Recovery

The next week was really painful and uncomfortable. The pad they had stapled over my skin graph was pulling up on my skin. It looked like meat hanging from a hook, it was that tight. Any movement of that area was painful. I had to wear clothes that buttoned up because I could not move my arm to put on a shirt. The pain pills made me have an upset stomach and constipation. So it was a tossup at times which symptom was worse.

I had to wash up at the sink because I could not get my wounds wet, especially the skin graph area. Before I went to get my staples out my mom and aunt bought a hair dressers cape and a funnel cap that fit around my head to wash my hair with. It was actually quite comical. Corey got our camping cooler and put it in the shower with a towel on it for me to sit on while he and my mom figured out how the funnel cap worked to wash my hair.

November 2nd I went back to the dr to get my staples out. It was really painful, so I mostly had my eyes shut, but I remember the look on corey's face when he first saw the skin graph. He looked really worried. It was purple, so Corey thought it didn’t take. The surgeon said it looked good though and was reassuring that as it heals it will shrink in size and fill in more.

It looked really sunken in because of how swollen the skin flap area next to it was. My drain had to stay in because of how much was still draining. He said that when it got down to 15 cc I could get it out. He gave me the option of having Corey take it out, I said that would be fine with me (a bit reluctantly, he was too happy to do it!!). They sent us home with a kit for Corey to take it out.

November 5th I was able to take the drain tube out. Other than one of the sutures growing into the skin and Corey initially forgetting to open the bulb to relieve the pressure it was not too bad.


This was taken Nov 2nd 6 days post surgery.