A week and a day after my breast reduction surgery

A week and a day after my breast reduction surgery, and here I sit, happily working away from my bed. Everyday after TDH leaves for work, our bedroom gets a drastic makeover, okay, well, it’s not that drastic on a 5lb lifting limit, but hey, it sounds good! The down comforter and sheet gets neatly pulled back, replaced by an old but very comfortable blanket. This way he remains blissfully unaware of the popcorn munching, coffee sloping and pen marks- yes I drop my pens a lot. In fact, currently I can’t find one at all….. An old box becomes the “desk” for the laptop, while the lap desk becomes a working table for notes and workbooks. One night stand now holds the all in one printer and phone, the other holds the all important coffee. I’ve raided every room in the house for pillows of all shapes and sizes and they get used in various ways. From stacked up against the head board for a soft back rest, to under the knees/feet for swelling, and the all important one that wraps around my front to keep the ice packs in place. Yes, I did say Ice Packs, and yes, they are necessary. Not so much for the front, but the side incisions are the ones that have a tendency to get a little swollen and upset. I suppose because the arms are always moving.
The first follow up happened on Tuesday, and Dr. Howard was very happy with her handy work. I certainly like the fact that my shoulders don’t hurt constantly any more, and I’m happy I guess. Not to say that I’m “un” happy, I’m just waiting to decide until the swelling and bruising is less. Every day they look more and more normal and less like the bride of Frankenstein. Dr. Howard removed the steri-strips which helped a lot with the itch factor. The glue doesn’t seem to like me much. There are very few actual stitches showing, just a tail end here or there. Dr. Howard is very good at that. One week later, they look a lot closer to normal than they did a week ago. The swelling is going down, so I’m slowly loosing the look of having “metal funnels in your bra” and more towards normal boob shape.
A rather odd thing has happened though, and Dr. Howard did warn me that it would. I so disliked my boobs the way they were, that I avoided looking at myself in the mirror. I had even trained my brain to only see my face when I was doing things like blow drying my hair. She warned me that would change, and she’s right. I catch myself looking to see what they look like now, from this way, or that way, in this shirt or that shirt. I’m sensing a subtle attitude shift going on mentally also. I’m slowly working away from the attitude of doing everything possible to minimize the boobs because they just aren’t there to minimize anymore. While for a lot of women this is probably a “duh” thing. For me, it’s been a life time of, very successfully, minimizing how big they actually were. Most people had no real idea. When Dr. Howard came in to draw on my breasts (they do this while you are awake and they can make sure it’s going to look normal in the upright position) I had my Mom stay in the room. Okay, I’m a mom, with adult daughters, so I fully understood the position I was putting her in, BUT, I was so good at hiding them I wanted her to see them as they “really” were. Then I felt bad, because she just kept saying “I had no idea they were THAT big”. Again, this was very out of character for me, as I’ve always been very modest. But she understood then, why I’d wanted this done so badly.
Now, I think I look pretty good. The 18 pounds I’d lost prior to the surgery helped a lot, and I’m going to continue that until I get down to about the 25 or maybe 30 pound mark. That would put me in the healthy range I’m supposed to be in. The extra weight off my shoulders is WONDERFUL! That stress and strained feeling I had constantly has faded drastically. It’s not totally, and with the EDS will probably never totally be gone, but it is so much less that I don’t even think about it. I used to come home and take off the bra with a huge sigh of relief. I haven’t worn a “real” bra yet. It’s been all sports type bras to accommodate the stitches. That and there really wouldn’t be a point of buying one until the swelling is totally gone. Still, I haven’t worn a sports bra in forever, so this is new too. Nice, but new. Oh, and I nearly forgot! When standing up, I can look down and guess what!?!?!??! I have FEET. Yea, real feet, complete with toes! Dr Howard said that I’m going to start caring more about the shoes I wear now, since I can see them….. lol…. NOT. The EDS limits my selection anyway, but it really is ODD to look down and not have to move a boob out of the way like a curtain to see the foot.
I have NOT gained weight being off this week.  I’m sticking to my diet plan, 4 skinny days then 1 fat day, repeat. I’m actually eating a little differently just because I’m not getting as much physical movement as I would even at work. Kashi powdered mix, in Chocolate and Vanilla, soy milk, 99% fat free vanilla yogurt, frozen fruits and ground flax, mix and match for breakfast. I found this nifty little “single” severing blender at a “big box” store for $15. Since TDH refuses anything “healthy” it was perfect for me. The little blender part even comes with a sip-style lid so you can just take the whole job with you as you race out the door if you want. Then it pops into the dish washer for easy clean up. Not like the old blenders that have the blades that are separate and it’s a job just to put it back together. Yesterday it was frozen peaches, ¾ cup fat free vanilla yogurt ¼ soy milk- vanilla flavored, and a tablespoon of flax. Viola! Peach smoothie for breakfast! It says it will only do 12 oz, but I’ve stuffed it up to 16oz making doubles, and then have 8 oz for breakfast, 8 oz for lunch. If I do the double up, I usually put a cup of the Kashi vanilla powder in there for the extra protein. I wish the Kashi would make a version with less sugar in it though. Other mornings, like today, I did just the Kashi powder with the soy milk. I usually only mix 1 scoop instead of two, mainly because of the sugar content, and two scoops make it really thick too. Much more drinkable with only 1 scoop. I’m thinking of trying the frozen strawberries with the vanilla yogurt with the chocolate Kashi powder…. We will see… I have been walking down to the mail box to get the mail, and trying to get up at least every 2 hours and move around a bit. Anyone with EDS knows lying still for too long is just as bad as moving too much.
Dr. Howard did give me script Ibuprofen for the pain, 800mg to take 3 times a day. Then morphine as needed and valium for sleep. I tried the morphine and valium to help with the sleep the first few nights, but I quit that real quick. Talk about dreams…. I think that’s what the Beatles were doing when they colored the “yellow submarine” movie. So, I’ve not been taking anything but the Ibuprofen. I can’t say I’ve really needed anything stronger than that. When it gets to hurting, it’s usually because of swelling, so I recline more and add the ice packs. I do find my self needed naps still. The first 3-4 days it was about every couple hours. I’d nap then get up and walk about. Now I can go for 4-5 hours at a time and then pass out for an hour or two.
Well, I’d better wrap this up, I need to log on at work and get some “real” work done….
Monday is another go round of Prolotherapy, so I’ll write more about that then. Wed I see Dr. Jackson, whom I haven’t seen since I started the Prolotherapy or the breast reduction, so he’s going to be surprised. Thursday is my first visit in 7 years to the “girly” doctor…… yea, I know… yell all you want. I’m going, okay…. More later!
T