My body was getting stronger, but still needed pain medications.  I was alert when taking my pain meds, but I couldn’t remember what happened two days earlier.

My bandages were coming off this morning and my plastic surgeon wanted me to take a shower.  I didn’t want Ray to look at me and my chest, but I had no choice since he was stripping my drain tubes and measuring the fluid from my Jackson-Pratt drains. We had to record on paper how many cc’s each JP drain tube produced and record what time we drained the JP drain.

Here is what the measuring cups look like:  

I told Ray I was ugly and he said, “Geesh honey, I didn’t marry you for your boobs!”  He also said, “The nurses and doctors said you will not look like this forever and just think, no more wearing bras and actually, your incisions are not bad at all.”

Now it is time for my first shower after surgery.  Ray was told by a chaplain, who prayed for us while I was having surgery at the hospital, to use ribbon or string or even shoelace to string the Jackson-Pratt drains together (there are fasteners with a hole attached to JP drain) and then take the shoelace with the JP drains and tie the ribbon around my neck, loosely, so the drains are not dangling and hanging down from my body and pulling my skin.  In this picture below, shows a plastic loop (near the thumb) and the plastic part will open to thread ribbon or shoelace through.

This method worked beautifully.  Ray also placed a small stool in the middle of our bathroom for me in case I get dizzy or tired from standing.  I took my shower and actually was able to raise my arms enough to wash my hair.  I thought I would be devastated, even with a glimpse of looking at my chest, but I was actually okay.  I was happy to have my skin and see my same freckles.  I knew the image I was seeing now would not always look like this forever, but better.  The most difficult part was the underarm area where the lymph nodes were removed with the stitches in place.  The armpits were sore and I thought I would cry, but I didn’t.  There was absolutely NO FEELING whatsoever in the chest area, underarms, and all along the armpits to the elbows.  I would try and take a razor to the underarm and I couldn’t tell if I was touching skin or not.  The lymph node incisions were in the way and felt raw.  It felt good using a shower gel with a nice scent.  Made me feel like a woman again.

This is what I used to hold my JP drains; pictures below.  You just peel off the sticky tape and apply to whatever you are wearing and this holds the JP drains perfectly.  I was able to get 2 JP drains in each pocket.  They are washable while stuck to the shirt and when done, just peel the sticky pocket off the shirt.  My good friend/neighbor, Pam, gave me these as a gift.

Here is a video of what Ray had to do 4 times a day for the first 7 days.  I was able to handle the last 5 days on my own.  This is NOT a video of myself.