Wednesday, May 8, 2019

It aint pretty

If you’re my son, you might want to skip this blog post. It’s a little personal about things most kids don’t want to know about their mothers.

I took the bandages off this morning before my shower. To be honest, I wasn’t sure where my surgeon had made the two incisions he discussed with me. I don’t know what I expected but what I saw was not it at all.

First, I have two incisions in my armpit. I was not expecting two, and in fact everything I’ve read on the reputable sites all say one incision. These run parallel to each other and look to be a couple of inches long each. They are toward the front and now I know why my pecs hurt.

Second, and what’s really thrown me for a loop, the incision on my breast is on my nipple (it’s a semi-circle at the edge of my nipple). I was really not expecting that at all. I thought it would be more where the core needle biopsy was done, and where the wire was inserted Monday before surgery. Both of those were done near the back of the breast on the armpit side. But that lumpectomy incision is in the nipple area right on the edge.

My breast is clearly swollen on the armpit side and at least right now, it looks like I have a divot slightly on the top and to the left if you were looking down at your own chest.

So today I’m sad. Yes, I know this surgery was the right thing to do but I’m sad about what I saw and how my breast looks.

Edited to add that I was wrong about two incisions in my armpit. The surgeon used a dark purple pen to make a line that runs parallel to the actual incision. But the incision itself is also purply-red (got some bruising going on) so it looked like two incisions. 

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