Thursday morning I went to the ER bright and early to have the procedure done. I was taken back into a room in the ER to wait for my turn with the surgeon. My mother in law was home with the baby so I took advantage of the alone time to take a little nap. The surgeon came in a gave me a quick overview of how things were going to go, He said they would put me under general anesthesia because it would be very painful under just a local. There would be a small incision and then he would drain out the puss or whatever else was in there. The wound would then be packed allowing it to heal from the inside out. The whole thing would take about 10 minutes. He also said I would have to quit breastfeeding because it would be possible for milk to come out the hole. I was emotionally prepared for this but not physically as I was going to have to stop cold turkey. Thet took me to the OR around noon, and when I woke up I was in a little bit of pain but already felt relief from the abscess being removed. I went home a couple hours later.
That night was rough. My boobs got rediculously engorged and were huge and hard as rocks. I think the pain from the engrgement was probably worse than the pain from the surgery. I tried to hand express just a little bit of milk every couple of hours to try to soften them up a little, and I also had some pain meds which helped a little bit. Friday morning I had a follow up visit with the surgeon and he said everything looked great. He showed Jason the process of packing and unpacking the wound because he is going to be the one taking care of me. I bought some Sudafed which in theory is supposed to help dry up my milk, and a head of cabbage which is also supposed to help. Last night Jason unpacked me so I could take a shower and that was the first time I actually looked at it and let me tell you, its pretty gross. Its about a one inch incision, but the cavity is about 2 inches deep and is hollow. Well it was until it started filling up with breastmilk. GROSS!
Today I feel a little bit better. My boobs are still engorged but are starting to feel a little bit softer and the pain is bearable. I am quite the site too see though. I have the patch over the incision, followed by a diaper to absorb the ooze, a cabbage leaf over each boob all topped with a sports bra! Hey, whatever works!
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Since I didn't breastfeed, I totally went through the engorgement and hard as rock boobs. The best thing that worked for me was ice packs, especially in the shower. That way I could still take a hot shower, but I wouldn't run the risk of gushing milk everywhere.
ReplyDeleteGood Luck!