32DDD to 32B

I am 43 yrs old, 5'6" and 135 pounds (ideally 125 but gained since starting a desk job). I have struggled with back pain for as long as I can remember, going to the chiropractor in high school. I remember developing (what felt like) very early and being embarrassed, always trying to hide them, which did not help my posture and back.
In my late 20's I had my daughter, who I breastfed, and my bra jumped to a 32F. I was pretty miserable.
I couldn't not wear a bra because my breasts felt so heavy and would rub and get rashy but I got to the point where NO bra I wore was comfortable. Then someone (Kayla Ruetten) introduced me to Ruby Ribbon camis and I finally felt some relief. After a while though, even the camis were uncomfortable. I was at a breaking point with $150/mo in chiro visits and being uncomfortable so much of the time.
After thousands in medical and chiropractic bills, a friend who had a reduction, suggested I just set up the consultation and see if insurance would cover it. She said that when she went in Dr Luong submitted all the paperwork and took care of all of the insurance stuff and she just got the answer back from insurance. I kind of assumed because of my smaller frame and the fact that to most people my breasts didn't "look that big" that I probably would not be a candidate for insurance.
I met with Dr Luong and she was very knowledgeable and thorough. I didn't have a lot of questions but what I asked she answered thoughtfully. She told me that the minimum removal amount would put me at a full C...um, no thanks. Can I go smaller please? I asked for her advice because after years of back pain and not being able to jog or mow my lawn or ride horses without hanging on to them to keep them from bouncing all over, I was down to take it to an A but also realized that may be was too big of a jump. She suggested a B and told me to go to some stores and look at bras to get an idea.
My surgery was yesterday and I feel really great so far. Don't get me wrong, I'm sore.
I arrived at the surgical center and got changed and hooked up to the warmer, marked up for surgery, asked a few questions that had come up, walked down to the room and lay down on a table and the next thing I was waking up and it was over. I didn't have any sickness or over-tiredness on surgery day. I rested but didn't sleep. Took pain meds before bed so I could sleep easier which seemed to help.
I'm still in bandages but can't wait to take them off tomorrow and get a look at the girls 2.0!
Going into the surgery I was very excited. I wish I had done it SO long ago! But I did not have an ounce of fear, or anxiety or worry about it. (Someone asked me if I was nervous and I realized it hadn't even occurred to me to be nervous.) I really feel like my mindset helped so much with my whole process. My excitement and positive outlook have made the procedure and my recovery so far such an easy thing.
I've included some before pics (super out of my comfort zone but might help someone else so here goes) and a bandaged up pic. I hadn't ever taken pics of them before so I didn't realize how asymmetrical and how badly they pointed downward.

I feel really good. Since day 1, I’ve only taken Percocet at night since that’s when I’m most uncomfortable. It is interesting how it’s not really that painful, just sore and uncomfortable. The bruising hurts like most other bruising so laying on my side (favorite sleep position) is out which makes it hard to sleep.
I helped with Thanksgiving dinner yesterday and only fell asleep a little earlier than usual.
I’m really excited about my progress so far and will try to post updates as it goes.
The pic included here is from day 2, first day I took the dressings off. They’re still somewhat swollen and really hard so lots of ice.
It’s a challenge to not look at the Franken-boobs and freak out a little. I have to remind myself that they are not the end result.

I still feel pretty good. The main “problems” I seem to have are that I can feel a couple of the stitches and they seem to be poking out into my clothes which is uncomfortable. I still have a pretty dark bruise on the left side under my arm where the incision ends. It’s sore. I am still just uncomfortable enough that sleeping is a challenge but I took a natural sleep aid last night and it helped a ton. I have my post op follow up on Thursday so hopefully the suture discomfort will be done after that.
For post op care, according to the instructions from my surgeon, I’ve been applying aquaphore and using non stick gauze cut to fit the suture lines so I don’t wreck my clothes with the ointment. I’ve also still been icing every day.
Over the weekend, I got some pretty sucky nerve pain...like electricity zapping me. That was fun to wake up to. Ice helped dull that.
I’ll try to post pics once sutures are out.