Surgery Day - Halifax, NS

I went to my local outpatient department when I discovered I may have an infection at the juncture site. I was tended to by a very compassionate nurse who cleansed the incision sites on both breasts and replaced the Steri– strips. The nurse confirmed that I was not overreacting and she understood my concern. However, she told me that my incisions were healing very well and that everything was closed. The doctor checked the juncture site that I was concerned about and he told me he would prescribe keflex antibiotic. He advised me to keep an eye on the juncture site for a couple of days and if there was discharge or the area got more red to start the antibiotic. I filled the antibiotic prescription the next day and took it for the seven days. I have no finished the antibiotic and have been keeping a close eye on the juncture site and everything appears to be healing very well.

I am finding that I am feeling some tugging and aching pain in both breasts typically in the evening however if I have overdone it I will have some minor pain as well. I attempted to change the bedsheets which pulled on the left breast outer edge and this caused me some pain for a few days. I have not attempted to vacuum yet. Overall I am doing very well and am extremely pleased with the results.

Well today is the day my PS told me to remove the steri-strips which had been replaced last Friday. After hesitating to do that all day I finally got up the nerve to start removing them. I have this crazy fear that everything will come apart if I remove the steri-strips! I removed the strips from under each breast and discovered that I may have an infected area. It's at the juncture point of the incisions from the anchor T. It's quite small, however there is a slight odor and it looks like there is a white puss there and it's red around this area. SCARY...I will have to go to my local out patient department to have this checked out asap.

I had my first post op follow up appointment on Dec 20th. I met with a resident doctor and my PS. That meeting was very brief; they asked how I had been doing, my PS looked at my breasts and asked how I felt about the size. He advised a nurse would come and remove my steri-strips which would be replaced with new ones. I was to leave the new ones on for one week then remove them at home. After I do that next Friday he recommended I start using Bio Oil on the incision sites to help reduce the scarring. The dictation was not ready on my surgery so when I asked how much was removed he could not recall but I should be able to get this information when I go back in one month's time. Then the nurse came and removed my strips, cleaned the incision sites and put new strips on. She told me that I was healing very well and everything looked to be sealed together nicely. This was music to my ears!

I then went bra shopping. I had no idea what my new bra size was. I was certain I was a C cup or even a B cup; boy, I had no clue what these sizes were! I ended up in a Playtex bra and a Wonder Bra, both size D 36. I even tried on a few bras at Victoria's Secret and was a DD 36. I really am pleased with my new size, but found myself feeling a bit upset that the bra size was larger than I expected. I was so used to carrying around large breasts that my new breasts seem so small and manageable now I really thought this was what a C was.

Over the past two days I've actually looked at myself in the mirror. Needless to say my breasts aren't very pretty right now; they are very bruised and swollen. I am a bit concerned about the shape of my right breast as it isn't round at the bottom; it's kind of flat and clefted at the incision site. I guess time will tell how that will settle out.