September 9 - Plastic Surgery Continues

I had another follow up with Dr. Shulman this morning. I have 2 random open areas, about the size of a pencil lead. One is in the middle of the left incision, and the other is on the right in the middle of virgin skin. Grr. My body hates "dissolvable" stitches! Good news anyway, we both think this will resolve on it's own.So it's back to massage and moisturization routines while the scar tissue matures. This feels really weird, because the nerve endings are all mixed up, half numb and half hypersensitive. I thought it would be easy enough to do to myself since I do scar massage on patients every day, but it feels too yucky. I have to hold my breath and squint my eyes, and I still only tolerate it for a few seconds. I tell patients 5 minutes twice a day. Ha! Maybe if it were on my knee...

I go back in six weeks for a follow up and decision on the next steps. I'm looking at another surgery to reconstruct nipple buds in about 2 months, or I have the option of shading tattoos instead. I will be polling (yes, visually and verbally) to see what others think would be most "normal". Dr. Shulman thinks we can wrap up the reconstruction this year, so everything falls under the same deductible. Good plan!