Infection, infection go away

On November 12, when I had the first follow up appointment with the doctor, she was pretty certain that I had an infection.  So, I was placed on antibiotics.  And I dutifully took them 4 times a day.  That meant getting up at midnight to take one.  Every 6 hours.  I have become one of those individuals setting an alarm to take my medications.  

The pain stayed.  The swollen boob stayed.  The weight stayed.  I was getting absolutely no relief.  My boob was the size of a mini basketball and weighed like a 10-pound kettle ball.  I take it back when I said I wanted DDs.   

As said before there was a possibility of my incision opening and all the gunk inside spilling out.  Wednesday night I took off my 24/7 bra (I've stopped wearing it 24/7) and there were spots of blood on the fabric.  Oh, this cannot be good.  Murray checked and said it was not actively bleeding.  I went to bed.

Thursday morning, I awoke at my new 4:30 wake up time.  I attempt to go back to sleep, but it never works.  I came out to the kitchen as I do every morning, have my glass of emergC, play my games, let out Pabst, drink my chai.  I thought I was leaking, but I wasn't sure.  And I do this mostly in the dark as to not wake up Murray.  

My sister Amy texted to ask how I was doing and if it was still leaking.  I looked at my pj top and sure enough it was.  Murray had already gone to walk Pabst.  As I tried to clean off the dried blood it seemed to start bleeding again.  

I already had a scheduled follow up to the follow up but decided to head over to the hospital early just in case eruption happened.  I called them several times asking if I should just come to the office or ER, but wasn't getting an answer or call back.  Five minutes from the hospital I finally got through and they said, "come to the office, we will just put gauze on it".  

My initial appointment was at 9:30 and I believe we arrived at the hospital at 8:15. We were ushered into the room and given what I'll call a breast vest (scrub that opens to the front).  The nurse had another name for it.  And we waited.  The nurse came in several times to check on us, give me water, and do the vitals of course.  

I had been telling Murray all week that the doctor was going to want to put another needle in my boob and drain it.  I'm kinda done with needles in my boob.  

The doctor came in, poked and prodded my boob, and said, "I am going to drain it."  I don't know why I cringe when the doctor says, "get me a 16 gauge".  It always seems so large and scary.  

The doctor put absorbent pads all around me and started to pull off the glue.  I was imaging it breaking open and blood going everywhere, but luckily it didn't.  Then she numbed my boob.  The thing I love about my doctor is that she explains everything she is going to do.  When she was going to numb it, she said this is going to feel like when I put radiation in your body.  And in went the needle like a hornet was stinging me.  

The nurse was on the other day side holding my hand.  It wasn't that bad.  I guess I'm getting used to hornets stinging me.  But there was a moment when I must have tensed or something because they both asked what was wrong.  And I let out a long breath and said, "I realized I should be breathing".  

As much as I wanted to watch I kept my eyes shut as the doctor squeezed and squeezed.  Like if you cut an orange in half and try to squeeze all the juice out by your hand.  60 ml later the doctor unscrewed the syringe and asked the nurse for a second one.  Thankfully I am not blood queasy because she showed me the first one.   

About this time, I thought it would be important to take a photo of her extracting it.  Mostly because my friend Laura is afraid of needles, and I thought this would be a cool one to show her.  The doctor got out of the way, and after Murray figured out how to open the camera on the phone, snapped the photo.  I've cropped it some.  This is at the start of the second syringe.  And that is one of two incisions.  The other is under my armpit.  

Although there was some pain while she was squeezed the juice out, there was also absolute relief while she was doing it.  My boob was getting softer and less swollen.  Even Murray said he could tell that my discomfort was slowing draining from my body.  Our bodies hold about 10 cups of blood and I had 1/2 cup removed.  Down 1/2 a cup and still going strong. Haha. I know, I know it’s being replenished. 

After two syringes full of blood and gunk, I was lightly bandaged, a maxipad stuck in my bra and away we went.  

This morning, I awoke at my usual 4:30, got out of bed, and felt so much better.  I still have some pain, a pain I can't really describe.  Now I know how patients feel when as an EMT we ask, "describe the pain".  I don't know.  The pain is a constant reminder that I had my boob cut into and hopefully it is healing.  

Until next time...