making progress

Today was a good day with my surgeon. He was able to remove one of my two drains. He took out the one in the front and is hoping to remove the back one on Friday. He removed the bandages from the back completely and the incision is totally healed over. Amazing. It is just a very thin line that runs horizontally where my bra strap or bathing suit would cover it. It is about 41/2 - 5 inches long. It looks great, much better than I imagined.

I will begin changing my own bandages/dressing tomorrow on the front part of the incision. The actual incision is just a round area where he removed much of the radiation damaged skin and using skin from my back, built an areola and nipple. Somehow, through that hole, he was able to remove the damaged muscle and scarring/encapsulation bring the muscle flap from the back up to the front and sow it in place and replace the expander with a saline implant. I saw pictures on the Internet of others who had Latissimus Dorsi flap surgery and they had huge scars on their breasts. Dr. Ghorbani is truly an artist and an outstanding plastic surgeon. You would never know all of that had happened. I almost cried when I realized I had minimal scarring. I am still amazed.

It does look like I will loose the nipple that was reconstructed. It has essentially died. It is black and shrivelled. He will have to remove it, called debriding the wound, later when it is ready to come off. I am not too concerned about loosing it. On the bright side, I probably will never have to wear a bra again. That is a bonus. Please do pray for continued strong and robust circulation for the muscle flap and the areola. Those are really the important parts.

Also, amazing news! I have actually recovered feeling in the reconstructed breast. I could FEEL that his examination gloves were cold. It was amazing!! I haven't felt anything there except some occasional pain since the bi-lateral mastectomy. I am thrilled. It goes a very long way to making me feel "normal."

Finally, I have lost about 50% of my range of motion in my left shoulder. When my back drain comes out I will ask for a referral to go back to the lymphedema clinic in Concord where they do physical therapy especially for breast cancer patients. They have wonderful expertise in this area. Please pray that I regain all of the movement in my left shoulder. Also that I have much grace. It is VERY painful trying to regain movement. Thank you.