Double mastectomy and reconstruction

Jacqui, I've found the breast cancer nurses a great source of information & support.  Have you got the Helpline phone no for the Cancer Council in your state ... so you can call them yourself?  I only know about the Qld one, but the ladies who take the calls are fabulous ... and will take time to talk with you.  They always ask you to give a rating on how you're feeling at the moment.  You've come through tough surgery and are in pain & dealing with fluid.... it'd be hard not to have tears falling.  I wish I were there to give you a  gentle hug.  The breast cancer nurse will advise about the pain and the fluid ... and please god let it be that these things  are a temporary response of your body.  I had open heart surgery in March and when the fluid built   up afterwards, I honestly thought I was drowning from the inside.  A senior nurse was brilliant in how she reassured me that it was simply the body's response to 'something big' being done to it ... & it was treatable and would pass.  She said to me that if that were not so.... then where did I think I would be?  The answer was Intensive Care.   And I wasn't there!  it gave me a perspective.... when I'd been in tears and panicking.   It hurt like billyho having a drain put in my back & was like continually being stabbed with an icepick.   But the nurse told me that this was  'my friend' as it was taking the fluid away.   That, too, gave me another perspective.... the awful hurting would eventually bring benefit to me.   I don't know if any of this is helpful to you.  But your tears and depression with the awful pain & the fluid reminded me of exactly how I felt.   Which is why I answered you so quickly.