(Unflattering) Pics or it Didn't Happen in Planting Trees

The first post-op appointment was today. I got to see what’s under this compression vest. Sadly, it went right back on (albeit less tightly this time) and it’ll have to be removed twice a day to apply ointments and change the gauze over the nipple grafts. I can hardly remember to take my meds on time and that’s once a day, so this should be fun. Over the last two days, the wrap had gotten very itchy and I imagine I’m closer to understanding animals with flea infestations now, because scratching the wrap did nothing for it. It’s a lot less so now, but I guess since the stitches have been exposed to air now, they’re wanting to sting and be overall more annoying. So, anyway. Pictures.

This was our first time at their actual office, and it was very pretty. Because of the timing of starting this whole process, everything was done through phone consultations. Even my pre-op wasn’t in person, but through pictures I took in our bathroom and posted on the service they use for messaging clients. The first time any of this was in person was the day of the surgery itself at the hospital. I’m not complaining. I hate meetings that could have been emails. The only bad part was that my partner had to call in to bring me, which was awful timing since it was the one day he was supposed to work between his vacation and his regular days off.

Anyway, I was a few minutes ahead of being right on time, so they brought me straight back into a room and after the people ahead of us were all done, the nurse came and unwrapped me. She had to leave to grab a pair of tweezers, since there were two tight clear adhesive pads over each side of my chest, so that’s when we snapped some pictures. This is with only the tan outer wrap and nothing else removed.

I was pondering if the things on the wall behind me were previous clients’ failed nipple grafts. It just looks like some weird ass trophy box, lol. That part right over my sternum that looks pinched has been driving me insane so I’m massively relieved this appointment came so soon.

A lot of what was applied to me under anesthesia was taken off. It was cleaned up a bit and some fresh stuff applied, then we were sent off with what to get over the counter as far as gauze and ointment and a check up date for the end of September (this time, on a day we’re always off work.) I was given the clear to take showers “as long as I don’t let the water beat on my chest,” but I don’t think I will do that… Just one way my OCD plays out. If I can possibly put off something until it’s safer, I’m going to. I’m already worried about my cat bounding onto me and sliding away with my nipple like a coaster on a table, no need to add the shower head as a potential antagonist. I was also given the clear to sleep on my side, just not on my stomach. I did put that one to the test when we got home with an attempted nap… but it didn’t go well either. Back to the back sleeping I’ll go, but maybe not at as much of an incline as the last week.

Once home, we found my mom had left work early, so I unwrapped in the kitchen to show her. (She kept asking why and almost panicking, but we assured her it was fine because I’d have to be doing it twice daily. ) This is where the uglier pictures come in.

This is the incision from the side, running up under my armpit and smiling like it’s happy to see the light of day again. I could tell when she was taking the tight adhesive off of the right side of my chest that it didn’t have sensation. There’s a chance it won’t regain it, but I had a hunch it was the way it had been wrapped so tightly all week. Being able to take the wrap off and put it back on more gently proved to help to some degree. Even on the ride home, it was having that sensation like cold water seeping down my chest from my shoulder here and there. Very weird sensation, though. It’s numb enough to feel alien to me, but numb enough to not itch or sting? Of course not. Anyway, here’s my nipple.

I used to joke about having “some large pepperonis on this pizza.” Not anymore, but the petroleum jelly has it looking like a half chewed greasy one. That’s the part that really had my mom squicked out. I mean, I don’t blame her, but they said everything looked perfect, so I’m going to trust in the process here. I have to wonder what color they (and the scars) will end up being in the end.

Enough about my tits.

I’m in a really good spirit despite the stinging and an odd bout of nausea. This week’s discover list on spotify absolutely slaps and just knowing I get to tear into seven more of them before going back to work again is unfathomable to me. Flatness has me feeling like a third grader even if I can’t frolic in the yard like a kid yet, and this is like having a summer vacation again. We should be getting some rain this evening, and I’m hoping to hear it once this playlist is over. It’s been great spending time with my partner, even if here and there he’s having to take care of me. I just keep in mind that I’ll be able to return the favor when he goes in for the teet yeet himself. Shit, I said I was tired of talking about tits.

The stars (read: schedules) aligned yesterday so that everyone was home, so we had a day of board gaming again. So much so soon would normally have me spent and in a bad mood, but I feel like I actually have time to live for the next two months, so it was pretty great. Remember how I said I lost at that zoo building game (Ark Nova) so bad that I came in the negative? I scorched the earth so bad this time I won and they both came in the negative. I then had it returned to me thousandfold in the next game, which was another of the ones they picked up the day of my surgery.

The name of it was Ankh: Gods of Egypt. Here’s the kickstarter page for a better look at the map, more figures, etc. I’d like to go ahead and say that I am not a fan of war games. I mean that less thematically than I mean mechanically. You have one map and one goal, and you share that map and goal with everyone else. In this one, it was Egyptian Gods competing for devotion by conquering and holding land, obelisks, temples, pyramids, and gaining and spending followers.

As much as war games are not my style, they almost always have bomb ass art that makes me want to love them, and this one is no exception. Get a load of some of this art and the figure design involved:

Cat mummies. Yes. I found it so cool that the scorpions appeared to be powered by the mummy embedded in its back, too. Sexy eye for detail on the designer’s part. I was repping my man Thoth here. Apt they went with Thoth’s baboon symbolism versus his Ibis one, since real baboons are absolutely mortifying when aggressive. Anyway, if no one gets enough devotion to win by a certain point, the God in last place merges with the God in second-to-last place, and I was dragging major ass so hard behind everybody that my mom’s Goddess Bastet ate me. Our army of Basthoth cat monkeys then went forth, amassed, and utterly lost to the God of the underworld, Osiris.

On another equally-nerdy-in-an-entirely-different-way note, the day before that, mom was working topstock in her department at work and found an old dirt dauber tube that had fallen but not shattered. It was ancient and looked aborted. She carried it all the way home to me since I can’t get out and bug hunt right now. I broke out the tweezers and dismantled it immediately while she and Shane talked around me. I knew architect wasps stuffed the chambers with spiders so that when the egg inside hatched, the larva could feed safely, but I’d never opened one and seen it myself. I’ll hardly interrupt nature doing it’s business, and I just never have ran into an aborted case like this. So get a load of this, and if you hate spiders more than wasps, here’s a good reason to not swat them!

Also, a friend from our shift at work made another friend from our shift at work bring us a cardboard Pokemon display that was part of a big bus. It had snacks and crap on it. First friend is an older lady who is hardcore into Pokemon Go and kept most of the bus, but she saved a piece for us because we all collect the cards together. I forgot to really look at it because I was busy talking to second friend about work and the post op, but I hope it’s the chunk that had Morpeko on it. Cute bastard. Like we needed more clutter in our bedroom though, lol. Anyway, peace out. I should probably be resting or something.

Last updated August 29, 2022