas, sitting in the chair and ready to gently face the world. 

Around this time I received 2 surprise, out of hours, rule breaking visitors - 2 of my closest friends. Because it was out of hours, I took a little walk and sat in the corridor with them. So there we were, the 3 amigos, sitting in a draughty corridor - all looking down my top admiring the Barbie boob (did anyone walk past? I cant remember, but you can imagine the image they faced!!). Incidentally the Party Boob was looking very sorry for itself, left out and seeking the attention that Barbie was getting. 

At my own request, because I felt well and had a great support network at home, and know how to deal with drains and dressings, I went home early that afternoon. I had been fitted with a special bra by one of the breast care specialist nurses, the bra had velcro pockets to stash my drains - but made me look 9 months pregnant (I swapped these pockets for a shoulder bag when I got home as I found that easier to carry around - I suppose I could use the pockets for carrying my water bottles, pain relief, or shoplifting.....)

For the first couple of days I took regular paracetamol and Ibuprofen, that was all I needed. mobility improved and I set alarms on my phone to remind me to do the regular physiotherapy that was advised to improve arm and shoulder movement. It was funny to think that a couple of days before I was lifting weights in the gym, now I had to work up to putting my hand behind my head. Thank goodness I'd only had one side done, I'm not sure how women cope when they've had a double mastectomy. But the pain was manageable, and movement soon improved. 

There are several things that are difficult after a mastecotomy that you don't realise - so I shall add an additional page for these, but one of them was showering and washing my hair! I was not allowed to shower due to the dressings and drains, so my beloved fiance ran a shallow bath, wrapped me up in clingfilm, helped me into the bath so I could sit in the shallow warm water, and washed my hair with the shower - the kindest, yet funniest thing he had done up to this point. 

 

The first drain- the axilla (armpit) came out after 1 week, the drain from the breast came out after 2 weeks. I got used to carrying them around, it wasn't as bad as I first thought it would be - however, I scared the living daylights out of the woman from across the street when she popped over to collect a parcel! I had been woken from a nap and answered the door forgetting about the drain tubes hanging out of my shirt filled with what would have looked like blood and into a bag, a bit like a Dr Who character - she looked at them, went white and hurried off! a couple of days later I took in another parcel for her ..... she didn't come to collect it! I had to take it to her and she opened the window instead of the door!!!!!


Two weeks later, Dr Mumbles took off the dressings - the scar (considering that I had seen a lot of images of varying degrees) was amazing! the armpit was a bit lumpy but who needs pretty armpits!  Then Miss Cyclone came in to check her handy work and asked if another patient who was facing the same operation but was terrified could come and have a look, to which I readily agreed - I'm more than happy to help anybody in this battle. A sobbing woman came in, and I just hugged her, I wanted to cry myself she was in so much emotional pain. she looked at Barbie Boob, the scar and felt it - it had started to soften by then, it was no longer a rock. She felt better, reassured - and I knew then, that I needed to use my experience to help others going through the same - which is why I decided to include my pictures. 

This picture was taken today - 8 weeks post surgery, the Barbie boob has now returned to the correct size as all the swelling has gone down and is very soft. I can feel the edges of the implant but it's not sore. I can lie on my left side comfortably, the right side for short periods. The scar will fade to a whiter colour, and the armpit is no longer lumpy (forgive the stubble, shaving is still a trick I'm mastering - the armpit is completely numb so I never know if I'm just shaving air!). Not bad for a Princess Warrior wound if I do say so myself - I covered the nipple to stop it looking like porn! :)

www.breastcancercare.org.uk

 www.macmillan.org.uk

 www.cancerresearchuk.org