34 Years Old, Lost 155 Lbs...time to Fix the Arms! - Pittsburgh, PA

Well, it's been nearly four and a half months since surgery. Time flies! In terms of using my arms, I'm 100% back to normal....range of motion is perfect. My right arm has zero issues. My left arm (particularly the forearm) STILL has the numbness. At my 3 month follow up with my surgeon, he told me not to give up hope yet, but by this point, I've not seen much improvement, so I've accepted that it's likely permanent. I don't think I'll ever get used to the strange/painful numb feeling, but I've adjusted how I use that arm to minimize the discomfort. For example, I'm careful not to put the numb side of my forearm on table surfaces. My husband also knows not to touch the numb part of my arm. It's obviously not an ideal way to live. I hate the numbness, but for the most part, it doesn't disrupt my life TOO much, especially when I'm careful about touching the numb part. It was a risk I took when I had the surgery, and I got unlucky in this case. It sucks, but it is what it is.
On a more positive note, my arms look great! I LOVE not having the hanging, wrinkly skin...it feels nice to look "normal." I stocked up my closet with tank tops and sleeveless dresses...something I never thought I'd do! I'm no longer dreading the summer and I'm not self-conscious at all about my arms (even with the scars). Obviously my scars are still visible and healing, but they are tucked so nicely in my arms that no one sees them (and my loose skin was so bad before that everyone used to be able to see wrinkled skin even with my arms at my sides!) Speaking of my scars, they're healing nicely. I'm still massaging them for about 20 mins per day and have kept them covered with silicone tape 24/7 (except when showering). My plan is to keep up with the tape until 6 months (the tape isn't too noticeable...the color blends in with my skin pretty well). Obviously there is no way to know if the tape actually helps, but I think it has...my scars are flat and have faded significantly. They are now pink-ish (they started out red). After a year or two, I have confidence that they'll fade completely and blend in with my skin color.
Well, I think that's about all for this update. I'll check in again in a few months!

It's hard to believe that it's been 8 weeks since my surgery. Before my surgery, I always envisioned 8 weeks as the time by which I'd be completely healed. However, things don't always go exactly as you hope. :) I've learned in this process that I'm a slow healer...and considering I had never had surgery before, there was no way to know this beforehand.

Despite being a slow healer, I've made a lot of progress in the last 8 weeks. My range of motion is nearly back to normal. I feel a tug every once in awhile when I reach really high, but that's about it. I'm finally back to sleeping in my normal positions (on my side and stomach)...I spent a lot of time being able to only sleep on my back, so it's great that my arms feel good enough that I can sleep in a position that's comfortable. And I finally got the courage to shave my armpits (very carefully, lol!)...it's amazing how such a small thing can make you feel back to normal! On the downside, I still get a random pocket of swelling by my left elbow every once in awhile. I'm not sure what causes it, but it seems to come and go. It's not too bothersome though. The biggest bother these days (as before) is the huge swath of numbness in my left arm (in particular my left forearm)....which STILL hasn't gotten even the slightest bit better. That is the thing that is really causing me the most discomfort. It's a really unpleasant sensation and I have to be careful about brushing my forearm up against things to avoid the pain. I know that nerves can take 6-12 months to heal (my surgeon said that nerves regenerate at a rate of 1mm per day), but I was hoping by now that I would see SOME improvement. As of now, my forearm feels exactly the same way it did on Day 1. That makes me kind of nervous that it might be permanent. I know it's too early to know for sure and all I can do is wait, but I can't imagine having my forearm like this forever. So I'm trying to remain optimistic and patient and keep my fingers crossed that at some point the nerves will start to wake up.

As for my scars, I'm pretty happy with how they are turning out. I massage them really hard twice a day to try to soften the scar tissue and the other tissue in my arm (my surgeon says massage can help wake the nerves up too). I still have some puckering along the incision lines (which apparently is due to deep stitches which don't dissolve for 6 months), so massaging helps even that out too. So far my scars are fairly flat and a pinkish/purple color. They are thicker and a little raised in some spots moreso than others (particularly by the elbows, which my surgeon says is the place where the scars tend to be the worst), but I've been seeing improvement every week. I keep them covered with silicone tape pretty much all the time, except when I'm showering or massaging the scars.

We've been having some unusually warm February weather in the Northeast this past week, with temperatures in the 60's and 70's, so I actually wore short sleeves out in public for the first time since my surgery. It was so strange (but great) to not have all of that extra wrinkly skin. I felt like a person with normal arms! I didn't feel self-conscious about my scars at all...even though they are still pink and healing, they aren't too noticeable because they're tucked into my arm. I imagine it'll be even better in a year or two after they've healed and faded. And in general, I really do love how my arms look....they are so much more proportional in size to the rest of my body than my old arms were. Now I just need my nerves to wake up so that my arms can feel as good as they look :)

I'm a bit late with my Week 4 update, but better late than never! I've made good progress on my range of motion over the last 10 days. I'd say I have probably 75% of my range back in both arms. Still need to keep doing my wall climb exercises though. Still have the tightness in both arms and the numbness in the left is unchanged. It's really starting to drive me crazy. I can't even rest my forearm on a table comfortably because it's such an unpleasant sensation. Also, I probably cursed myself by saying how I was lucky that I haven't had much swelling, because yesterday I woke up and my upper arms were super swollen. I have no idea why they suddenly decided to do that. I've been wearing my compression 24/7. The skin is all shiny and it feels quite uncomfortable (especially my left arm, since I also have the numbness). I hope the swelling is temporary and I won't start having to battle that on top of everything else. My next post op visit with my surgeon is next week, so I'll see what he says about it. I think that's about it in terms of updates. I wish I was making better progress towards healing. I'm not ready to throw in the towel and say I regret having the surgery yet, but I feel like I could use a win these days.