BRCA: Milestones - One Day at a Time

Tuesday (July 15th) - If you've ever had a conversation with me that revolves around poop then you're in my inner circle. If not, then you are now being welcomed in. Yesterday was a horrible day. It was day 8 after surgery and the constipation was in full force. I knew a problem was brewing on day 5 so I started to add more "laxative" options to what I was already taking. TMI, but by the grace of God and a high metabolism I poop 3-4 times a day so I knew that the pain meds in combination with no physical activity would catch up to me. By day 8 (yesterday) I was already taking (or had already tried) Senokot laxatives, stool softeners, Miralax, 3 suppositories, 2 enemas, prune juice, blueberries, apples, pineapple, grapes, 2 cappuchino's, lots of Arbonne detox tea, lots of water, Fiber one bars, an Arbonne protein smoothie for breakfast and lunch to give my system a break, and two warm baths. So, believe me, when I say I tried it all, I tried it all. Through the course of yesterday, I got advice from my doctor, the pharmacist, three nurses, a Registered Dietitian (who was consulting with 3 GI doctors on my behalf), and my closest friends. We were down to 2 option before I was going to the ER. The second to last option worked: mineral oil. Thank God for mineral oil! My husband might disown me if I go into to much more detail so I'll leave you with this. I was literally in the bathroom for 9 hours. I'm ranking this day worst than the 5 hours it took me to push Bailey out face up (with 18 totals hours of labor). Here is a lovely poop belly picture from yesterday. I had to take it up close so that you wouldn't see the wreckage of everything else I've been through. Believe me, it's not pretty. I'm lucky that I didn't bust that hysterectomy scar shown to the left of the picture.

Wednesday (July 16th) - It's 9 days after surgery and I had an appointment this morning to get 2 of my 4 drains removed. I can't tell you how excited I was for this visit because the drains are the cause of 95% of my pain. Here is a picture of the drains on one side of my rib cage.

 My sweet friend Dee offered to drive me to the appointment, take notes to relay back to Greg, and to just be a source of comfort for me. Her friendship means the world to me, but she may regret taking me after what she saw. The below picture was me in the elevator trying to hide my 4 drains. Let's be honest, everyone coming in and out of this building is hurting in some way or another so I'm sure I looked normal, but I hated to have my 4 blood filled drains hanging around my waist for all to see so I went for the preggo look, which was much funnier today since I wasn't filled with poop. So funny in fact that while Dee took the picture, we both forgot to hit the floor number that we needed to get to so when the doors opened we got right back off on the 1st floor. One thing I love about this girl is that we were both rocking the 'no makeup-who cares what we look like' attire, and I think we looked great!

Once the nurse came in, she looked over the fluid output numbers that I had been writing down twice a day and agreed that 2 of the 4 could come out. Praise the Lord! She removed the stitches from one of the drains on the right side (not the side that Dee was sitting on) and told me to take a deep breath and then breathe out as hard as I could. When I exhaled, she pulled out the drain. Holy moly! If I was a cussing girl, it would have spilled out like a sailor, but instead I closed my eyes and clinched my mouth shut. She showed us the drain and it was around 12" long and 1/2" thick. I can't even imagine how that fit in there (and there's still another one coming out next week)! The same process was done on the left side and Dee actually watched. I couldn't do it because the left side hurt even worse than the right side. But you know what, it's done. Two hard days in a row, and two hard days closer to the end of this journey. 

Endurance is defined as: 

• the fact or power of enduring or bearing pain, hardships
• the ability or strength to continue or last, especially despite fatigue, stress, or other adverse conditions; stamina
• lasting quality; duration
• something endured, as a hardship; trial

1 Chronicles 16:34 - "Give thanks to the Lord for he is good; his love endures forever."

You can read about my entire BRCA journey here.