#post op care
My post op appointment was really horrible.
It started off good with Jodi putting me to the front of the queue as I had to catch a plane from Miami airport later in the day (but had to be there early as Becca was on a much earlier flight).
When the bandages came off I felt faint - It was horrible seeing myself all cut up and scarred. The incisions do look neat but are a tiny bit closer together in the center of my chest than I would have liked - but its done, I can’t change it and can live with it. Dr Garramone got me to lay down on the reclining chair as I felt ill and then went to remove my drains which is where my problems started.
The left one hurt a bit (I had been told they don’t hurt at all - this was not true for me) which made me a bit nervous about the right one. Dr Garramone reacted to this by going very authoritarian and commanding me to calm down because I had to or it would hurt - which really is the worse way to calm or soothe me and started making things worse as I started worrying that I wasn’t calm and was worried that I was upsetting him and worried that I was unable to do what he asked instantly.
The right drain was so painful, the whole of my incision burned with pain intensely. It was horrible. I felt vomity with pain and had a fresh wave of faintness. The pain lasted for quite a while (a minute ish maybe?) and did not die down quickly.
Dr Garramone did not give me time to recover from that before he started trying to touch the now extremely sensitive area to put a Melolin dressing with thick tape on. I don’t know if I flinched slightly or if he just was in a rush and put it on wrong but he managed to completely cover the open wound/hole where the drains had been with the sticky tape and not the Melolin dressing (which was just on skin with no wound) ON BOTH SIDES. It was agony to take off as pulling the tape off opened the wounds back up - I was crying in pain the first night I tried it and had to leave it until the next day when I could slowly ease it off.
That red line is the incision with the tape stuck over it
Here it is with the dressing removed - you can see how sore and tender the area is from the inflamed skin.
Really not pleased with the post op care - I am also sending them an email with these pictures. In the long run still glad I went to Garramones but unhappy with how poor this was after having paid so much!
After the appointment I was a mess - I had felt fine upon arrival for the post op appointment but after the pain of the drains and the pain caused by the tape pulling on the open drain holes everytime I moved I ended up in a bit of a state - feeling on the verge of fainting and throwing up for the next day. I was so faint in the waiting room as I left that I had to put my head between my knees while Lo stroked my back. I kept on getting faint and having to sit down in the airport and felt like I was going to throw up constantly - Becca nearly cried having to leave me at the airport to get on the plane as I was so ill. I couldnt stand up straight due to the pain the tape was putting me in and so hunched over the whole journey home (one train ride, two flights, one long car journey).
