This past Friday I hit three weeks post-surgery, at which point I was “allowed” to resume my previous lymphedema management techniques. For me this means wearing the sleeve and the glove, and using a compression pump most evenings. I tried just wearing the sleeve but the hand is clearly still too puffy for that. I… Continue reading Hand Washing
My surgery was two weeks ago and things are healing well. My first drain (the lower one, from the axilla) was removed the Wednesday after surgery. The second one, from the clavicle, was removed at the one week point, as were the stitches on my arm. (That’s another story in the “minor acts of self… Continue reading Healing Progress
Surgery does not cure lymphedema. There is still no cure for this condition. There are several different types of surgical interventions possible, depending on the severity of the condition. My lymphedema is still fairly “young,” which means there was a good chance that my lymphatic channels are still functioning. As a result of this, Dr.… Continue reading Lymphedema Update Part 2 – Surgery Details
Hello! Long time no see!!! As mentioned in some previous posts (2+ years ago now!), my intent was to wrap this blog up somehow, but work got the best of me, and now all of a sudden it’s more than two years later. But it’s time for an update, since two days ago I had… Continue reading Lymphedema Update
Earlier this week I had my post-op with Dr. FixIt. Right after the surgery my post-op was just with his nurse, to get rid of the Teddy bear stuffing and make sure I was fine. At this appointment, I graduated into the next phase of nipple building. Apparently after surgery, there are 3 phases of… Continue reading How to Build a Nipple
In my previous post I mentioned that finding clothes to wear to work was tricky. Not so much because of how things look – my job does not require me to dress up, and most of my co-workers are engineers who are oblivious anyway. Finding pants that would comfortably cover the bulky corset was the… Continue reading What to Wear With a Lumpy Bra
On Tuesday I had my first post-op visit with Dr. FixIt’s nurse, where I got to see under all the Teddy bear stuffing. For each of these surgeries, the thought of what things will look like has always been thankfully worse than what things actually look like, and this was no exception. The flood of… Continue reading The Incredible Shrinking Woman!
As promised, here’s a post with the details of my final reconstructive surgery. This surgery was to modify the shape of Righty, and to do some skin origami to create a nipple. Prior to this surgery, Righty was just a bag o’ skin with a silicone implant. The mastectomy removed ALL breast tissue, so there… Continue reading All I Want for Christmas is a NEW NIPPLE
Cancer has faded into the background, and work has come crashing into the foreground. I started this blog partly as a communication tool, but more so as an outlet for me; a way to keep a record of my thoughts while I dealt with all this. So it’s a good thing – a GREAT thing… Continue reading The Official End of the Cancer Era
Last week I spent the week relaxing at home, recovering from my reconstructive surgery. When I got home I noticed some tiny, weird cuts on my right arm, and on my abdomen. At the post-op visit with the nurse the next day, she didn’t know what caused them – she guessed that they draped me… Continue reading No more drains!
