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November 10, 2006
Post Gyno Surgery
Hey. I just discovered that I forgot to post details about the BJ I got at the hospital. And the tummy tuck.
The 'BJ,' of course, refers to my gyno surgery and the 'tummy tuck,' the tummy tuck. And now that the 'BJ' joke is out of the way, we'll quit referring to anything having to do with my chest as a boob job.
I'm never sure how to word blog entries that rely heavily on other blog entries. I know some readers are totally up-to-date while others may have happened across the site while Googling 'gyno surgery.' To make me feel better, and like I'm not leaving anybody out, I'll type out the bit about how I have a pituitary tumor that screwed with my hormones (testosterone very low; prolactin high enough to be problematic). My libido tanked, the tools quit working, breast tissue formed, and I'm checking to see if low testosterone is somehow related to varicose veins. If you care to read more click the Low Testosterone category. (Pituitary tumors are not terribly uncommon, those that cause hormone trouble are sort of rare, and those that cause gyno are more rare.)
Now, on with our blog entry.
Surgery started about 7:30 a.m. and was over about 4 hours later. I really don't remember when I was wheeled into my room and I'm sort of fuzzy on the things that happened the rest of the day. When Wednesday rolled around I was unsure about who I'd called to tell I'd survived and who I'd missed. What's sad is the list was only about three-people long.
(UPDATE: This next paragraph will sound a lot like yesterday's blog entry. I'd forgotten I'd posted it. I may still have some residual drug stuff floating around in me.)
I spent most of the next two days sleeping the sleep that only percocet can bring on. Once, in the past, I'd doubted just how much good a particular prescription was doing with regard to pain control and had quit taking that medication only to discover that without it I went from hurting a helluva lot to a freaking helluva lot. With percocets floating around in me I wasn't in a lot of pain -- unless I laughed or coughed -- but I wasn't sure what the pain would be like percocet-free. Rather than quit taking the drug and finding out things hurt a lot more I decided to medicate and play it safe. After two days of full-time grogginess I thought I'd take a chance and go drug free.
Maybe the timing was good. Maybe I could have gone off the percs sooner. Whatever, it really wasn't a big deal. As long as I didn't move I was OK. Whenever I stood up to pee there'd be a brief period of pain but after two or three steps I'd be good (not that I was walking straight up at this point.) Laughing and coughing caused searing stomach pain and I could tell that struggling with a bout of constipation would push me into a coma [(Fortunately I was tanked up on stool softeners. (I threw that in there for the TMI crowd)].
Overall, and aside from laughing and coughing, I was never in a great deal of pain. When asked by the nurse, immediately following surgery, I rated the pain a 2 or 3 on a scale where 10 is worst. Of the two the gyno surgery hurt the least and, really, I'd have to say the gyno surgery never hurt at all. There was an instance or two of a nipple-burning pain ... but not much.
By the way, my first word upon being awakened from surgery was, "F*ck." It was one of those where the hell am I moments that f*ck seems to capture best. Of course, a second later I knew where I was and felt bad about the whole thing and apologized to the surgical team. They did not seem to be put off by the remark.
Thursday rolled around and so did my follow-up visit. I had a 9:30 appointment and arrived at 9:22. I was taken in right away, the doc unwrapped me, looked me over, we chatted, he removed the drains, he wrapped me back up and I was out of the office by 9:50.
In the past I've mentioned that were it not for the fact I have children I'd post pictures of everything. Having seen the pictures during the follow-up I'm not sure that I would. The before photos look worse that I thought; I think this is due to the fact that I'd always seen myself in a mirror from a front view. I'm not really sure how to describe the photos.
The doc had photos of the stuff he'd removed from my chest, which I'll simply describe as baseball-sized and sort of rubbery. These items were not tumors or anything to worry about, just tissue that shouldn't be there, but probably pictures you wouldn't want to see.
I'm happy with the way everything turned out. I have another visit with the doctor in a week.
Posted by delmer at November 10, 2006 5:49 PM