48 Yrs. Old, HH to C, Free Nipple Graft, Unimaginable Relief! - Barrie, ON

At week six, could sleep on my sides for longer than a few minutes... previously, when I tended to roll over in my sleep, the achy pain would wake me up. Now I will sleep in position for some hours. Topically, I feel achy when I roll over, but once positioned, its fine.

At seven weeks, I am returning to work. Boobs are softening, feeling less hard. I still have them taped and can shower and just let the tapes dry out. I have good arm mobility and have even been able to reach the top of my head to style hair. Lifting of weight is not a big problem, but holding any weight with arms outstretched is uncomfortable. Also uncomfortable is scrubbing floors or reaching to floor level. I see Dr. Dickie again on Nov. 30 and that will be the two month mark.

The fourth week - after an uncomfortable third week, every day was a good improvement in terms of range of arm motion without discomfort, and the swelling was diminishing. Although maybe too comfortable though.. as was bleeding along suture lines under the armpits, minimally. Dr. D could tell.. he said "too much movement". So, even though I was glad to be returning to normal, this curbing of activity/lifting/stretching had me feeling subdued. No more of that achy bone-pain!!

The doctor now wants me out of the compression band and into a sports bra. The XXL sized Genie bra I had bought in advance, it broke! It didn't last five minutes and the plastic front zipper blew out. I obsessed about fixing it and felt angry because my BRA BUSTING DAYS should be OVER. So I purchased two new Bali bras.

I'm using the Mepitac silicone tape on incisions with white paper tape over top of that. I used gauze over the nipples, taped into place, and the scabs wore off by the four week mark.

Week Four I had weird skin sensations; the skin felt like it was crumpling/crimping up... but not painful.

Each breast is round, also on the sides. The incisions that wing out under my armpits are in a ridge and poke out at the ends. The breasts have softened and there is still tenderness under the arms, but I must be agitating those areas with increased arm movement. I will be returning to work soon, so am relieved the bras are comfortable... although I take them off at night.

In a first show of "delight"... who knew I would have free-standing boobies again? I could even go bra-less... how liberating!

Dr. Dickie had confirmed the weight removed on EACH breast (going from HH to C) was 2.1 Kg! That's 9.5 pounds of weight removed from these shoulders! Surgeon was surprised by the weight for that volume. I have not needed the shoulder massages my husband is accustomed to giving! The weight adjustment has not caused back problems in these first weeks. However, I am experiencing, at night, stabbing pains at my clavicle-humerus connection - where the bra strap had rested - a deep internal bone pain, not a muscle pain. This is enough to waken me and prevent sleep.

The third week - much swelling and pain and zingers. Topical pain and whole breast aching... seems to be related to swelling on the sides and top. Distracting by bedtime. Skin felt itchy but not at incisions, more to do with the swelling on tops. Week 3 felt like what I expected would be the maximum discomfort right after surgery... still was manageable but did resume T3's at night.