Yes, I have been stripping them about every four hours, but they had to pull one drain on Friday, and yesterday, even though I was stripping it, the device has no suction in it any more...I was on the phone with the med tech and she  had me take the tube off the bulb and try to get all the guck out of there which I did, and put it back on, all cleaned with alchohol prep pads etc, and I squeezed it and rolled it up and it started whistling, and the tube itself remained flat, and does not inflate any more. It looks like there is some guck stuck at the top of the tube right where it comes out of the skin, but I am not able to get to the place underneath my skin where it  started to come out. I called the surgeon yesterday and he said he plans to take the second drain out on Tuesday, and aspirate both sides with a needle. He said he didn't know why the drains malfunctioned. I only saw  some really thick guck that was way too big for the tubing, so that's all I can figure, unless someone placed them incorrectly inside me. Maybe that same person did not order my meds in the hospital or pay attention to the part about I can't have toredol. I don't know, but it is starting to feel like a chop shop.

My initial reaction to this doctor was that he was kind and knew what he was doing, but seriously so many things happened at the hospital that I am starting to wonder...for now I am trying to roll with it. More will be revealed.  At least I am used to my boobs hurting, as they hurt prior to surgery....thanks for being there.

Once the implants are in they are good for up to ten years, and the surgeon recommended I get an MRI every 2 years...theoretically I will only need two more expansions before they are ready to take out the expanders and put in the implants, but I bet it winds up taking a while to get all this fluid drained off me before they do that...and that means my hysterectomy will be delayed too...its nerve wracking cause my COBRA is up on Dec 1, with no option for conversion, and then, because I got social security disability, I will just have Medicaid for 6 months before I get federal Medicare. Unless this new Obama care lets me buy something on the exchange.....I am not sure that it will because I have Medicaid...but maybe. Hard to say. I am afraid of winding up with essentially nothing and being in the middle of a mess.

Hope you are progressing further each day.  How are the drains doing?  I remember being very concerned about their removal.  It had me freaked out as my breast surgery was my first instance of drains.  But it really wasn't too bad.  The nurse pulled them when they were ready to come out.  She told me to take a deep breath and as I let it out, she pulled the drain.  That caused me to focus on the breath and not the weirdness of the feeling from the drain coming out. 

Did they say anything about how permanent the implants were?  When I was talking to one of the PS that did implants he indicated that they lasted 10-15 years.  What happens after that?  Do they have to be replaced?  Monitored?  Does insurance pay to have them replaced since they were put there as a result of mastectomy?

Hopefully you are right and the implant placement is just same day surgery.  Those are usually not too bad and given the bad experience you had with that hospital, I would think you would not want to stay there again.

JoAnn

Thanks a lot. We had talked about diloted   (sp? )and  but when he came out with that toredol stuff was after the surgery...he was all excited because it wasn't a narcotic.  I think he was freaked out because I do take a lot of medication..........he never mentioned toredol in the pre op appointment. And it doesn't help that I am allergic to a bunch of pain meds. There are certain ones that work good, and they tend to be higher potency drugs. And the other ones not so much. But there was no way I was taking the toredol with the ulcer just barely healed. The pain is actually a little better today....Note to self....in the future, I am bringing a clandestine supply of all of my medication with me to the hospital.

I am okay as long as I stay in one place I typically use my arms to push myself into a standing position because my legs are both in braces...I have a knee replacement but more importantly my tendons and ligaments are not attached due to complications from a dislocation in both knees that never healed correctly...there is a misnomer that the WLS helps with mobility since not as much weight is being carried around on the joint. In some sense that is true. In another sense, what happens is that the fat was sort of holding the tendons in a particular spot on my leg, and now that the fat is gone , the tendons and ligaments are like streched out rubber bands, with nowhere to go except flop around. They need to be "hemmed" eventually....I need about sx more surgeries on my legs before I will reliably be able to walk without falling down.

So I use a wheelchair to get around...I have a walker with a seat on it that I drag around behind me, because I need to sit frequently when I DO walk....the angle of the walker does not really hold me up as I have the same tendon problem in my right hip, and the walker throws my gait off....it's sort of a mess.

So I use my arms quite a bit.

The plastics guy did not want to do a TT because I am only two months out from my RNY and there is not a lot of sagging skin, and I am still losing weight. I am finding that I need to sort of force myself to raise my arms over my head a little bit cause it really hurts to do that...the last thing I need is to lose range of motion in my arms.

The pain is only really bad when I sit or stand when I am still it's not that bad. Also one side is draining a lot more than the other. The doc said that is normal.  The drains come out right where my bra would go, so i am not wearing one right now at all. It's strange, but I don't know my own body anymore.

Thanks for being here.

Thanks!  I am home, made it through. The surgery itself was fine, and the pain is not too terribly bad....the hospital experience was absolutely horrible. At the pre op, the doc discussed using demerol or something like that for pain, and in the room he ordered toredol.  My bypass surgeon was adamant i not take that, as I JUST had an ulcer, so I refused it....had NO pain meds in the hospital at all. I am also on like twenty other medications, and he did not order any of them....the nurse from the hospital called to verify them and everything, but none got ordered.  I had a little "stash" of them in my purse so i took them anyway, but honestly. I also had some tylenol with codene in my purse which I took for pain...but the doc was insisting on toredol or nothing.

They sent someone from oncology down to try to talk me into brca testing, which I again refused.

They sent an occupational therapist in to see if I had any questions..i was like yeah, how do I get from the bed to the wheelchair if my legs and my arms don't work to hold my weight up? and she goes "I have no idea, I don't know why I was even sent here"/

The y sent a nutritionist down after three meals had passed and I flat told her I don't understand what is so hard about a diabetic soft food diet.

I was offered steak, mashed potaotes with butter, a muffin with butter, no fruit, corn, on the cob.

Breakfast was eggs swimming in butter, some kind of muffin in butter....

fortunately I had brought my isopure shakes and I just had those and some bars. Sent most of the food back.

I have two drains, and it's no problem to dump them myself.

I slept in the recliner at home last night cause I can't get out of the bed...between my legs and my gut and my chest I can't sit up.

I get some break through pain about halfway between doses of Tylenol three.

They did not send me home in any kind of bra, and the Physicians assistant said if I wore one it would just delay the healing process for the scars, which are under the folds in my breasts. When I got home I tried one on for a second, and it's a C cup...she said I would only need one or two more fills before they put the implants in.  Thank God for that.

The drains fit in my jeans pockets. so it's pretty easy to hide them. Anyway, I am SO GLAD to be out of that hospital. That was right up there with horrible. At least they did not drop me off the gurney like they did when I had my knee replacement, but it was pretty close.

And, even though it hurt like hell, I still feel so much relief over the reduced risk for cancer. That part makes all of this worth it.