Photo of bruising below the binder. This was actually taken on March 13th.
Initial surgery went well. I was fairly groggy after waking up (about 1pm), but generally felt okay. By 4pm I was starving and ate something. That first night I didn't sleep well. I was in and out of it all night long. I was taking the pain meds so that at least kept me feeling comfortable.
On Wednesday March 8th I began to feel nauseous. I vomited around noon time and felt as if something tore loose in the right side of my chest. There was a rush of blood into the drain on the right side, but not long after that there wasn't much coming out of that drain. I called Dr. Brownstein's office and talked to Mary who asked if I had any swelling or bruising outside of the binder. At that time I didn't see any. On Thursday my right arm pit area felt very sore. I attributed this to the binder being tight. There was very little coming out of the right drain. Late in the day I noticed a bruise around my armpit. I had an appointment with Dr Brownstein on Friday so figured it could wait. Bad idea. I should have paid closer attention to the difference in pain between my right and left side.
Friday morning the bruise under my right armpit was noticeably larger than the evening before. At the appointment on Friday I learned I had a hematoma and there was a fair amount of blood. The reason very little was coming through the drain was because there was a clot in it. Dr Brownstein tried to get as much out as possible, even this made me much more comfortable than I was before he drained some out. However I still ended up going back in to surgery Friday afternoon, again under general anesthesia. That surgery was less than an hour long. After waking up I felt much better than I did after the surgery on Tuesday. My arm at least felt much better without all the pressure.
On March 13th Dr Brownstein removed drain on the left side. He decided to leave the drain on the side that had the hematoma for one more day. On Tuesday March 14th Dr Brownstein removed the right drain and all sutures, then applied surgery tape. I kept that tape on for 7 days per instructions. The photos below were taken after I removed the tape. I hadn't quite cleaned off all the sticky tape residue which is dark in color. The only really obvious bruise from the hematma is the one there on my right arm. The slight difference in color is clearing up.
 |
 |
 |
| Front view of chest at 2 weeks | Right side, this is the side that had the hematoma. | Left Side. |
It has now been 3 weeks since surgery. Last week it seemed that in the center of my chest, just above the incision, seemed puffy. I was worried fluid may be collecting in there. I went to see my primary care physician. He said that it seemed there was some but that was probably okay given how soon it was after removing the binder. The area wasn't painful. There wasn't any infection. He said to give it a week and see if the puffiness was going down. That the body was likely producing more serosanguinous than it could absorb. Anyway... the puffiness is going down so seems fine. If it didn't go down I may have needed to get the fluid aspirated.
This weekend I went out and purchased two items:
(1) Neosporin Scar Solution. These are silicon sheets to put on the scars. For the past couple of days I've been putting them on the scars for about 12 hours a day. This really seems to have made the scars softer.
(2) Vitamin E: I've been rubbing this on the scars in the evening. I think the massaging alone is helping quite a bit.
 |
 |
| the images above are both front veiws taken March 28, 2006, which is 3 weeks after surgery. The discoloration from the hematoma appears to be gone now. Also the incisions are beginning to look a little cleaner. Still reddish, but given my pale complexion I expected to have a reddish color to scars. Nipples are looking good. The shine on them is because I just put some cream on them. | |
 |
 |
| This is right side, the side that had the hematoma. Discoloration is gone. |
This is the left side. |
It has now been 7.5 weeks since surgery. Seems like it's been a lot longer. I guess that's good. I have some updates since the last posting. First off, on the puffiness and soreness. My chest was quite sore along with the puffiness I mentioned above. Sore as in it felt as if I had a bad sunburn. It was hypersensitive to touch. By the end of the day I wanted to go home, take my shirt off, and just lay on the couch for a bit. I also started to get a rash. This must have been between weeks 3 and 4. I emailed Dr Brownstein, along with pictures of my chest. He said that the puffiness and hypersensitivity is normal and may continue for up to 6 mos. ouch! On the rash, he said to stop using the neosporin sheets as some people have a problem with them (the rash). I did stop using them and the rash cleared up overnight. So much for those things. No wonder they are so cheap.
The hypesensitive soreness continued through around week 5. After that it began to get better. My chest may start to feel a bit sore at the end of the day, but not in the hypersensitive way. Sometimes I do have moments when I get small tingling pain in my chest. Ahh... the nerves regenerating... so it goes.
Generally all is going well. I purchased one large heet of the biodermis silicon sheets. It is plenty big. I cut off two strips, one for each side. I guess if I have a lot left over in the end I can pass it on to someone else. I just got them last weekend so only just started using them. I'll have to see how it goes. Below are week 7 pics.
 |
 |
 |
| Front view | close up of right side | close up of left side. |