Doctor Visit

Yesterday I called Dr. Gimbel’s office and he was able to see me this morning. When I checked the bandage over the blister last night, it was still gooey. Of course, when I woke up this morning, it was miraculously gone. I decided to go to the appointment anyway, since I’d read a lot about these sorts of things going away and then returning.

He looked at the place and agreed with his initial diagnosis – the yellow ooze was fat necrosis coming from an area caused by a spitting stitch. In fact, he noticed a second one near the first one (I thought I had too, but then I thought it might be an indentation from the bandage on the first one). While I had his attention, I asked him to look at the pucker spot on the bottom of my left breast. He said that it’s healed fine – I feel it because I still have sensation in that area, and I’d probably feel more of that stinging if I had sensation anywhere else along the incisions on my breasts. And, because everything is healed fine – I can go swimming! I unfroze my gym membership and will be hitting the pool tomorrow!

I’ve also realized that I have a crush on Dr. Gimbel. Maybe it’s because he really helped me. But more I think it’s because he’s just kind of cute. I’ve googled his address (he lives only blocks away from me), today at the office I tried to figure out which car might be his in the physician parking area (I’m guessing it was either the Audi or the BMW – the Mercedes seemed a bit old), and I giggled a lot during the appointment and felt too self-conscious to make eye contact. I probably sound psycho, but don’t worry; I’m not going knocking at his door any time soon. I didn’t even bother to brush my hair before I went to the appointment, and I wore my sweats. There’s something about him I just find to be fascinating.

Good News and Not So Good News

The not-so-good news really isn’t that terrible. The blister on my abdominal incision was still oozing this morning. I wrote to Dr Gimbel again just to let him know. Within an hour or so, he wrote back:

You probably have either small area of fat necrosis or a “spitting suture” – both very common and not big deals. Probably not infection if there’s no angry red skin, fevers, chills. For now you can just put a 4×4 on it once a day (twice if needed). Why don’t you call the office and arrange to come in this week for me to take a peek?

Fat necrosis and spitting suture both make me nervous, although less nervous than an infection would have made me. Both of these things could require small procedures involving digging things out of the wound. I really don’t want him to stick anything in there, even if I hardly have any feeling there. If it’s worse than that, it could require a bit of surgery to re-open and then fix the wound again, which could also result in a drain again. But I think that’s unlikely. I’ve looked at pictures of these things (again, I don’t recommend this) and mine is minor compared to what I’ve seen online. Mine also doesn’t seem much like a spitting stitch, which is commonly described as a pimple. Mine is more of an oozing blister, which seems more like the descriptions of fat necrosis or some kind of abscess.

I will call Dr Gimbel’s office tomorrow – he’s in surgery on Mondays, but hopefully I can get in to see him Tuesday. I have my six-week check up a week from Thursday (which will actually be more like 7.5 weeks – tomorrow is six weeks). I can also ask him about the puckering under my left breast that still stings. And I can have him check the opening on the right side of the abdominal incision that actually seems to have finally closed!

On to the good news. This morning we took our son to the zoo. It was warm out, and we had a great time wandering around the mile-long loop, up and down some rather large hills, and through the exhibits. We came home and had lunch and naps, and then we went out for a mile-long walk around our neighborhood. It was during that walk that I realized – I had no back pain! I hadn’t had any at the zoo, and I didn’t really start to notice my back until I began cooking dinner (that’s right – tonight I cooked dinner, from scratch, for my guys for the first time in six weeks). So, that’s some progress. It feels good to know I may have conquered this before I head back to work – I was a little worried about being in pain all day while trying to teach, attend meetings, and sit at my desk. Now I know that I’m building up more strength, and hopefully I will continue to get stronger from here!

Pus (no pics, but gross description)

The other day, I was writing about the blister I have on my abdominal incision, and I wanted to say that at least there was no pus – I couldn’t figure out what the adjective form of that word was without first typing “pussy” and then immediately realizing that was incorrect. Pusy? Also seems wrong. Pusey? Whatever.

The point is, I officially have pus. The blister I had earlier in the week didn’t shrink at all over the past few days, despite my attempts to heal it with gauze and neosporin. This evening, while doing my nightly inspection, it burst. Clear liquid squirted out all over the make-up mirror I use to magnify things I inspect. Then, a thick, yellow, oily fluid began to ooze out. As I pressed on it, the blister kept filling and more pus continued to ooze out, every now and then with a bit of blood. After several minutes of pressing, filling, and oozing, it seemed sort of endless and I became bored and a bit nauseous. I cleaned the area with saline, wadded up some gauze and taped it on there. Then, of course, I immediately emailed Dr. Gimbel. I do suspect this is somewhat normal – someone on the FORCE board called hers a “suture abscess” and when I googled that, every page mentioned pus (apparently that’s what an abscess is – a pocket of pus). I anxiously await his reply.

