Hot flushes and sleeping on my back

I am so fed up. I've been sleeping on my back for 5 weeks. I did try lying on my side, but the horrible swollen lumpy things under my arms and towards my back get in the way. If I lie on them, it's like a nerve in your tooth getting cold water on it, only in the lumpy bits. 

I wake up at some stage every night - several times. Either from a hot flush, or from a sore back caused by sleeping on it. I have to get up, take 2 Panadol and stay up until my back stops hurting.

Everything feels awful, unnatural and full of nerves that hurt and jump if touched. I can't imagine it all feeling normal again.

The G.P. debrided the last of the dead black skin. It was good to get rid of it. He said it was very 'adherent' and probably would not have fallen off of its own accord for weeks. He also pulled out a piece of  'fishing line' that was not going to dissolve.

I got very tired by about 1.30pm again but I didn't lie down. 

Worn out by lunchtime and hot flushes

Although I must admit to feeling a bit better, I am worn out by lunchtime every day and just can't do any more after that time.

Now I am getting hot flushes in the middle of the night that last half an hour. It has to be related to the surgery. 

Day 28

I feel so fed up. A short walk left my legs tired and weak. I have to keep changing the dressings due to continued slight bleeding and infection on the surface. I would never have believed that after a month things would not have healed over. I don't actually have a right nipple any more. It has shrunk to almost nothing and the area is concave and sunken. I will not be getting it fixed though, no more operations for me. I don't care how bad it looks, it's staying like that. I feel like there are balloons tied to me, that's how swollen everything is, and how much fluid is being retained in the area. I suppose it could still be bleeding inside, and it takes time for this fluid to go away. It is painful and depressing. Not being able to do a little bit of casual work is hard on my brain too, I feel like life has no purp0se. Goodness knows when I will feel like working again. I'm sure it will be many weeks. I can't do any housework other than washing the dishes, I can't bend over to pick things up, I can't carry things or hang out washing. I have the loungeroom couch made up as a 'day sick bed' and I go and lie down there and watch TV when I get exhausted. I bet this operation has given me such a shock I won't have as long a life as I might have. 

A good forum

I would encourage anyone with questions to visit this forum.

http://www.breasthealthonline.org/cgi-bin/mwf/forum_show.pl

Today, the 27th day, I got quite tired while walking a short distance, had trouble with the tightness and swelling and couldn't sleep properly on my back last night. 

I bought a bra and tried to wear it and even though it was quite loose, it caused the incision line on the left side to open up again and bleed, so I won't be doing that again. 

Debrided

15th June, 26th day. Almost a month. The G.P. decided to cut off the necrotic black skin. This was a really good idea. I feel so much better now. It even looks better though it's missing a couple of layers of skin and it's all pus-ey. At least I never have to look at the dead stuff again. The G.P. said no new skin will grow under necrotic skin as there's no light or air getting to it.

Itchy

I am starting to get itchy. Someone said a bag of frozen peas will fix the problem. I hope so. I wonder if I could use lignocaine or something. 

Itchy is a hard thing to put up with.

I also woke up feeling like I was all tied up with string, it was so horrible and tight.

Day 23, maybe light at the end of the tunnel

I actually felt a tiny bit better today. Still sleeping on my back, and the reason is the two nasty lumps where the drains came out, which are the size of baseballs, kind of under my arms. I can't possibly lie on them. The blackened skin and dehiscence is not making me happy though. How much longer will I have to put dressings on them?

I think I have a lot of fluid retention in the area. The lemon tea is supposed to get rid of it, but it doesn't really. I'm still pretty miserable. 

22nd Day, Dehiscence not nice and unviable black skin

I think I feel a little bit better. Still sleeping uncomfortably on my back, though. Nasty pockets of excess fluid below my armpits prevent my lying on my side. 

Saw the G.P. today. He didn't like the look of the dead black skin at all. He lifted a small area and said there is no new pink skin growing underneath at all, as the registrar told me it would. He said that the black skin is acting as a barrier to new skin growing, and that on Monday, he will trim a little of it away, under local anaesthetic. 

I tend to agree with him. The blackened area of unviable skin has not lessened at all in three weeks. 

He also looked at the dehiscent area on the left side. He said it consists of a 2cm gap (nearly half an inch!) and is going to take weeks to produce new skin to fill the gap.

No wonder I am feeling so tired when the body is trying to deal with all these problems.

Day 20

Feel swollen and sore. The black patch on the right now has yellow patches in it and is weeping. Under the left side there is still yellow stuff leaking out. It is hard to get off my crop top - it won't come off in the wash, but has to be soaked in bleach. It's like superglue, horrible.

Seem to have a lot of fluid retention in the area which makes it all worse and wonder if the G.P. would let me have fluid tablets for a few days to try and get rid of it.

