I recently had a breast reduction surgery (July 21). Some shuu-ers were kind enough to wish me luck with it. Thank you to those few. <3 I just want to let everyone here know that I'm doing alot better than I was the first few days after the surgery. I'm still rather sore, but I'm able to move around and do a little more each day that passes--which makes me very happy.

I also got the surgical drains removed today. The drains were attached to each breast in order to gently suction out excess fluids (blood, pus, etc.). I'm just glad to finally have those things out. Now, I can wear shirts normally, without those two things dangling in the way! The next step, however... stitches. Next week, I'm supposed to be getting those removed.

I'm scared to death of the pain, and in order to get at least a little relief, I want to ask all of you if you've ever had stitches taken out before--either from the same type of thing, or even completely different locations. I want to know if they numb the sites before they do it, or if they just tell you to "bite your tongue and bear it" or something. I asked the nurse if they would drug me the day of the event, she said no.

I need reassurance. I'm a HUGE worrier, and I tend to overthink things like this and freak out. Please help! DX

Thank you,
Emily

Glad to hear you're going well (or rather... not bad ?), Softfang.

I can't say I have any experience in stiches removal, but you can read the procedure here (you may want to start from page one though): http://www.emedicinehealth.com/removing ... ge3_em.htm

Note that they say :
"These relatively painless steps are continued until the sutures have all been removed. You may feel a tug or slight pull as a stitch is removed."

I've only had non-lasting stiches in the past. Once they started falling down, pulling on the remaining ones wasn't really hurting or anything. So be at ease, I believe the worst is clearly behind you.

If you consider it from a 'human anatomy' point of view, external pain is a signal sent to your brain from specific cells on your skin. These cells must have been over-stimulated the last days; even if they had too, they wouldn't sent as much pain signal as they would before the operation. Taking out a string out of there shouldn't be problematic.

That's it ! I hope this'll help a bit. Get well soon !

Wow, Andell. Thank you so much for this. <3 I hope to get a few more replies like this, but maybe with personal experiences too. ^^ -Hugs.-

Good to see you're alright.
I can't even imagine having that operation.
(Probably because I don't want to, but eh~)

Hmm, I've only ever had stitches in my mouth from wisdom teeth removal, and I don't think those count, really. xD So no help there, but I'm sure you'll be fine!

I've been under the knife a few times, just bite down on something and keep your mind off what is happening. Hell, I once took huge chunks out of my arm after a spider bite under the skin exploded.

Dunno why you had to get it done, but as long as you're recovering.

It was a medical necessity. I have Cerebral Palsy in my legs, so the huge weight of my chest was putting tons of strain on my already weak legs. >_<;

Ahh... nasty, it's for the better then.

Everyone, I've been doing just fine since the surgery. All but 2-3 stitches have been removed (got that done yesterday, and it's still very sore/tender/different). There is a hole underneath my left breast, which they say will close over time. But it's not dangerous. To keep it clean and to help fluid and other junk drain from it quicker, the nurse taught me how to do "wet to dry dressings"... which... ugh, they sound disgusting. Since I have to dampen one gauze pad, gently stuff it into the hole slightly (-gag-) and then cover that with a dry one. x.x; -Shudders- Simply just touching it freaks me out, so this... will be difficult. But... at least there's no infection, nothing major to worry about. I'm getting better. Slowly.

'happy you're doing fine after all, softfang. Congratulations for getting through the worst of it.~ All that's left is the "nasty feeling" part, it seems, so don't give up !

It may sounds weird coming from someone who doesn't know that much (if not at all ^^'), but don't neglect doing what's left to do either, even if it's hard. It may be... well... making you shudder, or giving you the creeps, but it's pretty important to carry it until the end. ^^

Get well~



Ya I know too short XD I won't post tl;dr comments XD

I'm doing even better! I figure I may as well update you guys after so long. XD; I got all my stitches out, and the hole that had been under my left breast is finally closed! Well, it hasn't healed over completely, but the scab-stuff is there now, which means NO MORE HOLE AND NO MORE LEAKING.

Don't take this the wrong way please but I chuckled a little when I read the part about not leaking anymore. Glad to hear you are doing better.

Good thing~ But just in case, let me do a full examination~ Just to be safer~ ;D

Lmao. XD T-Tensa-san... >///<