More snip snipping

Last night after I wrote my blog entry, I decided to snip off that little stitch poking out of my right boob. It was too tempting to keep touching it – trying to push it back in, trying to pull it out. So I cut it off and put some neosporin over the area. This morning it looks less red and seems to have a bit of a scab, so that’s good.

I also kept reading about the blister and came across the term “seroma.” Do yourself a favor – do not look this up on Google Images. You will be haunted – trust me. For some reason, apparently there are a lot of animals who get these, and they turn into huge gaping gross wounds. You don’t want to see that when you’re worried about your own wound healing.

I did post on the FORCE boards about my blister, and did get a response from someone who had something similar. Because of her response, I will keep the area covered with neosporin and gauze, just to make sure it doesn’t explode all over me (with what is probably a quarter of a teaspoon of fluid, but still….).

Disappointing Glitch (graphic pics)

Dr. Gimbel had said I could start swimming again on Thursday as long as my incisions are completely healed. Unfortunately, I still have that small spot on my left side – the one that was really leaking for a while. It’s still a bit open, so I thought it would be best to check with him before potentially contaminating myself. While taking pictures of it to send to him, I also noticed on my right side a strange blister on the incision. I sent the following pictures and email:

Right side of abdominal incision (small sticky spot)

Left side of abdominal incision (blister)

Here is our email exchange:

You said I could start swimming again starting Thursday as long as all of my incisions were healed. The breasts look great – they’s so seamless in fact that I can’t even feel a scar when I run my finger over them. I still have two spots on my abdomen that I hoped you could look at (pics below). The first is of the spot I showed you at our last appt – it’s smaller now, it’s not dripping actively, but it is still a bit sticky when I touch it. The second is on the other side and it feels sort of like a blister – it feels like there’s fluid in there if I press on it (don’t worry – I’m not trying to open it!). So, as much as I’m dying to get back into my exercise regimen in the pool, I definitely don’t want an infection. Do you think these look ok, or should I still wait to go swimming?

I’m glad you are doing well. These little persistant areas are not too uncommon, and usually just take time to heal. I think you should probably wait for things to be all sealed up before you swim to avoid any deeper contamination that might set up an infection. Can you do walks, treadmill, stationary bike, etc until then?

Also, I am planning a hysterectomy at the end of this year. Can I still have laparoscopic surgery through my belly button and abdomen now that I’ve had this done?

Yes, you should be able to have the laparoscopic procedure done as usual once everything is healed (about 6 months post-op).

I went to a FORCE meeting (that’s the org that supports people with BRCA mutations) on Sunday – several local women looking into surgery. I recommended you highly!

Thank you for your kind words!
Best,
MLG

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So, I’m disappointed. For me, swimming is 50% about physical wellbeing, and 50% about mental wellbeing. I find it relaxing, therapeutic, and meditative, and of course it makes my body feel better – stretched and flexible. He suggested treadmill, etc, but frankly, I hate the gym and wouldn’t go there at all if there wasn’t a pool. But, I will continue to take walks outside and I have DVRed some yoga, which I will also start doing.

I did write back to ask if I have to wait for both of these ‘problems’ to go away, and he said just to wait for the right side opening to close. I also asked him what that blister is – he said it’s probably a suture knot trying to free itself and that it’s nothing to worry about. Out of curiousity, I googled “suture knot blister” and was able to find this veterinary advice, which while about a dog does seem to describe what I have. This is some info about humans who’ve had tummy tucks, and it also seems to describe what I have (although mine does not have any pus, thank god).

Now that I’ve emailed him like six times, I realize I forgot to ask about another potential problem – a thread of some kind is actually popping through the skin of my right breast to the right of the pseudo-areola. It’s like a little piece of clear fishing line that’s just poking up out of the skin, definitely less than an inch (I tried taking a picture but it’s so small, it doesn’t really look like anything). If I tug on it though, there’s resistance and I feel a bit of discomfort throughout my breast. I wonder if he’d consider that to be an opening too. Now I’m paranoid; I never really thought about how scary pool water is.

I really think that small opening on the right side could close any day now, and I think with keeping it dry and not scrubbing too hard in the shower, it probably could be gone by the weekend. My new goal is to be back in the pool on Monday, unless the skin around the stitch on my breast seems to have changed. Ugh. By the time I’m allowed to swim again, I’ll be back at work and won’t have any time to do it anyway.