New Boobs. Waka waka! I believe the real healing has begun! - Ashburn, VA

Why hello there. I felt a little better today. The under incisions are still the worst and the drainage oh my! I can hardly take it, but if that means the swelling will go down it's okay.

So back to surgery.

Surgery was scheduled August 8th at 2:30. My husband and I got to the hospital at 1:00. I was rather anxious. We registered and were taken back. They started an IV with some saline and left me to hang out for a while. Around 2 the nurse came in and said that the doctor was running late on his last surgery. I was a wee bit disappointed because I'd been working all hard to mentally prepare myself. So I ended up lying there, super hungry, until about 4:45. That's when my doctor came in, answered a few questions, and marked me up. I still was shocked at where he said he was putting my nipples. Crazy. I'm so not accustomed to them looking outward and not downward. After that 2 anesthesia techs came in and put some margarita in my IV. Around 5 they wheeled me to the operating room. They helped me move to another table. The fella put a mask next to my face and said here's a little oxygen. The last thing I remember was waiting for them to tell me to countdown. Next thing I know I was trying to get a deep breath with a breathing machine on me. I felt like my chest had been lit afire. She said I was all done and needed a bit of help breathing. They finished the nebulizer, and kept telling me to take a deep breath. Every time I'd take a deep breath the pain would hit again. What a dilemma!

Before I'd had the procedure they said that I'd be in post up for 2 to 3 hours to wake up and get comfortable. I guess since I got started so late they were kinda ready to get me out of there. I woke up around 8:30. They called my husband in, gave me some pills and sent me on my way. I actually asked the nurse that was feeding me sandpaper crackers to please not send me home in such pain but she said my pill would kick in. Whatever she was shooting in my IV wasn't helping much. The other nurses were asking her if they could go home and I could tell they were trying to close up shop. So with my pain at a 9 they sent my husband for the car. I can just barely remember the ride home. I actually was kinda excited about my wheelchair ride to the car. I don't remember it, but I know that it happened. We got to my sisters house around 10pm. She had dinner for me and ice packs ready.

As the night progressed the pain intensified. I kept waiting for the vicoden to make my world awesome and it never happened. Around 3 or 4 am my sister gave me some aleve. THAT is what eased me a bit and I finally went to sleep.

Fast forward to today, day 8. I feel like I had surgery. I have lot's of drainage happening. It kinda freaked me out cause I was planning on my incisions being healed by today. I don't know why, but that was all planned out in my head. So I've been ice packing my sides which are really swollen and my under incisions that are pretty red. I'm gonna invest in some of this arnica that I keep hearing about.

So before surgery I prayed to make it through. Now that I made it through I gotta remember to be grateful and pray for quick healing. I have to admit I've been a grump. Even though they are still swollen and oozing my new boobs look lovely. Did I already mention that they took 6 pounds?! Nooow, If I could just stop eating up all this food that these wonderful church mates keep bringing over I won't put those 6 pounds somewhere else.

Day 9

Today was a good day! I didn't wake up feeling like I'd been beat with a bat. The bottom sutures are still a pain. But the sides that were super swollen are feeling a bit better. Ice packs often seem to be helping that. Let's talk compression. When I got out of the hospital I had Ace bandages with velcro and a touch of gauze under it. I continued to wear that for a few days and attempted to switch to sports bra around day 5. I woke up with THE worst pain from it pressing on my bottom incisions. So I switched back to my Ace bandages that I kinda destroyed from all the washings. A friend of mine taught me a nifty trick to not get them dirty all the time. Now I put on a muscle shirt and then put my bandages over them. That way the muscle shirt catches all the gunk. But I absolutely have to have compression right now. If I take two long showering or trying clothes on to look at how amazing my new boobs look I'm in agony. It's like they aren't ready to hold themselves up yet. Ok, let's talk about gunk....(some of you may want to skip this part)

I know I've said it, but I really mean it. The drainage reallly grosses me out! I can just smell it and I can't change out my dressing often enough. I had a friend of mine check and she said it seems normal, but these last couple of days I have had to change more. I called the PS office and they said it's normal. I'm a big girl too so I don't know if that has anything to do with anything, but i'm just about ready for this part to be done. Day 9 and draining like crazy. I'm glad my surgeon doesn't do drains, but I needed a warning about all this. If my boobs didn't still look so lovely I'd be really concerned.

So today I went to the movies. IT wasn't bad at all. When I did finally stood up I was a little sore, but it wasn't bad. I moved around a lot more and didn't feel quite to injured. I'm certainly glad about that.

I hope everyone is doing well!