Post 2 weeks-4 days

Today has been 2 weeks and 4 days since my surgery.  Everything is looking great!  Still have my surgical tape and stitches in, I think I only have about a week left till it's supposed to come off.  Still having a little pain. Mostly just the touch to my skin.  When I run my fingers lightly across my skin it's still very sensitive and is due to the nerves not being healed all the way.  It's still going to take some time for everything to completely heal.  They are dropping nicely and looking more and more normal everyday.  I'm still wearing a sport bra for support and to have them settle where I want them to go.  Can't wait for a shopping day at Victoria!!!!

Two Week Mark

Today I have hit my two weeks since surgery.  I'm healing up nicely and feeling much better.  I still have the medical tape over my stitches and will for another week or so.... I also still have pain whenever I move my breast up, down or to the sides and the skin on my breast area hurts to the touch.  Also on my right breast I can tell that the nerves are still healing much slower than the left which is perfectly normal but is very annoying.  It hurts most when I'm sleeping.  The breast falls to the side and sits right on top of those nerves.  I get a hot stinging sensation that last only about 5 to 10 seconds then fades away.  It happens every time I change positions.  The doctor said that it will take a while for the nerves to heal up all the way.  I'm excited to try some light cardio today, lets see how it goes!

Shopping, shopping and more shopping!

Today was amazing!  I woke up this morning feeling so good, I think I definitely got past that wall and really felt like today was a new day.  After getting ready this morning and actually being able to round brush my hair, I got in the car and drove for the first time since the big day.  Planning to only do a few errands it ended up being a 7 hour errand/shopping day.  I went to go take care of the first thing on my list and after that I still felt great, so I did the second, the third and so on and then some.  I guess that's what happens when you put a busy-body in a house for a week and a half with nothing to do, not even cook, clean, shower for some of the time..... So excited to be back to semi-normal but, I have to behave!  The doc said even though you feel good just know that the healing process is still going on and not to push yourself to hard.  Long day, off to bed I go!

Snap Crackle Pop Goes The Bacon

Feeling really good today!  I am back to cooking this morning and I couldn't be more excited!  Everyday life is getting easier and easier.  I can open cans, drawers, bottles, doors etc.  I'm not healed all the way by any means but everyday chores are getting easier.  Sleeping is still a bit of a challenge, for some reason lying down hits some of the nerves in my right breast that are not completely healed yet (my left breast is healing much faster then the right but the doctor said that is completely normal and is pretty common).  So I'm still taking one Oxycontin at bedtime to help me sleep and some of the nights I'm still waking up in pain in the middle of the night so I'll take one Percocet and that really helps me sleep through the rest of the night.  Everyone is different and reacts differently to certain medications but for some reason the Percocet really works to get rid of my pain.  Well off I go to finish up the house chores and I never thought I would say this but, I'm really excited to do it!  Life gets pretty darn boring when all you can do is watch TV, read, sleep, watch TV, read, sleep........ Glad to be back on the go, well for the most part that is.

Useful Information

Since my surgery I find myself thinking of new questions daily that I forgot to ask the doctor when going in for my first week checkup.  A mistake I made was not writing a list of my questions before going in and now that I'm at home I keep thinking of the ones I forgot to ask.  So make sure to write all your questions before going in for that first check up.  Believe me.... you'll have a lot!  Below is a link I found that was very useful and answered a ton of my questions.

http://www.breastimplants4you.com/breast_augmentation_recovery_faq.htm#2

First week check up

Today was my one week check up and it went really well!  The PS said that I'm healing up nicely and that everything looks perfectly normal.  I have a small blister on the left side of my breast and a small bruise at the bottom but he said nothing to worry about, that it's common to see that sort of thing.  I still have the dissolvable stitches in with the tape over the top of them.  He said to leave it on for about two to three weeks until they are completely gone and the tape starts peeling off on it's own.  The only thing that is funny about the tape is that it points my nipples toward the floor which looks really funny but he said the it's the pulling of the tape and as soon as we take it off they will go back to normal.

 Bruise that formed underneath left breast

The shininess that you see is very normal and is due to the stretching of the skin and will go away after a few weeks.  If your skin is red in color and has the sensation of a sunburn, that is normal as well and will subside.

 This is a 5 day post picture.  Breasts are still very high, to the sides and still very swollen from the trauma of the surgery.  The PS said it would take 6 to 8 weeks for them to drop and possible a year to fully settle. 

