It is Way Past Time....a Bra Fitting Tipped the Scales - Annapolis, MD

Well, I am on the other side now and it has been quite a ride. I went into the PS office at 7am on Thursday and was prepped and ready for surgery before 8. They did all the questioning (when did I eat last, am I a smoker, etc.) and even did a pregnancy test (boy, would that have been a surprise!). I was a little nervous but I had no hesitation so mostly I just wanted to get it over with. The surgeon came in to draw his lines and i reiterated with him that I wanted as much taken off as possible to remain proportional. I walked into the OR and then was asleep a few minutes later. The worst part of the whole ordeal was waking up from the anesthesia in the recovery room. They had me up right away and off to the bathroom before they let me go home. I think my surgery was about 2 hours and I was home by 11:15.
The pain was worse than I expected and the ride home was pretty brutal. As soon as I got home I had some crackers and pain pills but by that point I was behind on the pain and it took me several hours alternating the oxy and the tylenol to get it a little bit under control. I was on the fence of the blood clot assessment so I have 7 days of shots to make sure I don't get one. The first night was pretty tough because I had to wake up every two hours to walk around (more warding off of blood clots). I was up anyway to take meds but I didn't really sleep - just nap. Yesterday the pain was worse and I was glad to talk to the surgeon again for my first post-op. He said that everything went perfectly and I was going to have a beautiful result. He told me to choke up the pain meds to every three hours from every four to help get past the pain. They also took off all the dressings and told me that I was ready to shower if I wanted to. I don't have any drains or stitches so that is a help and I just need to leave the steri-strips alone till they come off all on their own. The new pain regiment helped a lot and today was much better in that department.
After all the basic stuff, I have to say that I am thrilled with the result so far. I looked at myself in the mirror yesterday and, even with the dressing and the surgical bra I was shocked at how much I looked like me for the first time in years. I expect that I will see many, many positives over the coming days and months but I already know that I would do it again if I had to.

I am soooo ready! I row and I had my final regatta of the season yesterday and the whole way down the course I was thinking how nice it is going to be next spring to be able to row and exercise without the ladies taking center stage. I am surprisingly still not that nervous. I have had many surgeries from C-sections to discectomies to lumpectomies and a tonsillectomy but I still get a little nervous about the whole thing. I think that it is the anesthesia and the loss of control (I also hate to fly). Anyway, I have all my meds, an extra post-surgical bra, new comfy jammies that button up the front (love target), my mom is coming for the first few days, and I am off of work for a week. Also, my rowing teammates are awesomely bringing meals for the family each night after my mom goes home. After reading tons of reviews, I am excited to not have drains or stitches to dread (only steri-strips). I have a post-op apt. for one day and one week after and I think that's it. I think that the hardest thing will be to not do anything for awhile and let myself heal (I have a terrible problem with sitting still :-)). Anyway, I will upload some before pics with my after pics- need to get hubby to take some before we head to the Dr's office on Thursday morning. Thanks to all on this site for such wonderful info and encouragement. Here's to new ladies!

I had my pre-op with my PS today and got a lot more good info - surgery is three weeks from tomorrow! All of my questions were answered so far and I am feeling very confident in the surgeon. He said that I won't have any drains, no external stitches (no steri-strips), and shouldn't expect a lot of pain. He is going to remove 700-800 grams per breast and the hope is that I will go from my 36G to a 36C - yay! It is an outpatient procedure at the surgical suite in his offices so I will be home the same day. I will go home in a surgical bra and have already ordered a second so that I have an extra (I expect that I will need a few more eventually). He said that I will need to wait 6-12 weeks post surgery to go shopping for new bras that have under-wires, depending on how I am healing. I am really excited now.....it feels a little like Christmas!