44 Year Old, Mom of Three. 5'5" 165lb. Been Waiting and Wishing for Many Years!! - Minneapolis, MN

Drain tubes are a total pain in the butt!!!! I got my right side tube out 9 days after surgery and my left one out 12 days after surgery. Not showering is tough. My husband and mom both came with me to Minneapolis and were the best caregivers!!! They kept me cleaned up. Washed my hair. Tracked my meds and pushed the fluids and protein on me to help with healing. We stayed with my brother & had planned on only staying for 8 days. Plans changed when my body decided to keep draining and we stuck it out to stay in Minneapolis till both drain tubes could come out. My right tube never drained as much as my left. From day one that tube always bothered me. Sore and red around the site. A couple days prior to removing that one I started to develop a lump around it and was becoming infected. It hurt like h**l when it was pulled and oozed pus. A couple days of antibiotics and cream and it was healed up.
My diet consisted of low sodium soups, fresh fruit, dried apricots, Protien shakes, peanut butter and celery, butter toast, a couple tsp of coconut oil daily and as much water as I could possibly stand. La Croix sparking water has become an easy way for me to keep on drinking. It's not the best tasting but I have grown to love it and is easy for me to keep track of how much I'm drinking daily. I have learned you need WATER WATER and even more WATER!!! And watch your sodium!!
I did not have much of a BM issue at all. First one was on PO Day 3. I Took Colace plus for only a few days after surgery and BM's were back to normal. I think the apricots and daily coconut oil played a big part in keeping things moving.
The pics that I am posting are right after we had returned home. I hated to be away from my kids so long!! They are 19, 17 & 10. Senior, sophomore and 4th grade. I do feel the time I spent away has greatly improved my overall healing. Avoiding the stress of being at home watching everything happen around me would have drove me crazy. Well it did drive me crazy just being away and not involved with them daily. I was able to use those 12 days and just really focus on me.
I don't think I have mentioned the itching yet!!!!!! Holy crap it's about enough to drive a person crazy. My nurse did mention that allergy meds can help. As the feeling starts to come back to different areas it tingles and itches and feels really odd.
I have also noticed that even tho I feel good and think I can conquer a day head on, I pay for it the next day!! It's hard to remember to not over use your arms. Even the little things that I think are ok. My body tells me by the evening I need to chill. Yes there is belly swelling and muscles in abdomen and chest start to feel overly tight hence the reason for a muscle relaxer before bed to help sleep.
Mood swings are all over the place this week as well. Great one day and crying off and on the next for no real reason at all?
Hope everyone out there is healing and staying healthy!!

I took these right before heading to the doctors office for a re-check and all the clear surgical tape is coming off today. As you can see the tape covered all the incisions and both nipples. I did have more bruising to my left breast as more tissue was removed to help with the assemetry that I had. The left was a bit larger than my right. Still questioning if I should have gone larger but I know I need to be patient to see what the final results will be.

We did not realize that I had developed a blister on the under side of my left breast. When the nurse removed the tape it pulled the blister with it producing an open oozy sore. I have to now apply ointment to that junction area on both breast to keep the area soft and aid in healing.

Holy!!!! My entire body was puffy and swollen. I guess all the fluids they pump you with during surgery has to go somewhere. Mine ended up in my upper legs and my tummy binder pushed it down and the compression socks that only went to my knees pushed it up. My skin was so tight and I swear if I would have been poked with a pin they would have popped. I was up and moving every couple hours to keep the circulation moving. It sucks and hurts. The lipo areas were the worst as far as pain goes. Even the slightest touch feels like needles. It's a really weird sensation.