29 Years Old, 4 Years After 90 Lbs Weightloss with a VSG - New Breasts and Lower Body Contouring! - Vancouver, BC

Drove out of town to see Dr. Demianczuk for my first post-op follow-up - this was my 8th day post-op. Saw the first year plastic surgery resident first, and then Dr. D came in and examined me alone. He was very happy with both the lipo and the BA/BL. He gave me some instructions regarding gentle massage of the lipo-ed areas as well as some pec stretches and massage for my chest. He said I no longer need to wear the support garment above my waist, which I'm really excited about - it tends to peek through in most shirts except for a true crewneck or turtleneck, and it's HOT where I am! He suggested I could try Spanx, but honestly, the garment is quite comfortable, it's just the heat that is a bit annoying. I definitely want the extra compression that the 50% lycra garment offers and he agreed it's more effective than Spanx. But from now on, I'm looking forward to have the garment rolled down to my waist and wearing a sports bra on top. Dr. Demianczuk also said to wear a sports bra at night. The logic was apparently that the implants will tend to move laterally during sleep, and it's nice to keep them from drifting too far apart in a sports bra to avoid forming too wide of a gap between them over time. Interesting! He also said it's fine for me to wear underwire bras even now - I guess because I did not have a crease incision.

I asked him a few questions about activity level. He said I can start swimming/taking baths 3 weeks post-op (so less than 2 weeks from now!) and can do low-impact exercise like hiking or the elliptical as early as I want as long as I'm ok with the potential of extra bruising on the lipo areas. I honestly don't care about the bruising since I have to wear the garment anyway, and it covers all the bruised area. I'm anxious not to lose too much of my fitness level, so I'm planning to try stationary biking tomorrow - a bit worried about road biking for now due to the potential of falling and hurting either my lipo areas or my chest. If that goes well, I'd like to try some lower body machines with light weights later in the week. In regards to high-impact exercise such as running and heavy weights, he said I can start at 4 weeks out. This is much earlier than I expected, so I'm very happy!

I still have the steri-strips on my breast incisions and he told me to take my time peeling off those - he said once some of them start to come off at the edges, I should feel free to remove them completely, but otherwise, if they still seem firmly attached, to let them be. I peeled off a few, but most of them are still taped on pretty securely.

I am now seeing him at the end of September, by which I should assume my "final form"!

I went to Victoria's Secret afterwards and picked up some bras on clearance - one regular bra and two sports bras. Two were 34DDD and one was an M with the front zip. They fit quite well! I tried on a lot of the 34DDDs - the biggest 34 cup size they had - and a lot of them didn't fit.

I then went to Lululemon and came to the realization I probably will never be able to wear anything from there again unless my boobs seriously deflate in the next two months....I have a 34E of theirs I can barely shove myself into now (Booby Bracer), I'm hoping it will fit a bit better soon, but otherwise, their 34DD is hilariously small on me and the 36DD is too big in the band. Boo! I guess I'll be paying up the wazoo for Panache and Freya now if I want nice separation with cup sizes....

Just checking in. Things are going quite well. I chose to go back to work today, a day early, so that I had a day off next weekend instead. I drove 1.5 hours out of town one way for some shopping and to see friends on Friday, so I figured if I can do that, I might as well go back to work! Boobs are getting better by the day. The swelling decreases daily, I now have a well-pronounced gap between them. I move my arms completely freely now, there's very slight soreness when I put them all the way up, but nothing worse than after a decent push-up session. I looked at the surgeon's post-op instructions and they say the dressings can come off after 5 days, but then I'm pretty sure he told me in the recovery room that he will take them off himself at my post-op appointment. It's coming up in 2 days, so I decided to err on the safe side and leave them on. I haven't seen any bleeding since the 2nd day, though.

