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Showing posts from July, 2020

Looking Back: My Mastectomy/Tissue Expander Surgery Must-Haves

I did a lot of research before my mastectomy into what I might need.  I found blog posts from other women to be the most helpful sources of information, so I’m trying to pay it forward. I ordered a lot of things because having them made me feel more secure. Some of the things I needed, and some I didn’t. Here are the things I found most useful: Drain holders:  This  Drain holder belt  was the BEST purchase I made for my mastectomy related surgeries. Even my nurses and doctors asked me where I got it.  My surgical bra had hooks to hold my drains, but I loved this because the drains weren’t just sitting against my skin.  The hospital gave me something I could use to hold my drains in the shower, but I’d recommend getting two of these so you always have one to wear and one to shower with. They comfortably hold 2 drains in each pouch.  Button down pajamas : Ekouaer Short Sleeve Button Down PJ set The material is super soft and the sh...

Complications- Tootaloo Tissue Expander

It’s 5:47 a.m. on Tuesday, July 7th. Why am I up at this hour? I’ve already had my blood drawn and gotten pain meds from my nurse.  I came into the hospital last Wednesday, July 1st and have been in here since.  The culprit? An infection in my right tissue expander.  I ended up having surgery on Monday 7/6 to remove the tissue expander when strong doses of IV antibiotics wouldn't clear it.  It also helped that I still had a drain in my right side from which the doctors were able to take some fluid and run a culture.  It came back positive for a bacteria called pseudomonas.  Pseudomonas is a nasty bacteria that is generally water borne and once it gets into the tissue expander/breast area, it colonizes the tissue expander and you can't fully get rid of it without actually removing the expander.  This means that I'll have two additional surgeries on my right breast that weren't planned.  I'm frustrated and tired.  This wasn't a setback or compl...