38L Reduced to ...? - Billings, MT

Alright, so I hear a lot of women who says there wasn't that much pain and they were only on the pain meds for a few days after surgery.... not the case with me. For one, after a few pain meds, I start to build up a resistence and they don't work; two, I have feeling EVERYWHERE on my breasts. My nipples felt like they were constantly trying to get hard (until today actually, 13 days post-op) and my skin felt everything! Any little thing that brushes up against me, I feel. Before the surgery, I didn't have a whole lot of feeling in my nipples, and now it feels like they are super sensitive. I was/still am in pain. They only gave me like 15 percoset and by Monday (4 days post) I was almost out. You can't get a stong pain killer called in, it has to be written, and with me being so far away, I had to deal with the pain. She had me take some pictures and email to her and it all looked good. They called in some lidocaine cream for my nipples (thank goodness) and some vicodin (that stuff sucked). I had to have my husband help me with bathing, I just couldn't do it without being in horrible pain. The pain is less now but I still have to take it easy and take some IBprofen and I take one or two of the vicoden a day...it helps when I get to point of crying. The overall pain has lessened (when I don't decide to clean my floors or tub) but now I am having quite the zingers. Those are painful. Shooting pains in the breasts. So we will see how it gets.... I will keep you updated.

I live in Wyoming and got my surgery done in Montana, so we had to travel and stay a couple of days. The day before surgery, I had a pre-op exam to get tested for nicotine and get drawn on. I have been an on-off smoker since I was 12 so they needed to make sure I didn't have any nicotine in my system. My PS won't operate on any one who does smoke. The appointment was quick and to the point. He drew on me and explained to me again what exactly he was going to to and what to expect in the morning at the surgery center.

I went on with my day in the city and my husband and I made sure we had everything we needed at the hotel for after the surgery. My surgery was scheduled for 7:30 and I was to arrive at the surgery center at 6:15, they got me checked in very quickly and I began to nervously wait for them to take me back. They took me back at 6:30 and I had a great conversation with the nurse who got an IV in me, then brought my husband to the room. I got a warm blanket and was just making jokes until the anethesiologist came in and asked pretty much the same questions the nurse did when she first brought me back. He then took me into the OR and climbed on up on the table and had about 5 people milling around me at once, one apologized if I felt I was being mauled, I didn't and then my anethesiologist said he was injecting the sedative and I would start to feel.......and I woke up in the recovery room. Ha! I apparently did not wake up like most people. They told my husband I would be in the recovery room for about 45 minutes, but I was in there for 2 hours. I woke up and had a hard time staying awake but kept forcing myself to keep my eyes open. They took me to a different room and brought my husband in. I felt....tired, that was all...and thirsty. I probably drank a gallon of water in the hour I was in there. I again kept falling asleep but told my husband to talk to me or something because I wanted to get out of there, but they wouldn't let me leave until I was nice and awake. I was pretty doped up on percoset and sore but nothing that I couldn't handle. My doc came in and I smiled right away, he was pleased to see me in such good spirits. He said he took out a little over 1.5 lbs out of each breast. He told me he used skin glue, so there are no visible stiches and it will look bloody and scabby for quite a while until the skin glue comes off. We were released and went back to the hotel where I just slept most of the time.

The next morning I had a follow-up appointment and that too went quickly. My PS was at a conference so I just dealt with his nurses, who again were FANTASTIC! She unwrapped me and looked at everything and said it looked great and helped me into a surgical bra and gave me one to take home. It is a size 40 C. She told me what to watch out for (red areas that are hot, one breast swelling to a noticible difference, any fever...I think that is about it) and sent me on my way! I had an anchor incision and it was a maintence free surgery, so no drains. My follow-up appointment was scheduled for a month after surgery.

Billings Plastic Surgery and Yellowstone Surgical Center was amazing! I was always greeted with smiles and the staff seemed genuinely excited for me. They have been extremely helpful and amazingly supportive! Didn't actually spend a lot of time with my PS, but he was very professional when I did.