We saw the plastic surgeon this past week and my wound vac was removed! The wound vac was placed last month because the incision in the middle of my belly was not healing properly. I have three problem areas - my left breast, and right hip and middle of my belly incision, everything else is healing quite nicely. The left breast and right hip were not a huge concern, so they chose to do a wound vac on my belly incision to keep me from having to go back in for another surgery. My doctor actually had to argue with the insurance representative for approval. They wanted to wait 30 days prior to approving the wound vac, and he just could not understand why, when surgery would have been inevitable at that point, and the wound vac was to prevent more issues and also keep the cost down. He is awesome, and was able to obtain approval for the wound vac. So for a month, I had what we called my ball and chain. It went wherever I went. I had to take backward showers with the wound vac on a small table outside the shower but still have the tubing reaching in but not get wet; and I learned where I could sit it on the kitchen counter and still reach the trash can and refrigerator without having to move it each time. It is a dance I am glad to have behind me now. Home Health would come three times a week and change out the canister and reapply the bandages that held the wound foam in place. My nurse was very nice and although I will miss our conversations, I am glad that part is behind us now.
Now that the wound vac has been removed, I am able to move on from the belly binder and wear compression garments. The belly binder was irritating the open wound on the right hip, so I was so excited to get rid of the it, but did not have any idea of the new challenges that we would face. Have you ever worn compression garments? They are not for the faint of heart. Compression garments can be tricky and they are not all made the same. I had some in a drawer that fit a little too snugly, nor could I get it on or take it off by myself without help; so I have ordered several different sizes and still trying to find the right one. I went from wearing a binder with cutout panties underneath and maxi pads across my incision (it takes three by the way, that is how long the scar is) to keep it from rubbing on my incision, to now wearing maxi pads, cutout panties (this holds everything in place to be able to use the restroom and it not all fall out), real panties and then the compression garment. By the way, do not wait until the last minute to go to the restroom because shifting and removing compression garments while trying not to pee yourself is not a simple or fast process. We have had to rethink the dressings which were not previously ‘firmly’ attached but stayed in place because of the binder. Now we are finding that everything moves when the compression garment moves. As a result, we have adjusted our approach to wound dressing using gauze and paper tape to increase the probability of keeping everything relatively close to where we need it to stay. Hopefully the tape does not prove to be an issue with my skin as it has with different types of tape.
We also were able to ditch the surgical bras and now wear a sports bar. I was also excited about this, as the surgical bra has Velcro tabs on the sides and I was so glad to eliminate this particular irritation because it was rubbing the area under my arms. However, I literally went from being able to dress myself (minus putting on the binder) to now having help putting on the sports bra and the compression garment. Thankfully, I have finally found at least one garment I can take on and off by myself without it hitting the wounds but the sports bra is another matter. It has a clasp and zipper in the front. The clasp is to help hold it together while you get the zipper closed. In addition to creative closure, we still have to dress the left breast, while it is doing better, it still needs a little extra care. So we still have wound care in the mornings and in the evenings after I take my shower which by the way is a real normal shower, and is the most glorious thing!
We are having our own Olympic games over here and Stephen has won every gold medal!
