A sticky subject

Surgical tape and adhesives are very irritating to my skin. After my lumpectomy, I had a patch at the edge of the tape that itched and broke out like poison ivy. We discussed this prior to my surgery, and sure enough, my bandage from this surgery was different than that. It was like a plastic coating covering gauze and extending from my sternum around under my arm. I think it might have been Tegaderm by 3M. It comes in an 8x12" size that would accurately describe the extent of the bandage. Well, I broke out again! Several large blisters at the edge of the tape. It turns out that blisters can form from the friction of the tape putting shearing forces on the layers of skin. From the linked study, you can see that this can be more than minor irritation as it was for me.

After two days, I was allowed to remove the Tegaderm and shower, but I needed to put a dressing on at the place where my drains came out. The nurse had given us three kinds of tape, all by 3M: Durapore, kind of a silky tape, Micropore, like a non-woven paper, and Transpore, a clear plastic tape with perforations in about a 1mm gird. In the end, they were about equal in terms of comfort. We used as little as humanly possible. My drains came out on June 25th. I still had to cover the holes with gauze for several more days, so by the 29th I was finished with bandages. I was still scrubbing black tape residue off my skin over the 4th of July weekend. Rubbing alcohol was worthless. My sugar scrub helped some, but in the end, the thing that worked the best was my Mary Kay oil-free eye makeup remover.

2009 Team Sarcoma Walk / Massachusetts - Boston

On Saturday, July 18th, the Jennifer Hunter Yates Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital held their 4th Team Sarcoma walk.

Hospitals -- no place for the sick! (9-10 June 09)

Well, what can I say, I had to stay in the hospital one night. The OR nurse briefed the hall nurse about where I was at, and the aide came in to re-connect these "boots" that were inflating and deflating every few minutes to, theoretically, keep me from getting any clots in my legs. It took about 4 pillows and a couple folded and rolled blankets to support everything so I would not be in much pain. In addition to the Demerol to stop the shakes, they had also given me Dilaudid for pain. As such, I was pretty out of it for a while. I was surprised to see that the clock said it was after 4 o'clock, where had the time gone? I was aware of a terrible sore throat, a side effect of the intubation for the general anesthetic. Eventually, I felt well enough that I asked for something to drink. The Dilaudid eventually began to wear off, so we performed experiments with the gate theory of pain control. In essence, a gentle stroke on the skin, may override the pain impulses going to the brain. This was pretty effective for me. Poor Colin wore his arm out reaching over the rail, so he moved to the other side so he could support his arm on the bed. The easiest place for him to reach was my leg. It was just as effective as my arm. I had gotten warm and was going to have him take off the blanket, and when I looked down, I said: "Since I am warm anyway, why don't you take the blanket off my leg so no one gets the WRONG idea ;-)." Not long after that, the Doctor came to check on me. I think he was amused (and perhaps surprised that anyone knew about the gate theory).

The worst part of every hospital stay I have had is the bed! They always have just the sheet over the waterproof mattress. This is as comfortable as lying on a plastic bag. When I finally was able to get up, I had Colin take two of the blankets and spread them out on the sheet to help with this. I got up, mainly because they said if I got up and walked, I could get the boots off.

I eventually got something to eat, and felt well enough that Colin got his computer out and we watched the pilot episode of Bones. We have Bones in our Netflix queue. I had gotten hooked, but at least two seasons after it started, so since Colin had never seen it, we decided to see if we could understand some things by going back to the beginning. That was my limit, and it was off to bed. They brought a recliner in for Colin to sleep on, and it was nice to have him there so I wouldn't have to call the nurse for every little drink or trip to the bathroom.

The worst part of the hospital is that they want to wake you up for this and that. I had to have one more dose of IV antibiotic at 4 a.m. When she came back to remove the IV, she said: "Well, I'll be back in an hour to check your drains." Colin said: "No, check them now." She said: "I can come back. Its not a problem." Colin said: "I think you need to check them now, that way, she might get some sleep." Long silence and then "Oh..... ok." They are definitely on THEIR schedule in the hospital, not on a patient centered schedule.* But it goes to show that speaking up helps.

Thankfully, the day nurse bent the rules and left us alone until after we were awake at 0800. We got up, had breakfast, and Ruth Ann got dressed. The Doctor came by to give me a prescription and instructions, and we were on the way home.

* Colin's note: I need to write a posting about this, too. I have a suspicion that too much disturbance is bad for the patient. For example, in RA's case, her vitals had been perfect from the get-go. Why check them so often?

And the three IV doses of prophylactic antibiotic that she was given...did it REALLY have to be given on a precise 8-hr schedule? And did all the doses have to be IV? Post-game Googling finds that a single dose prior to surgery seems to be all that was indicated (reference Postoperative Prophylactic Antibiotics and Surgical Site Infection Rates in Breast Surgery Patients which shows a single preoperative dose is standard, and that postoperative application has no benefit). Ruth Ann could have had the IV out of her hand before bedtime, and would have had more sleep that night. Oh, well, no harm this time that we know of....hopefully there are no Clindamycin resistant bacteria floating around in her system.