Recap of LBL

I had a LBL 2 weeks ago; not gonna lie I woke up in recovery thinking ughhh what did I do?!  I was feeling pretty miserable- everyone (surgeon, residents, nurses, med students) kept telling me how great I looked, but I was too sore to move around much and really see, so I never looked just kept asking for more pain meds.  I spent the first night in the hospital on IV morphine and was still quite uncomfortable.  The nurses kept asking if I would prefer PO percocet, but I thought the IV morphine would be more effective so I declined.  Around 6am I changed my mind and took like the percocet and I felt much, much better.  That day I ambulated all over the hospital and I was supposed to go home, but by 8:30 pm I still had been unable to urinate (they removed my foley early in the AM).  This is a side effect of anesthesia as well as swelling, and could be a result of the drains.  The plastics resident (who was gorgeous btw) was threatening to put the foley back in which I was having none of (nurses make the worst patients!), but they would not discharge me until I could pee on my own.  Literally 15 mins after my parents left me to stay in the hospital another night my bladder decided to wake up!  I did stay an additional night and even once I was home for the first couple days I wasn't peeing as much as I knew I should have been, but all is well now.  My surgeon said it was likely tissue swelling in the area putting pressure on my urethra.  I was discharged with a script for keflax and Percocet.  I was pretty sore, but manageable with pain meds- I think around day 10 post op was a major turning point, I'm really feeling pretty good- still a little sore, and I feel really sore when I first wake up in the AM, take 1/2 of a 5/325 percocet and feel fine afterward, don't really need anything else for pain otherwise. 

My surgeon used 4 drains, 2 on each hip.  I went home with all 4.  Day 6 post op 3 were pulled and one was left on the right hip which was pulled day 11 post-op, after it had put out only 13cc in the last 24 hr period. 

The residents had changed the post op dressing and I was supposed to keep it on for several days until I saw the surgeon again for a follow up taking only a sponge bath.  However, the dressing became dirty from leaking around the drain sites and as the sero-sanguinous sat on the gauze for a day it darkened and had a mild foul odor that I could smell through the tegaderm.  I emailed my surgeon a photo and he told me that I could remove the dressing, shower and cover again with dry gauze until I saw him the following day.  The incision line looked fine, no signs of infection and everything was ok. 

The worst part now is the swelling!   And it seems I tend to swell up more than others- I'm so anxious to see what the end result will be.  I'm sure it's good, I have a great surgeon and everyone (residents/med students/nurses) who has been present in the OR kept saying how happy I was going to be with the results, but at the moment I'm so swollen I can barely get my jeans up, never mind closing them!  Even at about a week and a half post op when I saw my surgeon he was like… "wow you really swell up" and assured me I was nice and flat in the OR.

My LBL did address the mons area; although now with the swelling it looks the same as it did pre-op I did notice a significant change Day 1 post-op in the hospital, and I am very pleased with how much smaller it is. 

Sorry this was so long; I just wanted to give those considering a LBL an idea of what my experience was like.  I posted pics in my plastics album which is password protected; if you do not already have the PW but would like to view them, let me know I’ll send a friend request with the PW.