Post-Op #1

I had my first post-op appointment with the plastic surgeon today.  Things look good.  The donor site is healing pretty well, and I got a sneak peak underneath my bandages (though there wasn't really much to see).

My chest is currently covered with lots of gauze, held in place by a lovely netted bra.  It has a velcro closure in the front, and there was a piece of the hook-and-loop that was scratching my skin until I covered it with medical tape.  The doctor pulled away the gauze this morning to reveal what Rusty called "pasties" that are basically stuck to the grafted skin to protect it.  That's really all I saw, but I could tell that the skin around the stitches was very healthy and not the slightest bit red, which is good.  I expect that the surgeon will finally remove the gauze nightmare at my next follow-up, though the grafts will still be pretty sensitive.

The donor site (aka my inner thigh) is understandably a little messier.  It's kind of hard to avoid moving my legs.  During the surgery, they basically cut round "full-thickness" pieces of skin from my inner thigh (to graft onto my chest) and sewed the holes shut.  They placed steri-strips over the incisions (steri-srips are basically surgical tape) and I have to keep the area clean and dry without touching it too much.  Sounds like fun, huh?  :-)

So, for the next several days I'll still be sans shower (even MORE fun) and just trying to take it easy... not walking much, not lifting much, etc.  At least they haven't restricted me from knitting.