50 Y.o. and Ready to Be Fabulous. 42 I/J Wanting to Be a C/D with FNG (free nipple graft).

So I went back to work actually at my 2 week point. I remember my PS telling me that most of her patient are back to work in 2 weeks, and I didn't believe her. But I was generally feeling pretty good. Only using Tylenol as needed. At my second post-op appointment she said I could resume my normal activities.

Just to give a general run down on my progression after surgery. I slept in a recliner for the first 12 days. I switch from the narcotic pain killers to Tylenol on day 2. I had major nausea but I manage it with peppermints and peppermint tea. I didn't have much of an appetite until day 4 or 5. I did drink a lot of water and I walked. On day 1 I just walk from my bedroom to the end of the hallway in my house. Day 2, I walked downstairs and around and back up. Each day I increased my walking. On day 10 I walked 3 miles outside.

I'm at day 19 and I'm working partial days at work, driving, and generally doing normal stuff. I just get tired by early evening and I am ready for bed.

My healing is progressing. I have to remind myself constant about being patient with the FNG. I'll get ugly before it gets pretty. I'm still concerned about the pigment coming back. If it doesn't, I totally plan to get it tattooed. For wound care my PS has me putting Bacitracin Ointment and surgical pad over the FNG and vertical incision. My horizontal ones are basically closed except at the T point. Tip for spreading the ointment is to use a wide Popsicle stick. I picked up a pack at the craft store.

My biggest adjustment right now is my clothes. I started losing weight before the BR. So at this point I'm down 30 lbs w/ BR so far this year. Most of my clothes don't fit. I plan to really increase my workout once I'm healed a little more, so I don't want to spend money on a lot of clothes. Plus with the BR, I have to change the style that looks good on me. These are all good problems to have.
My only other adjustment is having to wear a bra all the time. Even though the sports bras are comfortable. Fruit of the loom front closure.

Ok. That's it for now. I'll post more as I think of it. I'm trying to post stuff that I think would be helpful to someone else on this journey.

I meant to post these before. I apologize for the mess on the counter.

So I have a lot to update but my surgery was on June 25th. I wasn't sure if it was going to happen because the insurance process was really crazy. But I finally got authorized at 240pm the day before. Thee good thing was I had done all my pre op stuff so I was ready to go. My mom came in town the night before and I had to be at the surgery center at 630am on Wednesday morning. My surgery was scheduled at 8am. Everything went smoothly.

I did have a FNG. So I'm prayerful about that. I will post some initial pictures. The pictures are after the first 48hours and I was changing the bandages.

Right now I'm resting a lot. I switched to Tylenol after the first day. It seems to be fine for pain management.