48 Year Old Athlete,1 Kid, Tired of Looking 4 Months Pregnant, thighs rubbing, and bikini top not fitting.

Week 6- This week I have a follow-up appointment, I have finally recovered from last week’s manual labor however the rib is still sore. I mostly wear my waist binder, I am not doing much compression on my thighs, and I am tired of wearing sports bra’s. I tried to shop for some real bras but did not have much success but I think mostly because I didn’t have the patience for it. The couple bras I tried on looked great but I guess I really wanted my husband there, so I will wait until we can go together. At my follow-up appointment I was told I could set my bike up on the trainer and start riding a bit, I can start walking and doing some very, very, basic ab exercises.
The week went fairly well the only a few things to note: 1) my belly is sore right down the middle where everything got sewn together, it is not bad, feels like it is bruised. The soreness mostly lingers around the belly button. 2) This is the week I can finally sit up off the sofa, I no longer have to turn to my side and then stand up, although I think I sit up a little too much sometimes because a I get a little sore at night. Finally, 3) I spent all day Saturday without compression, I went to a swim meet and then 3 basketball games. THAT was a mistake, I was incredibly swollen (refer to pic) and my back was killing me by the end of the night. I am positive I will be wearing some sort of compression for a while longer.

I also added some update pictures of my chest so you can see some after shoots 6 weeks out from surgery.

Week 5- This was an uneventful week things pretty much stayed status quo, UNTIL I went to work in a school cafeteria, it was just a little bit too much for me. I was supposed to work for 3 ½ hours right around the 2 ½ hour mark my lower back started to ache and I had to lean on the counter or a chair for relief. I also used my arms a little much therefore my chest was really sore especially under my arms and on my right side around my rib near my incisions. When I got home, I was really swollen, so I took a bath and then laid in bed and iced. The next day I laid low, but let me tell you it took me a while to recover. Lesson I learned just relax, if I had a broken bone I wouldn’t even be walking on it for another 3 weeks.
This week I took a hot jacuzzi bath every night, that helped a lot with removing any scabs or dried blood from my incisions and it felt great on my stomach, and chest. Biggest mistake I am making is not drinking enough water the few days I got 3 liters in I felt much better the next day, on the days I barely drink water I am more swollen and sore. This week I am still wearing compression when I leave the house from knee to chest, but let me tell you I am over the compression stuff.

Week 4-
This week I had my last lymphatic massage, second follow-up appointment with Dr. Welch. Massage went great and follow-up did too. I told Dr. Welch about the burning in my breast and she explained to me that my chest muscles where so strong that it was tough to place implants underneath and that the stretching of those muscles to accommodate the implants is what is causing the burning, she prescribed me a muscle relaxer and some Percocet to take as needed. Both have helped, the first couple days of having the prescriptions I used the muscle relaxer during the day, and took one Percocet to sleep and completely eliminate the burning. Sleeping is becoming to become an issue because I am a side sleeper and there is no way I can sleep on my side, it stretches my stomach too much, which doesn’t feel that good.
This is the week I begin to get my life back to normal, I started taking the kids to school in the morning and pick them up in the afternoon. Driving is interesting because you don’t realize the muscles you use to turn a steering wheel. There isn’t any pain, but it does feel a little tight and awkward.
This week is a milestone week because I was cleared to start walking for exercise.