Blister on left side of breast

Million Dollar Shower

After having breast augmentation you typically have to wait about four days before showering.  So the person I talked about being there to help you..... you might also want to know them really well......  A new love interest probably wouldn't be a good idea....lol!  Taking your first shower is very challenging as your breasts are still very sore and it's difficult to lift your arms over your head.  I would also recommend letting your hair air dry.  I got a little to excited about being able to make myself look decent after laying around for so long and really tired myself out.  After that shower and blow dry I was ready to be back on my couch resting and ended up having to take more pain meds because of over doing it.  But I have to say, that was the best shower of my life!!!  Something that I wasn't sure of and had to call the nurse about before I showered was "Am I able to get the breast area wet as well as where the tape is"?  The answer is "yes".  You will most likely have dissolvable stitches with medical tape over them which is perfectly fine to get wet.  As I said earlier, your breasts will still be pretty sensitive so I would put the water flow on a very soft setting if you have that available.

About to take my first shower after four days!  What a relief to take off that awesome fanny pack and medicine tubes.

Hit By A Truck

The day after the surgery, I'm not going to lie, felt like I had been hit by a truck and shortly after a baby elephant came and sat on my chest.  The amount of pressure you feel is pretty much unbearable!  Now, I got what's called a Pain Pump and I'm sure it did wonders for the pain but I've never had surgery without one so I can't tell you how bad the pain might be without it.  Although I have talked to a few girls that have had two different augmentations and they did say it does make the world of difference.  So I would highly recommend one!  Although I was on the pump, I still kept up on my meds the doctor prescribed for me.  What was great about the meds is that they kept me in and out of sleep for the first two days which is something you really will want to do in that first 48hr time frame.  I would also highly recommend that you have someone with you at all times for those first 48hrs as well.  You are pretty much useless for the first couple days and will need help sitting yourself up, going to the bathroom (I couldn't even pull my sweats up and down for a few days and had to have my husband do it for me...lol), to make you food, and open your med bottles.... etc.  I would definitely take advantage of this time while you have someone there, you will heal faster and hurt less letting someone help you.  One last thing I would say about the first couple of days is to make sure you get a really good stool softener to go along with taking the meds as they can really back you up if you know what I mean...lol!  I took two a day, everyday, and it took me four days.... I finally just ended up drinking two cups of coffee on my fourth day and that did the trick!  Below are a few pictures of my progress so far.

My first day after surgery.  The tubes you see are part of the pain pump.  You carry the pump in an

awesome black fanny pack which has the tubes connected to it.  They go up your mid section, around the top of the breast and into the skin about 6in.

       This was my second day after surgery and as you can see the tape is pulling my nipple downward

                           making it look really funny!  This will go away after the tape is removed.

Also the gauze you see over my breast was just to protect them for the first few days from having the surgery in the periareolar (around the areola).

Research, research, research.......

Well, it has been five days since my surgery and I'm feeling pretty good!  I started out at a 32B and am now a 34 Full C.  I have been wanting a breast augmentation for quite some time now and finally started the journey this last December 2011.  I was lucky enough to have only seen two different doctors for consultations before I decided on one.  I recommend you really do your research to find the best doctors in your area, it will save you a lot of money on your consults in the future.  Ask around (if you feel comfortable) of friends you know that have done it, how they like it and who their doctor was?  Also make sure your doctor has all the correct boards, I have listed them below.  Something that I did, and that was kind of out there but was very useful, I went to a couple strip clubs and studied a lot of different girls that had great breasts and ask them first if there breast were real (and don't be afraid you might offend them, cause first of all they're strippers and second of all it's a compliment to girls that have real breasts and someone thinks there fake.  That just means they have amazing natural breasts!)  Not saying that anything is wrong with strippers it's just that, that's what they are there to do..... show off the beauty of a woman's body!  I had amazing luck with one club that most all the girls there had amazing full beautiful womanly breasts.  Every girl I asked had mentioned the same doctor, good news spreads like wildfire I guess.  I was very impressed and called him the next day to set up a consultation.  By this time it was my second consult.  The first doctor I just didn't feel 100% comfortable with so my search for a great doctor continued.  This is a big life changing decision and you should feel really confident about your choice.  After my consult with this second doctor the search was over.  He was amazing, well educated on what he does, and had a soothing and comforting feeling about him.  To me that was very important as I love doctors that have great bedside manners.

Picture taken right before going in for surgery.  I was feeling pretty good with the cocktail the nurse mixed up prior to going in.  I don't even remember when the lights went out, I just remember waking up and having two amazing additions:)  Stay tuned more pictures and blogging to come!

• American Board of General Surgery 
• American Board of Plastic Surgery 
• American Society of Plastic Surgeons
• American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery
• Your Region) Society of Plastic Surgeons
• (Your State) Society of Plastic Surgeons
• (Your State) Medical Society
• American College of Surgeons