24 years old, 3 weeks post-op - 32G to 32D so far!

I’m a 24 year old, 5’ 7, and started growing breasts by age 10. My breasts got quickly out of control and by the time I was a junior in high school I was wearing a 32G. After that point I’d been telling everyone that I was going to get a breast reduction some day, I just didn’t think some day would come so soon! I thought I needed to wait until I had kids before I could finally get relief. But everyone I talked to who already had a breast reduction all said the same thing to me, “I wish I had done it sooner.” So, I decided to stop worrying about my hypothetical kids and do something for myself now. I had my first consultation a few weeks later and though it all seemed very scary, I had him put in a surgery request to my insurance company. Boy, that was the longest couple of weeks of my life, waiting for that letter to come. But when it did I was approved for the surgery! Everything fell into place really quickly for me. My consultation was the last week of August and my surgery was in November! I’m 3 weeks post-op now and it’s been rough, but exciting. I needed a lot of help for the first week or so, but thankfully my husband took off work to help me. The recovery hasn’t been easy, but I was expecting most of my symptoms. There were a couple of things I wasn’t expecting though. The first was the fatigue. I don’t remember much the last couple of weeks because I slept soooo much. Even though I was starting to feel stronger and my breast were healing I felt so tired all the time. I’d walk a block or two and then need to take a 2 hour nap. It was insane. The doctor said this was normal during my post-op visit and that most people start to have more energy around to 3 week mark. Which is where I’m at now, so I’m looking forward to seeing more of my day. The other thing I didn’t expect was how sore my rib cage would be. And not just where my breast are, but like the WHOLE ribcage. 3 weeks out and my ribs are still so sore. I’m hoping that gets better with time, but it’s very frustrating. The glue is just starting to peel up at the edges and the bruising is pretty much all gone now! I finally got some bras to wear instead of the binder I was given post-surgery, and I have never been so stunned in my life! I went from and 32G to a 32D and I’m still pretty swollen! After I picked the style of bra I wanted , the sales lady told me to come out and pick my color. I must have stood in front of the sales rack for twenty minutes just floored by all my options. I have a blue bra now! BLUE! I’ve never had a blue bra in my life. This seems like the beginning of a very beautiful thing. I’ve included some before picture, a pic from 72 hours after, and one about 3 weeks post surgery. I got a pretty bad indentation from the binder in my right breast, but the doctor thinks that’ll fill back out. My left is a little larger than my right, but that was always the case and every day they seem to even out more and more. Also my scars are not even, which I don’t love, but I guess I developed a “dog tag” in surgery so one is longer than the other because the surgeon had to fix that. I’ll update as much as I can, and in the mean time, feel free to ask any questions.

So I’m a little past 4 weeks out now, and I’ve just hit my first period. And it’s like period boobs on steroids! I’ve been feeling pretty good lately, but yesterday I got some zings and tinges again and a lot more tenderness. I was starting to get worried, but then I realize my period was starting. I don’t know if I’ve read any other reviews talking about this, so I just thought I’d warn you guys. It sucks more than usual, but periods suck either way, and the pay off is totally worth it. But other than that, the swelling seems to be going down now, so that’s nice. And I still have glue all over the place and it’s starting to look so gross! Like it’s collecting lint. The doctor said I could start picking at the glue after 4 weeks, but I’m still too scarred to do it. I’ve included updated pics, if you want to see my progress.