Had the lemon tea again today and it does seem to help.

Still getting very tired but managed not to have a sleep during the day. 10pm and just going to bed. Hate sleeping on my back but while there are these huge pockets of fluid on my sides, there is no way I can lie on my side.

19th Day, Every Day Horrible

I hate to be negative but I am still feeling rotten. Random shooting pains, oozing from two places, probably infection (off to GP tomorrow), tightness, soreness, hate sleeping on my back, very very tired.

I am OK if I conserve my energy by sitting or lying around, but as soon as I do anything - put the washing on, go for a short walk - I am absolutely exhausted and have to lie down and mostly go to sleep. 

I am scared by the look of the right side - the black skin and oozing. I thought by now it would have all healed up but it's far from it. The swelling everywhere is no fun either. Particularly under my arms and towards my back, on both sides, big swollen lumps.

Saturday - Day 17

I still feel really horrible. Light headed, can't walk far without getting very tired, falling asleep in the middle of the day, nasty tight feeling, swelling and oozing.

I am not quite as depressed as on previous days (I think).

All I want is to get back to doing what I used to do before! Whatever that was. I just don't feel like I can do ANYTHING much other than a bit of light house work, a short walk and that's about it.

I have vomited 2-3 times in the last week too, and I really don't know why. I feel like I've been in a bad accident or blown up by a bomb or something and recovery is taking forever.

I am definitely not happy. It is 6.30pm and I am about to go back to bed, where I will read for an hour or so then fall asleep, only to wake up around 2am with a sore back (not used to sleeping on my back), get up, take 2 Panadol and stay up until my back stops hurting, then back to bed again.

A little bit of itching started today, too.

The right side is all black necrotic skin in the centre, and under the left side is the dehiscence and oozing of yellow stuff. I know this is all within the normal range but IT IS HORRIBLE.

Dehiscent, a marvellous reptilian word

I just remembered that on Wednesday as the surgeon was dictating a letter to the local doctor, he said "The wound is dehiscent". It sounded like de-hiss-ant, like a snake un-hissing. I just looked it up. Dehiscent:

2. Medicine A rupture or splitting open, as of a surgical wound, or of an organ or structure to discharge its contents.

Meaning: 1. Gaping open, wide open.

Dehiscence is a complication of surgery. The definition ofdehiscence is the unintentional reopening of a wound. This reopening usually occurs between 7 and 10 days post surgery and carries a very high risk of infection and even mortality if left untreated. 

It is not fun to have dehiscence. I hope it fixes itself.

Thursday, Day 15

Did too much today. Did some washing, fed the ducks and went shopping. Have to remember to just POTTER AROUND, not really DO stuff.

While waiting at the checkout, thought I was going to keel over.  Had to go straight home at 2pm, have shower and go to bed.

Not impressed. 

Day 14, visit to the surgeon

It is a 2 hour drive to where the surgeon is (and a 2 hour drive back). I was pretty much petrified because the G.P. said the 'black bits' would have to be 'debrided'. Luckily she was wrong. The dead, black skin will peel off and fall off in about another week, hopefully revealing not too much damage underneath.

I was only in there for about 5 minutes, which was OK, because I found out all I wanted to know. Although it looks totally disgusting to me, it looks pretty normal to a surgeon, and is healing up slowly, though had I got it done 10 years ago I'd have been in much better shape by now.

So back I came, and the 4 hours in the car really messed me up. I got into bed and fell asleep around 3pm, then got up and threw up, don't know why, then back to bed again. Can barely keep my eyes open at 8pm to write this.

I am taking multivitamins with iron in hopes it is a shortage of something that is making me so sick and exhausted. There is no chance I could manage a day's casual work at present or in the forseeable future. The way I feel, it will be another month at least.

The horrible tight feeling is there, and the incision lines are oozing murky stuff, not to mention the black ooze coming from the necrotic skin. Ugh!

2nd June 2009, Day 13

Still feel awful. Seeing the surgeon tomorrow and dreading it. The right side is all black, with a red ring around it. I don't know what that means but I don't like it.

Still feel like I'll never be the same again or get much better. It's horrible.

Sleeping on my back I feel like a dying cockroach.

12th Day - don't use cotton wool on wounds!!

I had a tiring day. Two hours of gently walking around the shops and I was exhausted - had to go home to bed and went to sleep.

Sleeping on my back is so horrible.

I was silly enough to put some cotton wool on the 'bad' right side to keep my bra clean.  It got stuck, and when I had a shower and gave it a little pull, off came some of the black skin, and it started to bleed.

I had bought 2 croptops in size 20 so they're nice and loose, but I can't wear them now because of that. They'd stick to the icky side. 

I feel so tired, my memory is terrible and I feel like I'll never get better.