1 Week Pre Op - Freaking Out! - Charlotte, NC

Hi Everyone! It's been 8 weeks, and I'm fully back to my "normal" life. That happened probably around 5-6 weeks, but I haven't had time to post. I'm running again, working out, lifting things, and vacuuming and mopping (two things that were pretty much impossible the first few weeks out!)

I really love my results. I can wear strapless tanks/dresses without a bra, though I usually choose to wear a bandeau to keep things clean (not a fan of the nipples showing through). I love wearing tank tops with a simple, cotton spaghetti strap cami bra (you know, the cheap Fruit of the Loom ones sold in packs of 3 for like $10).

My breasts are still a little numb, but I can tell the nerves are growing back slowly but surely. My stitches are completely healed; no problems there even though I overdid it the first few weeks and as a result ran into some troubles with healing/burning/itching. I have discovered that the cleavage area of my chest is very oily ever since surgery; no idea why, but I'm guessing my body is reacting to the new foreign objects via overproduction of oils.

All in all, I love them and would do it again. If anything, I'd go a little bigger; maybe up to 400 or even 450cc's. I actually haven't even bought any new bras yet... I fit into all of my "one size bigger" bras that I wore during nursing for the last year. So I guess I'm now a full 36C, but I could probably stand to buy a few 36Ds going forward. I've posted two new pics below.

Hi Everyone! I'll be two weeks tomorrow, and things continue to go well. I will tell you that I learned last week (the hard way) that it's not that we CAN'T lift heavy things, it's that we SHOULDN'T. I went back to being "me" last week carrying my 25lb baby around, etc. By Thursday night my stitches were burning so badly I had to take Tylenol in the middle of the night. I went to my PS Friday morning and he said I likely tore the internal sutchers. This also can lead to the "bottoming out" look that we all want to avoid! Ugh. So, I've gone back to letting my husband do all the heavy lifting. As well, I made the mistake of washing all my hardwoods last Thursday when my cleaning lady canceled on me; I think the motion of mopping did the most damage. Who knew we used our pecs so much for that?

Anyway, my advice is: don't over do it, even if you feel fine. Let your wounds heal over time, and enjoy the results when you're really back at 100% 4-6 weeks later.

Ok, so I'm one day in and so far, so good. I haven't needed to take any of my Rx narcotics or nausea medicine, but have taken one muscle relaxer to ease the pressure on my chest. I slept fine last night propped up on two pillows in my bed. I went in for my first post-op this morning and that went very well. I'm moving around, doing my arm exercises (to continue stretching the pec muscle that's so swollen/bruised right now) and feel like my recovery has been very easy thus far. The nurse told me that people who have had children have a lot easier time with recovery, mostly because our breasts remember being stretched out before. The worst thing you can do is stay perfectly still and not continue stretching and moving I guess.

I got really tired around 11am today and took a two hour nap. I'm more sore this afternoon than in the past 24 hours, but perhaps I just didn't feel it yesterday with the anesthesia wearing off. It's still bearable, just uncomfortable. I feel like someone beat my chest up with a baseball bat over and over. Very bruised feeling, but I was able to shower, wash my hair, etc. so I expect my recovery will continue well (all things considered).

Every doctor is different, but mine gave me these guidelines when I asked about the following activities:

Sleeping on side: 3-4 days (when I'm comfortable enough to do it)
Getting in a pool: at least a week mostly due to all the kiddie bacteria in a community pool :)
Walking: as soon as I'm comfortable I can take 20-30 minute walks for exercise
Running: wait 2-3 weeks (when I'm comfortable he says go for it)
Weight training: 4 weeks minimum

I've posted new pics for you all to see. They are definitely sitting high, but I know it takes three months (minimum) for them to settle. I will wear my medical bra and velcro band 24/7 for the next 1-2 weeks, which helps them settle. Honesly, I'll probably wear both for longer than that and only switch them out if I'm wearing clothes you can see them in. Better to be safe than sorry!

I'm really glad I went with the 371s so far. My doc said he needed every cc that was in there to properly fill out my breast tissue, so even though 339s are just one ounce less, he said that extra ounce really helped!