Looking Good - Alexandria, VA

I had a breast lift and liposuction and am pleased and very glad I finally did it! I scheduled my procedure for the 28th of December (2011) so that I would not have to take as much time off of work. I had an 8 am appt and was in the operating room at 8 on the nose I woke up in the recovery room and within minutes, I had the dry heaves. That was not fun considering that I had had lipo of the upper and lower stomach, flanks and back.

Even with some pain medications and anesthesia probably not worn off yet– OUCH – it really hurt to throw up. I have had problems in the past with nausea and anesthesia and this time was no different. It might have been even worse than the septoplasty I had to have in March of 2011. I couldn’t move at all or I started to throw up. I got dressed and had to sit in the wheel chair for an additional half hour before I could stop heaving and go to the car. Any time I moved it started all over again. I got home and went straight to bed. I had to take an anti-nausea medication before I went to sleep to stop the dry heaves. That did the trick.

I finally woke up to go to the bathroom and I felt like I could not move. It was like the hardest workout I had ever had multiplied by 100. My breasts gave me little to no pain but the liposuction area – holy moses! I couldn’t get out of bed because I wasn’t allowed to use my arms to pull myself up (because of the breast lift) so my husband had to pull me up to get up the first 3 days. I more or less stayed in bed for the first two days. I took pain medication (Vicodin) every four hours – though the script ready 3 pills every 4 to 6 hours – I only did one. They also make me a bit nauseous so I scaled back.

My breasts were bandaged and I was wearing a compression garment. I also had drains under each arm for my breast. I was not allowed to shower for NINE days due to my drains – that is today and I cannot wait to get home to shower! They (the drsind) didn’t hurt much but pinched if I moved wrong or they got stuck, etc. And one leaked like crazy the first day because I was lying on it the wrong way. Oh and my husband had to empty them and take notes of the ccs of fluid each day - not a fun job for him but he was such a good sport.

I finally feel almost like myself nine days out. My lower abdomen is still very swollen and the back area feels at times very hard and uncomfortable. I went back to work part time 7 days after the surgery. Day 8, I was surprised with Montezuma’s revenge as a side effect of the antibiotics I was taking prescribed by the PS. Having that sort of thing while wearing a compression garment was awful. I am not completely over that but feeling better today.

My breasts are very itchy today and I got the second drain out. My breasts are still taped up and are bruised and red in some area. I go back in ten days. I still have major bruising and puffiness from the lipo that seems to have gotten worse today. I’ve read it gets worse than starts to go down. I’m looking forward to that. Though I can already see how small my waist is already even at this stage – yeah!

Cost includes liposuction too. My breasts already are perky with nice volume. I don’t think they ever looked this good – ever. My doctor kept saying how they were bruised and lumpy and they wouldn’t look good yet. I think they look great! I can’t imagine what they will look like in a few weeks. I didn't take any before photos because I hated my breasts that much but will post some after if anyone is interested. I was a 34DD before my surgery.

5 weeks since my surgery. Things are looking good. At about week 2, I started to have little almost like electric shocks in my left breast more than the right side. PS said that it was the nerve regrowing and attaching. Made sense but those are the type of things you wish you knew about ahead of time. Not a big deal but at times it made things uncomfortable. Other than that, I have not have any issues so far. Though one thing that was weird and maybe someone else can address this - I have had two stitches poke out of the nipple area - internal stitches. One the doc took out. He as going to cut it and took hold of it and it came free. I have more on the left side of the nipple and all I did was trim it off and it's fine. The doctors office gave me scar cream to use twice a day so I started that over the weekend so we will see how it works. When I went into this, my left breast was bigger than the other and that has no changed. I don't know why I though it would but it makes since that it wouldn't. He wouldn't take away volume just extra skin. My recovery has been good - the lipo recovery has been harder and I think if I had just done the breast it would have been much easier all around. I