Just Me LMJ

Well not exactly long flowing hair but I have hair…enough hair that today I went and had my first haircut in 11 months. It has been 4 months since my last chemo treatment (my how time flies) and my hair has been coming in pretty patchy. For a while I joked that I had a reverse Mohawk. I had one side of my head that appeared to be curly and the other side was stick straight. The hair definitely wasn’t growing in evenly. Also, it was coming in ALL gray. Now I had a few gray strands here and there but not entirely GRAY like now. So I also treated myself to a color. My hair color is not brown and not red but a combination of brown/red. I just told the lady to use her best judgement. She got out a bunch of color strands, held them up to my face, and even asked a co-worker. She liked this color cause she said it was a nice warm tone. Now my hair wasn’t too long so she couldn’t do too much to style it but she did shape it up. My family tells me it looks good. Both of my sons didn’t stare at me, or gasped when they saw me. My hair will continue to change in texture and color over the next several months as my cells repair themselves after the chemo so my hair will be a work in progress. It was fun to see what color I would be.

Well I saw my plastic surgeon today and although he seemed like it was no big deal, of course I am frustrated. It appears that my right breast is experiencing fat necrosis (the transplanted fat is dying). In several months, when everything is completely healed, he said he may have to go back in there surgically and remove the dead fat and may have to put in an implant. Ugh….I chose this procedure because I didn’t want implants and I didn’t want a bunch of surgeries. Time will tell what the finished product will be.
Frankly, I am getting quite fed up with everything that has gone on in my life during the last 11 months. Just when I think I am seeing a light at the end of the tunnel, something else happens. I knew there were risks with the surgery, but fat necrosis doesn’t happen that often. I researched this surgery, I talked with several people who had the surgery and not one of them mentioned their flap (boob) dying.

Well I have whined enough…after all what is done is done and I will just have to see what happens and continue to deal with that the best I can. I’m alive and considered cancer free….everything else is just a bump in the road.

And I do have short, not gray hair…..yeah!

Thanks for all your support.

Love you, Lori

Well it is done. I made it through the sugery. I must thank the manager of the recovery area because he was able to have my mediport accessed while still in the recovery room. I was able to use my port for my IV stuff while I was in the hospital. It greatly alleviated my anxiety. My hospital stay was fairly uneventful. My blood pressure dropped on Friday so I was constantly being checked and they pushed fluids.

For the first several days (couple of weeks) I need to remain in a flexed position (not lower than 30%) so I have been sleeping in a recliner. I also need to avoid repetitive movements (like knitting, typing on a keyboard, etc) so that the flaps (new boobs) won’t be stressed.

I originally had 4 drains, but had 1 removed before I left the hospital. I went on Monday and had 2 more removed. I go back to the doctor tomorow (already 2 weeks post op) and will have the final drain removed (hopefully). On Monday, the doctor removed all the steri-strips and told me to wear a panty gurdle but no bra yet.

We do have two big rules at my house: 1. Don’t make Mom laugh and 2. Don’t make Mom choke (leads to coughing). My hubby has trouble with rule number 1…do you know how difficult it is not to laugh or cough?

I have had a few people ask me about the results….for me it is still too early to tell. I still have a drain, walk bent over and am fairly bruised and discolored…yes I do have two mounds of tissues which are the new breasts which I think will be better than no breasts but I’ll still need a few weeks to fully appreciate what has been done to me.

I don’t quite understand what was done but I know the flaps (boobs) need to be kept warm and not stressed/compressed or the transplanted tissue could die. So of course, I am paranoid that I’m doing to much, moving my arms too much, and not staying warm enough. I don’t what to go through off of this and then lose the flaps. I know, I know, don’t worry….

I’ll keep you posted…in the meantime I’ll just be in the recliner being bored and sore.

Love ya, Lori