I have a(nother) hole in my boob
There's been, well, a sore of sorts on the outside of my right boob. It's been needing to be lanced (punctured) for awhile now so it can drain. It's been like this for awhile now; after Thanksgiving but before Christmas. I poke at it every night, to agitate it so that it can finally pop and drain. I was getting ready for my shower yesterday evening and it looked, for lack of a better word, ripe. It hurt a lot and was tender, so I didn't touch it until I got in the shower and the hot water softened it up more. Then I squeezed. SQUIRT! It went up the front of my shower near the shower head and got some good distance (running joke with my husband; another set of TMI stories there). I kept squeezing it to get more pus out and blood. The blood was a DARK red; it almost looked like a dark brown. I believe this would be considered "bad" blood or blood with infection.
When it was "done" draining, I looked at it more closely (or as closely as I could considering my make-up from the day and the water were both running down my face) and there was a nice little hole. I'm used to seeing things like this on my boobs. There are scars from other holes that have erupted; I've even got a "pocket" for pus and nasty stuff on my left one near the intentional scars. I have to squeeze and drain this one on a nightly basis, as it fills with sweat and soap, etc. every day.
When I was finished with my shower and dressed, I walked downstairs and announced, "I have a new hole in my boob!" This is when I told them what happened. I also showed my husband and mother-in-law (she's seen me in far worse condition; she also helped me post-FIRST surgery). We decided to get the new bacitrecin tube I had from a couple years ago (from the revision of the first surgery), applied it directly to the hole and then put gauze on it, using paper medical tape, as I'm allergic to the nylon medical tape.
Now, one may be wondering what kind of surgery I'm talking about. In February 2005, I had a breast reduction surgery. Normally, I was about a 38DD; when I was on my period, they were more like 42DD. During a well-womens check-up (still active duty), I was referred to the local Navy hospital (Naval Medical Center San Diego) for a breast reduction consultation. This was about a year prior to the actual surgery. It took six weeks to get approval for the consultation and another six weeks on top of that to schedule it. When I finally had the appointment, the surgeon told me I was a perfect candidate for the surgery and proceeded to tell me how he's doing to do it. There was only one thing holding me back; my weight. At 5'7" (or 6", depending who is doing the measuring), I was to weigh no more than 163 pounds. If I were a dependent, I think they tacked on another 10-15 pounds. I lost the weight (lots of water, veggies and sex) and was scheduled for the surgery for nearly mid-February. I quit smoking just befoer the new year, as you have to six weeks before surgery. It was difficult because I wasn't ready to quit, but I did it. Surgery went well. Spent one or two nights in the hospital and was off from work for about three weeks. He had taken me down three whole cup sizes. I was finally able to wear C bras!
During those three weeks, an abcess began to form in my right breast. The surgeon saw it as scar tissue; my husband and I knew better. When it became unbearably painful, we lanced it. And the abcess drained. And drained. We went back to the plastics office and showed my surgeon. He decided to have a wound vac put on me to suck out the bad stuff and to promote the healing from the inside out (to prevent pockets and possibly more abcesses). This was all fine and dandy.. until nearly three weeks later, I had ANOTHER abcess, but this time on the left breast. The wound vac was pretty much finished with the right side and it was moved to the left side. The wound vac on the left side and I was "packing the wound" on my right side daily. My boobs were in bandages for my wedding in April 2005; the initial surgery had been in February 2005 (constulation and referral around early Spring 2004).
The abcesses were bad. Almost a year to the day later, I went in for a revision surgery. Everything was okay.. for a little while. Then this pocket on my left breast formed. I've been squeezing and draining it for nearly two years now. With this new hole, I plan on going to Acute Care on a weekend (I can NOT lose the hours at work; too much going on; I HAVE to be here) and have them look at it and go from there. Ideally, I'd like to have another surgery done. For my trouble, I think they should get rid of about ten pounds in my mid-section as well.
The only downside to these breast surgeries is the ability to breast feed. I wanted to breastfeed Belladonna. I wasn't able to. She couldn't latch on, as my nipples were too small. I didn't even realize this fact until she got here. I pumped but I couldn't pump much. I was lucky to get two ounces after an hour of pumping BOTH breasts. I was able to get the majority from the left side, as the right side had the larger abcess. As one can deduct, my milk ducts were damaged due to the surgeries. I knew this going in. At the time, I needed the surgery and was willing to take the chances of not being able to breastfeed. My back was in constant pain and I knew it would be in even worse pain once I got pregnant (during my recovery from the revision surgery in February 2006). Even with taking Reglan, my supply was running low and I gave up. She got the colostrum she needed and I'm happy about that much. She's totally and perfectly healthy at nearly 14 months.
