20 Year Dream Come True! Winston Salem, NC

I was grossly overweight for most of my life In 2010 I decided to make lifestyle changes to be healthier. I lost 80lbs over 2 years. Now, my arms have always been disproportionate to the rest of my body. Even before I lost weight, my arms looked like I had. I have wanted a brachioplasty my whole adult life. That dream became a reality last week!! I went through the Plastic Surgery Residency Program at Wake Forest Baptist. I would never be able to afford doing this with a board certified PS. I just saw my arms for the first time last night and was completely blown away!! The back view of the incision is pretty gross, but keep in mind I haven't even been for my follow up yet and I can't get my arms wet to clean up. I am beyond happy that my arms are that of a normal person!!

The first week post-op went well. As you can see, there was still a good bit of bruising, but everything looked as it should. I was still very swollen. I had washed my compression garment and it shrank a little, so the office gave me another, bigger one. Honestly, I don't know how the OR staff got me stuffed in that first one anyway, what with all the bandages and all! I took the pain med sparingly. One, because there wasn't any actual pain, just discomfort. Two, I knew that pain meds are prone to constipating people, so I was trying to avoid that. I didn't take any pain during the day after that Sunday (2 days post-op); then I only took at it night through Tuesday. Again, it wasn't because there was pain; I just wanted to be knocked out so I would sleep heavily and not move my arms. Occasionally my arms would feel achy, if I did too much, and I would take ibuprofen.
I went back to work 10 days after my surgery. I wish I had taken off more time, or at least gone back to half days. The first day was pretty rough. Also that first week, my arms would swell more in the evenings, and it would be pretty uncomfortable, so I would take ibuprofen. My P.S. said that was normal and that swelling may happen randomly, even later. Range of motion gets a little better every day. I was told to keep steri-strips on the incision, so I still hadn't really gotten a good look at it.
I was cleared to ease back into my walking routine. I didn't realize how weird it feels to go walking without swinging my arms!! But, it felt to get out and move. I also did some DVD workouts (I love Leslie Sansone!); I just didn't do the arm movements.

No more steri-strips!! I was cleared to put lotion on the incision and start massaging the incisions. The skin on either side of the incisions is so dry!! I'm so glad to get to moisturize it! The doctor was very pleased at how well I am doing. Almost all the bruising is gone. Still swollen, so I'm hoping the incision will continue to move inward a little. It is still very visible from behind. But honestly, if it stays exactly where it is, I will still be thrilled. The mass of skin and fat is gone, so that line is not going to bother me.
The numbness is starting to wear off now, so the incision is a little tender. My P.S. says it can take months for all the feeling to come back. I'm sick to death of the compression garment, so I bought some compression sleeves, like athletes wear. I'm loving these! I'm still going to wear the compression garment most of the time, but these are great around the house and to exercise in. ROM is getting better and better, but still not great. It's frustrating at week 3 to still be limited and everything still wears me out. And, everything seems so heavy!! Public doors are awful! So heavy! But keep in mind, this is a major surgery...it's a really big deal. P.S. said I'm cleared for everything at 6 weeks. I'm going to wear the compression garment as much as I can stand it, but I'm considering getting another set of the athletic sleeves to alternate more. I don't think I'll be comfortable in public with my incision anyway until all the scabs are off and it calms down a little.