Account of my surgery on NHS - one photo

[UnhappyWithBody]

Hi everyone, thought I would post a thread relating to my surgery that I have just had on the NHS (18th June 2008). Not sure where to start really as there is all so much going on in my head right now. 

I arrived at the hospital at 10am, waited for two hours then they told me they were moving me to another ward to avoid my operation being cancelled due to a bed shortage, so off I went.  Had multiple tests and many questions were asked then I was told that my operation was scheduled to take place at 4pm.  A doctor who was to aid the surgeon arrived and asked some questions and reassured me by saying the surgeon had done many operations like this and was really good at what he did (plus she was hot so I liked talking to her).

4pm arrived and off I went on a wheeled bed to the operation room, last thing I remember is having the anesthetics put in my arm and being told my head should feel funny, next thing I know is that I am in the recovery room  talking to a lovely nurse while still not completely sure what was going on. 

Woke up properly around 8pm I think feeling in pain and being told morphine was on tap and all I had to do was press the magic button........I pressed it twice just to see what all the hype was about.  Then what followed was a horrible night in a ward with a snooring old man and 4 other people who kept on making weird bodily noises and their machines beeping through-out the night.

After the horrible night attempting to sleep and just wanting to escape I got the first chance to look at my new chest.  Had a kinda boobtube type thing on I guess which was glued to me, I am guessing like a kinda compression vest.  Also had two drains in place which made it awkward for moving around so I stayed in bed.

The doctor came round at about 1pm and I was so pleased to finally see him as it was the first time I had seen him since the operating room.  He told me that it all went well and he took a total of 1lb from my chest and it was an equal amount from each side.  It looks to me like he didn't do any lipo and took out all the gland.  He said I was fine and said he would get the drains taken out and I could go - great news as I couldn't stand another night in that hospital!! 

Having the drains taken out was one of the most painful things ever for me, it felt like my chest was on fire as they were coming out and I am so glad that is it over.  Left the hospital and a friend picked me up and I stayed at her place that night, stopping off at Tescos for some Ibuprofen and Arnica!  The surgeon never mentioned anything about compression vests or anything I should do to help heal so I feel kinda lost.  I have a Nike compression vest which I am using but not sure if it is doing anything.  I have big plasters over my wounds and apparently I need to see a nurse next week to check to see how I am healing then in a month I need to go back to the hospital to get the steristrip things removed.  Think my nipples are held on by staples right now. 

So at the moment I am not sure how I feel about everything, my chest is kinda inverted in places and the surgeon mentioned how it should come back to normal but I will need to lose some weight - was planning on it anyway.  I know it is early (two days after surgery) but will my chest look normal? Right now I feel like my chest is a big freak show and as my mobility is limited (feels like staples are coming out when I move too quickly) I feel like was it all worth it?  I want to thank you all for your help with that as I wouldn't have gone through with it without you all.  I will try and get pictures up soon to show you what I am talking about.  How long is it till I should be able to move properly again?

UwB

Sorry if any of that isn't overly coherent or if there are errors in there but I am kinda tired and probably not thinking straight.

[kingboob]

Well, I know how you feel, I had surgery on the 4th.

Your chest will look a mess, you have just had a surgeon poking about at it....... and they ain't gentle, once you are under they treat you like a piece of meat in a butchers window.....

It sounds like you had quite a large case then if you had your nipples cut off and stuck back on??? ?

The staples they use are pretty heavy duty, they don't tend to split open too easily.....   just don't go down the gym a couple of days after surgery or anything stupid... (I should take my own advice on this one..)

When I woke up from surgery on the 4th, my chest looked a bloody mess, I had HUGE swelling on one side and a massive crater on the other, but only 2.5 weeks later and it is already starting to correct itself; swelling is going down etc.

Pain wise I can recommend those 'nurofen plus' (Ibuprofen based) tablets and co-codamol/paramol (paracetamol based),   both of which have a little bit of codeine in which is like a double whammy... kills the pain fast.

[another_case]

Welldone on getting surgery done. If you can avoid it then try not to take too many pain killers as most will have a blood thinning effect and you don't want that when the body is trying to heal a wound as it makes it more difficult for the blood to clot properly. Your bruise looks bad, it may be a haematoma as I had one and it looked similar to that. Nothing to worry about too much but it may need to be drained so worth getting it checked out to be safe (I could be wrong though!) You have to be patient with your results, it's been 4 months for me and my chest is still getting better each day, give it 6 months before you panic.

[kingboob]

Welldone on getting surgery done. If you can avoid it then try not to take too many pain killers as most will have a blood thinning effect and you don't want that when the body is trying to heal a wound as it makes it more difficult for the blood to clot properly. Your bruise looks bad, it may be a haematoma as I had one and it looked similar to that. Nothing to worry about too much but it may need to be drained so worth getting it checked out to be safe (I could be wrong though!) You have to be patient with your results, it's been 4 months for me and my chest is still getting better each day, give it 6 months before you panic.

That is the exact opposite to the advice I have received over the last few months through my surgeries.  Take as many pain killers as you need to stop the pain...  Your surgeon or doctor will have told you if you were supposed to avoid them....    even the nurses in hospital will tell you it is better to keep on top of any pain than let it build up.

Just looks like a bruise to me but I'm no doctor, get it checked out if you are worried, you could probably just pop into the nurse at your GP's surgery to save time.

[outertrial]

Bruising is normal.

[equium]

If it was a haemotoma, I would assume it would not only be discoloured (which it does appear to be) but also pretty significantly swollen, which is doesn't seem to do. But better to be safe than sorry, if it a h.toma, it will need to be drained.

[mwalker74]

check out my bruising on some of my earlier pics....trust me, this is normal and mine has completely gone now - 3 weeks post op

[barclay]

If it was a haemotoma, I would assume it would not only be discoloured (which it does appear to be) but also pretty significantly swollen, which is doesn't seem to do. But better to be safe than sorry, if it a h.toma, it will need to be drained.

i had a haemotoma and mine went up like a baloon. loos like a bruise to me, but if your worried get it checked out

[UnhappyWithBody]

Thanks guys, I checked with the nurse and she said it was just a bruise.  One side is still a lot bigger than the other however this was the side with the really bad bruising so is it possible that it is just swollen and this will go down with time? 

Thanks everyone