Breast Surgery Notes
On a lighter note, at the end of March, I underwent surgery for breast reduction at the Ottawa General with skilled plastic surgeon Dr Jarmuske. It was a 2 hour operation and after a bit of recovery, I went home and slept for three days straight, which was heavenly.
For pain I was given narcotics to use every 4 hours. With homeopathic remedies Arnica and Hypericum I was able to go 8 to 12 hours between doses. The wonderful thing was that when the pain would start, the remedies helped immediately and by the time they wore off, the medication would kick in. Within 3 days, I was out of pain and no longer needed pills.
Initially my chest was bound in a large bandage which came off at the first post-op visit four days later. It was the moment of truth when the nurse took scissors and started cutting. And another to see the gleam in my surgeon’s eye! He called in a resident to show him his good work, describing in vivid detail how awful I looked before to the embarrassed young man. I still chuckle to remember it…glad that I’m 57 and not sensitive about my body like that…
How am I taking the change? With good humour and a great amount of astonishment. I really didn’t expect them to look so…well, young. I joke about having a 16 year old chest, grin. At the same time, I was interested in being more functional, less so in how I looked. Seems to me that my body is simply more balanced. The best part, to my surprise, is that my chronic back pain was gone after two weeks. Now I have to be careful for another few weeks. I’ve already overdone it a few times and had scary pain. The good thing is that I can use naturopathic tools to help heal and prevent swelling and infection. The best is hot and cold compresses with wash cloths, 30 seconds hot followed by 1 minute cold, repeated three times. What a difference it makes, almost immediately soothing any pains. It only takes 10 minutes and if hurting, I do it four times daily.
I’m VERY grateful to have had this procedure, but I’ll be glad not to have to think about this part of my anatomy and be able to get on with daily life. I look forward to being able to do more activities longer without aching back and shoulders. And shopping for a few new clothes is always fun–Sally Ann here I come!
smiles,
katherine