Tissue Expanders Out, Implants In

Usually I don’t post updates right away following my own appointments or procedures. Generally, I  prefer to write retrospectively; I seem to have better insights further out from such things. And photos, forget about it. However, for some reason, I decided to change things up today and let everyone know how my surgery went last week, as well as my thoughts and reactions to it. I even went ahead with the photo, such as it is.

Since the exchange, as my plastic surgeon likes to call it, (tissue expanders out – implants in) I haven’t actually talked to him yet, that happens this week at my followup appointment. He did speak with Dear Hubby while I was recovering and told him things went great. David reported that he had a big smile on his face. It’s always good when your doctor comes out of the operating room smiling. He even tried out some new procedure for inserting implants. He was so pleased about that aspect, it will now be his normal way of doing it. So, I guess I made some kind of contribution to improving his plastic surgery techniques.

Before heading into the OR, I met with my surgeon and had a few of my fears erased, or at least addressed. (It’s never too late for that.) While speaking with him one more time about the proper implant size for me, he mentioned his team would be sitting me up while I was on the operating table to help them decide what size implant would look best. These things are difficult to determine in a reclining position. Knowing I would be literally sized up this way while being “out” was a bit unnerving, but proper size and symmetry are important matters. It’s probably better I was unable to hear that conversation.

After about a two-hour procedure, which also included the removal of my chemo port by my other surgeon (hurray!), I spent another hour or so in recovery and another half hour back in the Pre/Post OP room where we started off the morning. By one o’clock we were sent on our way along with ice packs, discharge directions and phone numbers in hand. It seemed pretty amazing to have surgery in the morning and head home the same afternoon. Once home, I headed straight for the blue leather sofa that has become a sanctuary over the past six months. It’s just an old piece of furniture, but it represents a safe haven to me now. I love that old, blue leather sofa.

Luckily, I’ve had little pain this time. Compared to my mastectomy last June, this feels like a piece of cake. Well, not quite, but it was definitely an easier surgery. I will need to sleep on my back for the time being anyway, but I’ve become pretty used to this position since tissue expanders. I wonder if I’ll ever be able to sleep on my stomach again. Thinking about giving up my favorite sleeping position for good makes me sad, but I can’t think about that now.

Sleeping on your back is  supposedly good for wrinkle prevention, so there’s that. You don’t wake up with “dents” on your face from your pillow. While growing up, I always spent part of the summer visiting my grandparents in North Dakota. I remember my grandma often took a nap and when she got up, her face looked squished and wrinkled in places. At the time, I rudely stared, unable to comprehend the reason for those dents. Now I get it. I read an article about Michelle Phieffer once in a women’s magazine where she stated she always sleeps on her back for this exact reason – to prevent wrinkles. It seems to work for her. So maybe I’ll keep sleeping on my back after all.

I am most certainly happy to be done with yet another step of this cancer shitstorm. I still have more steps ahead. I still have more surgeries. I still have more worries, some of which I don’t even know about yet. But I am moving forward, slowly at times, but forward.

Do you have implants or do you know someone who does? Are you (or are they) happy with them?

What is your favorite sleeping position?

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