Mastectomy + Post Mastecomy: Day 1

So the mastectomy is done.

My surgery was scheduled for 1:30, but Dr. L was running a little late, so I don't think it really started until 1:45ish. Dr. L took about an hour to do the mastectomy, then Dr. G put in a temporary tissue expander in preparation for the reconstruction in a week. It was all done by 3:30. I woke up around 4:00, and left the surgery center at 6:00. As worried as I was that this was an outpatient procedure, I was happy to go home. Aside from feeling woozy, I had minimal pain, and as the nurse said, there's better food and TV at home.

At home, I downed two huge bowls of chicken soup. I took it as a good sign that I was so hungry. In fact, I felt pretty great all of last night, considering. I slept downstairs on our recliner, and got a fairly good night's sleep thanks to the residual painkillers from the surgery + hydrocodone.

I'm a little more sore today, and actually have some throbbing pain in random places on my boob. I also itch all over, though I'm not sure why (anesthesia, perhaps?). But it's nothing compared to what I was expecting. I'm still taking hydrocodone to take the edge off, but overall I'm thrilled. Even the dreaded drain they put in to capture excess fluids is not as disgusting as I was expecting. I'd say that so far it's about the same as lumpectomy #1 in terms of pain. I even managed to put my contacts in this morning, and feel so good I'm a bit restless.

I don't really have anything profound to say right now, except that I'm glad this part is done. This is much less traumatic than I had imagined it would be. Between the nipple-sparing, skin-sparing mastectomy and immediate expander placement, I don't feel the major void I was expecting to feel. I feel... happy. Relatively so, anyway. I guess I got all of my mourning out ahead of the time, and I feel very at peace right now. A little tired, but at peace.