It's been nine days since my surgery. Most of the bruising has faded. The incisions are healing very nicely. Not a lot of pain, only twinges now and then. I did have one issue a few days later that drove me ... crazy! Blistering and itching where the edges of the bandages covering the incisions under my arm and on the top of my breast met the skin!
Naturally, I panicked. I called the oncology nurse and described what was going on and she made an appointment for me to come in see my surgeon on September 12th. My husband, Bill - my rock - was right beside me.
It turned out to be nothing serious. Probably a reaction to the tape edges of the bandage. My Oncology surgeon checked me over ... happy with the way everything was healing. As far as the blisters and the itching, he cut the tape away from the area that was causing my discomfort and advised me to use some Bacitracin for the blistered skin.
I left the office feeling relieved, but found the situation hadn't really resolved itself when I followed his advice after I had gotten home. All the Bacitracin did was leave the skin continually moist and the blisters kept reforming. I decided to try another course. Twice a day I gently washed the areas and carefully patted them dry. Then I took a small bit of talcum powder and lightly dusted the areas where the tape and skin met. Voila! Problem solved in less than two days!
You might think I had over-reacted a bit, and I probably had - but the visit had also ended with an unexpected bit of wonderful news. The doctor had gotten my test results back and everything was - great! My lymph nodes were unaffected by the cancer - and the margins around the removed tissue were clean! Thank you, God!
My first follow-up appointment with my team is September 20th. Wish me luck!
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