A surgery, an infection, an accident, a wound vac, and another surgery later, recovering amidst the virus craze
In September, I had a mastectomy due to the overwhelming pain of the weight on my chest. As soon as I left the state where I had that surgery, although post-op instructions were followed to the letter and everything looked fine during post-op the day before, one of the areas had somehow become infected.
I was taking antibiotics for it (having been informed by the surgeon via phone call/email that it was serious, potentially life-threatening) and still had bandages around my chest when, eleven days later, I was in an accident in which I was hit by a car door as the car either malfunctioned or was accidentally put in reverse (we’ll never know which really happened). The impact tore open my surgical incisions and I was transferred to another hospital, as I was then in a small town and the local, experienced surgeon wasn’t in the area.
After removing the not-yet-dissolved sutures from my injury, that hospital decided to attach me to a wound vac instead of closing my incisions themselves, despite having experienced surgeons on hand and how “clean” (as described by several medical professionals, due to the bandages already on my chest at the time) the wound was. This decision prolonged my recovery period. I was on the (annoying, constantly beeping because of what it judged to be insecure placement, soon…