When it was "done" draining, I looked at it more closely (or as closely as I could considering my make-up from the day and the water were both running down my face) and there was a nice little hole. I'm used to seeing things like this on my boobs. There are scars from other holes that have erupted; I've even got a "pocket" for pus and nasty stuff on my left one near the intentional scars. I have to squeeze and drain this one on a nightly basis, as it fills with sweat and soap, etc. every day.
When I was finished with my shower and dressed, I walked downstairs and announced, "I have a new hole in my boob!" This is when I told them what happened. I also showed my husband and mother-in-law (she's seen me in far worse condition; she also helped me post-FIRST surgery). We decided to get the new bacitrecin tube I had from a couple years ago (from the revision of the first surgery), applied it directly to the hole and then put gauze on it, using paper medical tape, as I'm allergic to the nylon medical tape.
Now, one may be wondering what kind of surgery I'm talking about. In February 2005, I had a breast reduction surgery. Normally, I was about a 38DD; when I was on my period, they were more like 42DD. During a well-womens check-up (still active duty), I was referred to the local Navy hospital (Naval Medical Center San Diego) for a breast reduction consultation. This was about a year prior to the actual surgery. It took six weeks to get approval for the consultation and another six weeks on top of that to schedule it. When I finally had the appointment, the surgeon told me I was a perfect candidate for the surgery and proceeded to tell me how he's doing to do it. There was only one thing holding me back; my weight. At 5'7" (or 6", depending who is doing the measuring), I was to weigh no more than 163 pounds. If I were a dependent, I think they tacked on another 10-15 pounds. I lost the weight (lots of water, veggies and sex) and was scheduled for the surgery for nearly mid-February. I quit smoking just befoer the new year, as you have to six weeks before surgery. It was difficult because I wasn't ready to quit, but I did it. Surgery went well. Spent one or two nights in the hospital and was off from work for about three weeks. He had taken me down three whole cup sizes. I was finally able to wear C bras!
During those three weeks, an abcess began to form in my right breast. The surgeon saw it as scar tissue; my husband and I knew better. When it became unbearably painful, we lanced it. And the abcess drained. And drained. We went back to the plastics office and showed my surgeon. He decided to have a wound vac put on me to suck out the bad stuff and to promote the healing from the inside out (to prevent pockets and possibly more abcesses). This was all fine and dandy.. until nearly three weeks later, I had ANOTHER abcess, but this time on the left breast. The wound vac was pretty much finished with the right side and it was moved to the left side. The wound vac on the left side and I was "packing the wound" on my right side daily. My boobs were in bandages for my wedding in April 2005; the initial surgery had been in February 2005 (constulation and referral around early Spring 2004).
The abcesses were bad. Almost a year to the day later, I went in for a revision surgery. Everything was okay.. for a little while. Then this pocket on my left breast formed. I've been squeezing and draining it for nearly two years now. With this new hole, I plan on going to Acute Care on a weekend (I can NOT lose the hours at work; too much going on; I HAVE to be here) and have them look at it and go from there. Ideally, I'd like to have another surgery done. For my trouble, I think they should get rid of about ten pounds in my mid-section as well.
The only downside to these breast surgeries is the ability to breast feed. I wanted to breastfeed Belladonna. I wasn't able to. She couldn't latch on, as my nipples were too small. I didn't even realize this fact until she got here. I pumped but I couldn't pump much. I was lucky to get two ounces after an hour of pumping BOTH breasts. I was able to get the majority from the left side, as the right side had the larger abcess. As one can deduct, my milk ducts were damaged due to the surgeries. I knew this going in. At the time, I needed the surgery and was willing to take the chances of not being able to breastfeed. My back was in constant pain and I knew it would be in even worse pain once I got pregnant (during my recovery from the revision surgery in February 2006). Even with taking Reglan, my supply was running low and I gave up. She got the colostrum she needed and I'm happy about that much. She's totally and perfectly healthy at nearly 14 months.
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