Boob surgery....

and not the GOOD kind of boob surgery! ;)

I had a pretty eventful April with the kiddos and personally! It all started with what I thought was a clogged milk duct. It was a small, red bump that was hot and painful to the touch. I asked around and the advice was to put heat compresses on, massage the area, and pump extra until it released. This was Saturday....

By Monday morning the small pea sized red bump was a large red GOLF BALL sized lump that was extremely painful. I knew I needed to seek some medical attention! I tried to see Diane but she was full, so I ended up seeing Sarah at Gifts from Grace. She took one look at it and said "I'd better get Dr. Modugno in here"... uh, oh. He took one look at it and said "You'd better get to a surgeon to have this removed ASAP." O.M.G.

What I thought was a clogged duct turned out to be a breast abcess from some kind of infection. I went to the surgeon the next day (Thursday) and took Brad along with me.
My options were to:
1. Have the procedure done with local anesthesia in the office
2. Have the procedure done at the hospital the next day and go under

I decided to do Option 1- I had the kids covered, Brad was with me, and honestly cost was a factor as well! So I put on my brave face and told him that we would go ahead right then. He told me it would be a few minutes to prep the procedure room. Those 10-15 minutes were some of the most nerve-racking moments I've ever felt. I had some serious anxiety- my heart goes out to people who feel what I felt in those moments every day- wow! I thought I was going to jump out of my skin. And yes- I've had natural childbirth- but this was completely different... I was going to be CUT OPEN and there wasn't going to be any happy ending sweet baby face looking up at me when it was all over- nothing to show for the pain...O.M.G again!

The procedure took about 20 minutes from start to finish and was extremely painful before they were able to locally numb the area. But once it was numb I didn't feel a thing and he did his work. They packed the area, taped me up, and sent us on our way with a prescription for Oxycodone and an antibiotic. I felt great...

until the numbness wore off. O.M.G did it hurt!!!! Oxycodone didn't even cut the pain at first, so what's a girl to do? Take 2!!! I'm not a cryer, and I was in tears it hurt so badly!

What came next was the kicker and something even the doc couldn't have warned me about... engorgement!!! OUCH! The entire next day was spent in bed with Adam with a pack of frozen veggies on my boob! Thank God for Patti who took Nick. I couldn't stand the thought of him cooped up all day long with a veggie for a Mommy, so off to Nana's he went!

The doctor told me I could pump as soon as I could tolerate the pain- he thought probably about 2 days or so. YEAH, RIGHT!?!?!? I was in PAIN from being so FULL! So I pumped a little over 24 hours after the surgery. Yeah, it hurt, A LOT, but it was a heck of a lot better than being so full!

I had to pump and dump for 1 week until my post-op check up. He then gave me the clear to give the milk to Adam but I couldn't breastfeed on that side until the sore closed up. 2 more weeks later, I went for my final check and was cleared to nurse again!

I was also told that I had MRSA Staph Infection! YUCK! NO CLUE how I got it, but most likely through Adam because of the location of the abcess. Staph is fairly common but scary nonetheless. I took Adam in and he checked out fine! The surgeon did warn that another bout of this could require me to stop nursing, so I'm hoping and praying that isn't necessary.

What a crazy event! Hopefully the next time I have a procedure done on my boobs, it'll be the good kind! ;)