10 days post op and Selma the seroma

Last night when I got out of the shower I bent down to get the towel that I had dropped. When I stood up I noticed some movement in my right foob. To a normal women, it would be normal to have your breasts flop around a bit when standing up from the bent over position, in fact it is inevitable. To a women rocking tissue expanders it takes you by surprise..because they are literally rocks that do not move. I called the after hour answering service to ease my mind, after all I have never been in this situation before and am learning as I go. My surgeon called me back saying that it sounded like a seroma.

A seroma is a pocket of bodily fluid that commonly occurs after tissue has been removed.http://www.breastcancer.org/treatment/side_effects/seroma

I went in today to have the nurse take a look as adviced by my surgeon just to be certain. She took photos and called my Dr since my seroma (which I have since named Selma) isn't in the location they are commonly found in my given situation. Rather than being in my underarm area near the hole my drain once was, mine is at the underside of my tissue expander. My surgeon told the nurse to do a needle aspiration to remove the fluid, but since she hadn't done one before she didn't feel comfortable trying. Because I live over an hour away, I was asked to hang around town until the other Dr came in an later in the afternoon. I am glad I did.

The Dr in office decided to leave it for now. Because I have no signs of infection, and the risks of addressing it could leave me with a punctured expander leading to another major surgery ...leaving it seemed like the best course of action for now. I was told that my Dr may chose to drain it when I seen her next. He said typically during expansion the seroma runs out of space and is forced to either be absorbed by the body or spray out of the puncture hole created at the time of expansion. So for now I have what he calls "a fun bar trick"! Haha which I laughed at as it seems that I am not the only one that had stood in the mirror poking it, or ehm..sent videos of it to her friends. Haha

Aside from Selma I am doing pretty well. The bruising and swelling continue to go down little by little with each day and I'm adjusting to all the changes the best I can. One day at a time has become my new motto. That's all we can do. Embrace the journey and continue to put one foot in front of the other.