SURGICAL DISCUSSION, TOP SURGERY UPDATE (TW: Medical complications, medical discussions, surgery, medical transition)
Holy crap I completely forgot to keep updating about my top surgery! I’m 4 weeks post op on Wednesday!
So so much has happened since my last post, so buckle in:
I had a hematoma form on my left side the day after my surgery. For a while, it was swollen to the size of a b-cup, bruised beyond belief, and increasingly sore. The drain has been in for OVER three weeks now, diligently doing its job of flushing out any fluid left from the hematoma breaking down.
I met with my surgeon last Wednesday, and she flushed the drain with saline to help those last bits break apart. I’m finally under the threshold of fluid volume she wanted in order to remove the drain without risking infection. My drain site is STINGING and has been leaking bits of blood here and there, but is mostly just irritated from trying to push out the foreign object in my chest. I have an appointment tomorrow afternoon to FINALLY be rid of this stupid thing.
My first shower was INCREDIBLE, it felt so so good to be able to scrub down and smell like anything that wasn’t hospital.
My bolsters came off at a week post op, and at my last follow up, my surgeon mentioned that they look fantastic! They took so so well, and I’m incredibly fortunate to have such amazing results. They’re still settling, of course, but now that the swelling is down, I have a much better idea of where they’ll sit in the long term.
The medical care routine is a bit exhausting, having to keep up with stripping the drain tube, measuring the fluid, all the bandage changes (thankfully it’s just a nonstick pad over my nipples to prevent rubbing on my binder, and some gauze to pad up my drain site), aquaphor on the graphs, fighting with the binder to get it to compress just right…
The binder is simultaneously my best friend and mortal enemy. It feels so so nice having compression on my sore chest, but MAN can it dig ANY deeper into my armpits?? No amount of padding, shirts underneath, menstrual pads folded over the top are completely helping, but it’s something. I’m personally choosing to wear it for another week or two beyond my surgeon’s clearance to switch to just nights to help with the bit of swelling in my left side still. I spoke to my surgeon about this, and she said that the clearance is meant to give me the okay for when I feel ready, but it isn’t immediately necessary.
I’d do this all over again, in every lifetime.
The freedom from this procedure has been incredible, even with the complication, annoyances, and hiccups. I feel so at home in my chest, and it sincerely feels like I’ve always been this way. The scars are such a treasured part of my body, now, and my poor camera roll is rapidly bloating up with shirtless selfies.
