Wednesday 25th - Surprise

The appointment for the draining session ("aspiration") was at 10.30 upstairs on level 3 where they do the scans. I had just enough time to get to the cafe to grab a cheese and cracker pack and a coffee before heading up. I foolishly hadn't had any breakfast (because I wasn't hungry and was expecting to meet a friend for coffee mid-morning, not have more things poked in me), but knew I'd need some blood sugar to get me through the next bit.

I waited in the waiting room for a good 40 minutes before I had my session, as I'd been slotted in at the last minute. The scan-nurse was really nice as was the other nurse and the doctor. They scanned my breast and could see a wide, flat pool of liquid which was 6x6x1 cm. The doctor came in and gave me some local anaesthetic in my breast. That wasn't too bad because I still didn't have a lot of sensation in that area anyway. When they asked me, I lied a little bit and said I did, so that they'd be more gentle! I'm sure they would have been the same anyway.

I didn't look, but they put a large-ish needle attached to a syringe in. Apparently it was even bigger than the needle used for the biopsy. Yikes. I could feel them using gauze to stem any leakage and suddenly developed a strong fascination with the sprinkler valve on the roof above me and to the right.

The doctor and the nurse sucked the fluid out. I could hear the sucking in the tube a bit, which wasn't pleasant to think about, back to concentrating on the sprinkler valve. They had to change the vial at one stage, but I couldn't feel a thin, could only hear them talking about it. At the end, they really wanted to squeeze the last remaining fluid out, and squeeze they did! I felt like a lemon being squeezed of its last juice. They got out another mil or two, removed the needle, and then out a waterproof gauze thing over the hole.

They got 57 ml out. It was clear, not murky, which was a good sign of no infection. They advised me to keep going with the antibiotics anyway.

Apparently people can have 100s of ml removed, and several sessions. I hope I don't have to go back there.

My breast definitely looked 'flatter' on the top afterwards. I hadn't really thought about it before then because my breasts are quite round and firm anyways and the blood which had pooled just made my left one look more 'normal' to me. The nurse said it would be more comfortable for me. It hadn't been particularly uncomfortable, but on Wednesday night I slept so well and even had nice normal dreams, so it must have made a difference. It's definitely more of a match for size with the right one now.