The lipo sites still hurt quite a bit, I continue to need Percocet for sleep and I have been using a Tramadol here and there during the day - the pain is not excruciating, but I would certainly find it distracting at work. The skin on my legs feels taut and sore. The bruising is certainly much more pronounced - sorry, I forgot to take pictures of the lipo area and didn't feel like taking my garment off again! I went to a formal event yesterday and wanted to wear a knee-length dress. I just sprayed some Sally Hansen Airbrush leg makeup on my shins since the bruising has tracked all the way down there, and then put on sheer hose and you couldn't see the bruises at all. I've been weighing myself daily and my weight is coming down by 1-1.5 lbs daily, so the swelling is certainly resolving. I'm down 3.8 lbs since the 2nd day after surgery, when I felt the most swollen. I've been tracking my measurements: my hips and inner thigh crease are the exact same measurement today as pre-op, my knees are only 0.25" bigger, and my mid-thighs are *drumroll* 2 inches smaller!!! I'm pretty excited. I tried on some pants at H&M and fit into a size 6! Normally, I can't wear their pants at all because they are cut for a much thinner, straighter leg than my legs.

I'm anxious to start with some light exercise soon, I have a triathlon coming up in Sep and would like to at least start with some stationary biking after my post-op appt 2 days from now. I am also hoping he'll clear me for hiking. I certainly have not had any trouble going for 2-4 mile walks this week.

I had a very rough night last night, I took two Percocet before going to bed which I thought would knock me right out, but two hours later, I was wide awake and in pain. The pain was bad enough that I couldn't sleep, but I was too exhausted and zonked from the Percocets to really do much. I tried reading a magazine, but 20 minutes in, I was too exhausted. Spent all night going in and out of bad quality sleep and waking up in a lot of pain. The pain in my breasts was a good 7/10, while my lower body was approaching 9/10, everything felt on fire. This was very surprising to me, as I had a very easy recovery from my VSG four years ago and I thought this would hurt less, since there was no cutting through the muscle or messing with my internal organs. Plus I was told my boobs were unlikely to give me much grief post-op since we went with subglandular implants! But they were extremely swollen and quite painful.

I woke up for good around 9 in the morning, drenched in sweat - my bedroom was a bit warm, but I think a lot of the sweating was just from being in pain. I wanted to shower since I was soaked in sweat, so my husband helped me out of the garment and helped me wash my hair. I think the showering pushed me over the edge a bit - once I got out of the shower, I had to sit on the floor for a bit and putting the garment on seemed like an impossible task. I suddenly began to feel really nauseous and my stomach felt quite upset, as if I had to have a BM. I barely got up to the toilet, where I spent a horrible half an hour or so with my husband holding a barf bowl in front of me as I had the world's biggest BM (sorry, TMI!). On the upside, I guess I don't have to worry about getting too bunged up in the next few days anymore. I didn't vomit, thankfully, but I did find the reason for why I felt so horrible - I got my stupid period! SERIOUSLY! What are the odds?! I knew it was coming soon, but that sure explains the extra boob pain and horribly upset stomach! The only thing that helps me with my period pains is extra-strength Advil. My surgeon advised me to avoid NSAIDs post-op, so I called his cell and left a message asking if it were ok for me to take a few because the Tramadol and Percocet wouldn't touch my period cramps. I almost threw up the second I ended my message! My husband said I was white as a sheet and looking like crap.

Thankfully, the nausea passed enough that I could take my Zofran (anti-nausea medication), and once that was in my system, I just went ahead and took the extra strength Advil. Half an hour later, I finally felt good enough to get up and lie down on the mattress in our living room, and a little while later my husband helped me back into my garment and made us breakfast. I had coffee and some oatmeal and finally felt human again. The Advil helped so much!

The surgeon called me back later and said Advil was fine if that's what I needed. At this point, I honestly didn't care what he thought, I was gonna keep taking it regardless! It usually takes about 36 hours for my period pains to resolve, so I'm continuing with Advil until at least tomorrow morning.

The afternoon was much better, the husband and I actually walked about 3 miles round-trip to the grocery store. I was walking slower than normal, but otherwise, everything was good. I thought I'd need to sit on the bench once we got to the store for a bit, but I was able to make the whole trip without resting and was feeling quite well. I did some light cooking tonight and we went for another 1-mile walk in the evening. I'm feeling much better! Definitely taking another Advil before bed tonight, along with a Percocet. I think tomorrow will be a much better day!