I was so grateful to only spend one day in the hospital after surgery. All my experience taking care of Ava when she was in the hospital really came in handy. I knew how to care for my drains and how to measure and track the output. The nurse told me I needed to be down to 10 ml in a 24-hour period before I could have the drains removed.
The hardest part for me was having to sleep on my back, and not my side. Thankfully, I had a wedge and a mastectomy pillow, so I was able to sleep pretty comfortably. Because we had 8-month-old Springer Spaniel puppies, I took that mastectomy pillow with me everywhere; I kept one in the bedroom and one in the living room. Those things were lifesavers!
Showering with drains hanging from either side of me took some getting used to. I used a mesh drain holder that I wore around my neck so that my hands and arms were free. When I got out of the shower I carefully set my drains in the sink while I got dressed. I only wore tops that had drain holders built into them, it made things so much easier. Amazon truly does have everything you need to navigate a breast cancer journey. My chest was wrapped in an ace bandage, and my incisions were glued, so the only stitches I had were on my sides holding my drains in place. My favorite part of every day was getting that bandage off and having my husband wrap it again. It always seemed to work its way down and fold up under my armpits.
By day 3 post-op I didn’t need pain pills, that blocker in my chest really worked to control the pain. By day 10, I was able to get my drains out; that was such a weird feeling! I could literally feel the drain tube being pulled from the inside. It didn’t hurt, but it was so strange! I had my post-op checkup on day 14. My surgeon said everything had healed up great, but that I most likely will never regain feeling in my breast area. And let me tell you, that is a weird sensation. I’m 4 months out and still haven’t gotten used to it. She also said I don’t have to wear the ace bandage anymore, yay!
The best news of the day came when she told me that the pathology results were in. She said I had achieved PCR, which means a pathologically complete response. There was no trace of cancer in any of the tissue that was removed. I was cancer-free! I was grinning from ear to ear! I truly believe that my positive fighting attitude played a big role in this. And also all the support, love and prayers I received during my treatment.
Now all I had left was radiation and reconstruction, but those are tales for another time.
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