You want to WHAT?!

Submitting to my wonderful OBGYN’s hints that it was time for me to move on and bother another doctor recommendation to see a specialist, I finally went to an appointment today with an expert in wound healing: a plastic surgeon.

I don’t know exactly what I was expecting. I was afraid he would say that there was nothing he could do, however my OBGYN had indicated that he might be able to cut away the bad scar tissue in the shape of a vertical eye, and sew me back up again, much nicer than before, so I think I was hoping for that. I even glanced at my calendar on my way out, to see what day next week would work best for us.

The plastic surgeon seemed like a good doctor – young, intelligent, friendly, confident – much like my OBGYN. After pulling out a couple of stitches that had made their way up, out of my abdomen, and were poking out of my skin (I know, right?! I mean, really?!) and inspecting my wound, he however gave me some pretty bad news: he can’t do anything until I am 100% and beyond healed, which will take at least six months.

Six months of looking like a freak?

Sigh.

And I won't even be here in six months, so it will be more like in a year.

Double sigh.

But then he told me the good news: when I come back in six months or a year (even better, he said) he will give me a full tummy tuck, getting rid of the scar entirely. Our insurance will pay for it, because of my wound history. I didn’t know what to say. I wasn’t even sure what a tummy tuck was, and his brief description did not entice me, since surgery right now isn’t exactly at the top of my Things I Want To Do list. But then on my way home I thought about it and how nice it would be not to have to look at this huge, ugly scar all the time. I texted a friend who also has carried and given birth to four children, and her response made me think that maybe it’s not the worst outcome, “A tummy tuck?! You are SO LUCKY!! I want one too!!!” In fact, I thought, if you ask any woman who bears the marks of multiple pregnancies on her abdomen, “How would you like for me to give you a 25-year old’s tummy again?” a lot of them would probably answer in the positive. Then I ran into another friend who made all kinds of exciting exclamations when she heard my plastic surgeon’s name. Apparently he’s quite famous in the region, and people come from abroad all the time just to have him operate on them.

So maybe it’s fine.

What would you do?

Open wound care and a jaundiced baby

I was sent home from the ER with very clear instructions: take a shower every day, and redress your wound right after. Call us if you see or feel any sign of an infection. 

That first shower felt really great – I had not been able to shower properly before this due to the catheter – but when I attempted to redress my wound, the whole situation became too much – I might have just realized that I was stuffing an inch and a half-deep hole in my abdomen with wet gauze - and I just about passed out. My husband, not much more confident, had to step in.

Please keep in mind that this whole time – from a few hours after surgery – all I ever wanted was to rest with my baby. But first I was in the hospital with all that this entailed, and then once home, there was a constant interruption for paperwork and check-ups. But things were about to get even more complicated. 

At our baby’s first check-up, four days after we got home from the hospital, the pediatrician noted how yellow he looked, and ordered a blood test. She called back an hour or so later with the results: his bilirubin level was 17.2 mg, and she wanted us to go to the hospital immediately to get him admitted for 2-3 days of light therapy. 

Now, I was a bit concerned too about our baby’s color, however not overly so, since all signs told us it was normal physiological jaundice that could be managed with frequent breastfeeding and some sun. His bilirubin level was high but I felt like I was just getting the breastfeeding going properly, and that if we could just have some rest and peace, everything else would follow. 2-3 days in the hospital would not only be very hard on me physically (the last place a person with an open wound should be in is a hospital, and I would not be able to get my much needed rest there), but would completely disrupt our breastfeeding progress, and hence have a negative effect on our baby’s health. 

Too tired to argue, I had Courtney take this discussion as well: “Yes, I’m afraid we are going to go against your medical advice here, doctor.” We did have to agree to come back the next day though to retest, and if his level had gone up further, that we would consider admitting him for light therapy. 

Followed 24 hours of marathon nursing – every 45 minutes to one and a half hours – accompanied by some naked time in the sun. It was tiring, but I figured that it would be worth it, not having to go to the hospital. 

The blood test the next day showed a bilirubin level of 13.4 – my effort had paid off. The doctor called back with the results and advised us to “just keep doing whatever it is that you are doing.” (That's sound medical advice, right there!) Taking care of our baby, that’s what. 

And that’s what we are going to spend Easter weekend doing, at home, in peace.

Open wound

Seven days after my surgery, my husband looked at my wound and suggested we contact my doctor, since it really didn’t look like it was healing properly (I still couldn't see the lower part of my belly properly, so I had not noticed). He confirmed that indeed, something was wrong, and told me to go to the ER. There, a few of his residents examined me, consulted my doctor, and then sent for the plastic surgeon on call. She examined my wound and told me the inevitable: there was no return – this wound had to be opened (staples removed) in the lower part, and I would have to exercise “Open Wound Care” for the next four weeks. 

Don’t know what open wound care is? My advice to you: if you type in the search term in Google, make sure you don’t accidentally click “images” or “videos” – it will scar you for life. 

Once my wound has somewhat healed, they can go in and stitch it up to make it look better, but the surgeon was very clear: it has to heal from the inside out first.

Oh boy.

To make me feel a little better, my doctor’s team removed my catheter (a day or two early), but it was little comfort since my main concern was the recovery time, and it had just been prolonged by four weeks.

Trying to recover

I can’t believe it has almost been a week. Having a baby really is like being in a casino: you lose track of time. 

All three older boys left for a sleep over last night and didn’t come back until dinner time today. I spent most of the day in a reclining position watching movies with the baby. My incision is still bleeding in the lower part – I think because I keep putting pressure on it while sitting up nursing – and I was hoping that if I took it extra easy today, the bleeding would stop. 

Part of me feels really bad for not doing anything around the house – most of you know how active I usually am, and so you can imagine how difficult it is for me to just sit still! – but the fact that I’m physically constrained by my catheter and that I currently have a body that is just begging me not to move pretty much make any of my efforts to do something futile.

Day 5: First day at home

Two major events:

Removal of incision site pad. Wow – I really do look like Frankenstein. When my doctor said he had to close me up quickly, he wasn’t kidding. But it doesn’t matter. And he knew it wouldn’t. The baby I have in my arms is worth every scar.

First post-op bowel movement. If you’ve ever had abdominal surgery, you just closed your eyes in silence, and suffered with me for a moment, remembering how excruciatingly painful it was. If you’ve never had abdominal surgery, I hope you never will have to. Your abdomen is inflated with carbon dioxide gas to facilitate visualization, and for two weeks after surgery, your body will have to get rid of this gas – it’s unbearable.