EXPERIENCE AND RECOVERY
Today is the day! Everything happened really fast. I mentally prepared myself to just stay as calm as possible and not get anxious.
I did my tests, was asked a few questions about prior surgeries, allergies, medical history etc. and the anesthesiologist talked to me about what the expect. She said I will be under General Anesthesia and one thing I must note here is that I have had horrible experiences with GA. I always, ALWAYS throw up after waking up! I have had 2 prior surgeries where this has happened, and I communicated it to my GA and she said she'll be putting anti-nausea medication within the IV.
My surgeon then drew measurements around my breasts and explained which sizers he was going to put. I basically just put all my trust in him because we didn't discuss this in depth. I only explained to him what I wanted and tried on the sizers on my consultation day.
Anyway, I lay down in the operating room and the next thing I know, I was knocked out. The only pain I felt was the inserting of the IV needle.
The surgery started at 10am and was woken up at around 1:30pm. Upon waking up, I still felt disoriented and everything was blurry. Despite that, I didn't throw up. Which was a relief. I was able to go home after resting for an hour in the operating room.
I was feeling great! It just felt like I napped. The anesthesia still hasn't worn off so I wasn't feeling any pain. This was from 1:30pm until 4pm. I was able to eat quite a lot.
By 5pm, I felt everything. I was in so much abdominal pain! I think I might've eaten too much because from 5pm until 1am, I was throwing up so much! Maybe more than 10x. It suuuucked. I felt like I needed to vomit everytime I stood up and moved. My surgeon thinks it could he related to hyperacidity. Which might be right. That was the worst part of this recovery for me. It hurt even more than the boob sore and incisions.
Learned to take it easy--the hard way lol.
I napped thereafter and kept waking up cause I either had to be and my back hurt from sleeping in a sitting position. Tbh the back pain hurt more than my boobs. LOL
BOOB CONDITION
My incisions are placed on my underarm (transaxillary) because I didn't want any visible stitches around my boobs. My incisions are still looking scary. I have bruising on both underarm. I just cleaned them a bit and dried them. I didn't put the gauze back and just let them dry.
My boobs still look boxy and are very sore! But nothing worrying. Just letting it heal. Gotta be patient :)
I'll keep updating in the coming days.
Pain level: boobs (6/10)
Discomfort: soreness in the boobs and incision site, nausea & vomiting, can't move arm upward, can't reach anything backwards, can't carry anything moderately heavy, very limited arm movement, hard to get up after sitting down/reclining, kept waking up in the middle of the night multiple times, easily tired
Updated on 20 Jan 2021:
Jan 17, Sunday (Day 1 post op)
No more nausea and vomiting
Started feeling more pain but manageable. I noticed some rippling on the right side of my breasts by the cleavage. Not sure what it is but I'll see if it gets better over the coming days.
Jan 18, Monday (Day 2)
Couldn’t get up.
Uncomfortable sleep
Was able to shower by myself today.
Woke up in the middle of the night in pain (Tuesday but technically I’m counting it as happening on a Monday). Felt like being stabbed from the inside. I’d describe it as a sharp, shooting pain on the right side. Had to wake my boyfriend up to adjust my compression bandage. New feeling, almost wanted to cry but didn’t. Fell asleep afterwards.
Feelin low for some reason. Comes n goes
Jan 19, Tuesday (Day 3)
Less pain but more lethargy. Boobs are still high up. Still having trouble sleeping as i keep waking up. Hopefully I get to sleep better in the coming days!
Jan 20, Wednesday (Day 4)
No more pain. I also stopped taking painkillers.
Inserting pics I took today for documentation. Will keep updating over the coming days :) still waiting for them to soften and drop, and for the dent on my cleavage to be gone. Hopefully the contours of my breasts look better too! I can't fully stretch my arms up yet but it's easier now to take a shower. The only thing I'm having difficulty right now is getting out of bed by myself, pushing, pulling, and opening water bottles lol. I can basically do everything else without assistance, but still much slower and with less force
Updated on 24 Jan 2021:
Smooth recovery so far! They seem to be dropping little by little. They’re a biiiit softer now but still high and hard. I’m just happy about the small changes I see day by day. Pain-wise there’s no more pain at all. Maybe only sore boobs in the morning, but not painful—just feels weird but it subsides after 5 minutes upon waking up and sitting down. I can also raise my arms up now and extend them to the side and my back. Wearing clothes has been a lot easier! I can still feel my muscles being stretched when I do so but little improvements :)
Slowly feeling like myself again so I’m happy
Will update again after a week!
Updated on 24 Jan 2021:
Updated on 2 Feb 2021:
I’m officially back to my normal grind! 0 pain, can sleep on my sides (not stomach tho lol), can lift some stuff now (just not heavier than 10lbs haha), can reach my back, stretch my arms, do light leg workout— everything! It’s like I didn’t have BA haha and no more morning boobs!
I started massaging them (i started on the 2nd week) with a technique taught by my surgeon. I try doing it at least 3x a day, 1 min each massage.
They are starting to drop and get a littttleeee bit softer each passing day. My left one is still higher than my right but my surgeon told me this is normal as I’m still healing. We’ll see in the coming weeks how they settle! :)
Updated on 7 Apr 2021:
Time flies! I’m only a week away from hitting the 3 month mark of my new boobies! LOL. Here are some pics. They haven’t dropped fully yet!