Easy one - NOT!

It has certainly been a less than pleasant few days!  If you've checked in lately, you know that I was to have some surgery Monday - an easy one for a change.

Finally, that softball in my belly was diagnosed as a seroma.  I had it aspirated, though the doctor did warn that it might fill up again, at which point we could talk about what to do.

It did fill up again and a new doctor suggested we take the thing out.  Simple surgery, would be done laparoscopically with an easy recovery.  Yeah, except for the minor fact that she found a big hernia hiding behind the seroma that somehow didn't show up on the CTscan.

All this is a result of the TRAM-flap surgery done to rebuild my poor demolished cancer stricken boob.  Johns Hopkins has recently come out recommending against the TRAM-flap as a method of reconstruction.  Timing is everything, isn't it!

Anyway, the simple laparoscopic surgery turned into something more dramatic, since she had to stuff the hernia back where it belonged, and then, because the

muscle that should hold all that stuff in place is missing, having moved up to my boob, she inserted some mesh to do the job. 

My little one inch incision turned into something more noticeable! Plus I'm sporting another drain bag, for at least a week, that I get to empty as needed.

And now I understand why so many people put off having a hernia repair for as long as they can.  It hurts like hell!  Worse, actually!

My friends know I HATE to give in to pain.  This had me crying out in pain when trying to sit up in bed, with tears I couldn't stop.  Pain meds did nothing at all to help.  I was in absolute agony.  (I noticed, in the link I included about the mesh, that most patients spend several days in the hospital after such surgery.  Right - mine was out-patient!)  This was worse than the TRAM-flap surgery, which was awful, probably because she had to go deeper inside to tidy things up.

I tried higher doses of the pain meds, and all that did was make me lose control of my bladder, as so often happens to me with new pills.  So I haven't had a pain pill since Tuesday morning, which hasn't made this any easier.  

My shoulders and hips have taken the brunt of this, since I'm not supposed to use my tummy muscles AT ALL for a couple weeks.  So of course they are now complaining too.  I'm starting some stretching of legs, arms and shoulders today to try to relieve all that.  And my mission for today is to try to stand up straight.  Not easy!!

Another day, another hope, another smile.  I will succeed.