1 week post revision

These photos are from 1 week post revision surgery.  My right breast went up 100cc's.  As you can see, my chest wall is the biggest issue.   I think my breasts are actually the same size now.  I know they'll never be perfect, but I think they look so much better than before!  Recovery from the revision was a breeze.  Really, it was nothing like the first surgery.  I only took pain killers for a day and a half.. after that it was advil for another day or two.  I've literally had no issues.  Even the scar is starting to heal nicely.  It's still bumpy, but if I remember correctly, it'll only take a month or two to even out.  I was so nervous that it would look really swollen and be stiff, but there was virtually no swelling!

7 months post surgery

At my 3 and 6 month post-op appointments, I let my surgeon know that I was still unhappy about the different sizes.  I realize that my chest wall is uneven, making it difficult to get my breasts even.  And I really didn't want to go through the whole surgery again.  But I needed something.  It's a lot of money to not be totally happy.  Here are the images so you can see what I mean.

The surgeon's first suggestion was to do a fat injection.  They'd take fat from my rear or somewhere and inject it into my breast.  But I'm pretty thin and lose fat easily so we concluded that wasn't the best option.  Since the surgery has already been done, he had created a "pocket" for the implant.  He said it'd be easy to swap out the implants in the office using a local anesthesia.  He and the nurses all assured me I'd be comfortable and the whole thing would only take 15 minutes.  We scheduled it 2 weeks out.  I actually had the revision a few days ago.  So once I take the post pictures after my appointment tomorrow, I will put up the next post.  And I'll tell you now, the recovery is WAY easier than before!

Day 35

I feel amazing!  I look back at pictures from a month ago and it's so sad to see how flat chested I was and how sunken in my chest was.  I am just thrilled to be able to fill out a bra!  I am so glad I did this.  100%.    After 2 weeks I was able to lift small amounts, but I was really only in pain for about a week.  I've been doing a little bit of yoga and I'm okay with it.  I do it at home so I can stop when I need to.  The swelling has gone down and they actually feel like real boobs.  The bruising is gone, the sharp pains are gone and the scars look great.  The doctor recommended using NewGel+ for the scarring.  I've only been using it for 3 days and I'm already noticing  a difference.  Look it up.  It's like a silicone bandaid type thing and it softens the skin and lessens the color of the scar.  I'll post a picture at the end.  They are expensive but they seem to be well worth it!

As you can see, there is still a slight difference in sizes.  I'm not sure how I feel about it.  Obviously, I'd rather have them even.  But I don't know that it's an exact science to get the right sizes to be perfectly even.  They're not as uneven as they were.  And honestly, you can't tell in a shirt or sports bra.  It's just that I know they're uneven.  But isn't everyone?  So I don't know that it's worth re-doing the surgery.  I'll have a 3 months appointment and ask again.

I should also mention that this was not as big of a deal as I thought it'd be.  I thought I'd be in terrible pain for weeks and the swelling would be ridiculous and everyone would notice.  But none of that was true for me.  It's been a pretty great experience.

Day 11

At one week post op, I had the tape removed.  All of the stitches have dissolved from the outside, although I can still feel bumps underneath the skin.  I haven't taken Vicodin since about day 6.  I've just been taking ibuprofen.  The rash from the antibiotics (or possibly Vicodin) is gone, except some of my skin is still dry.  Particularly on my breasts.  I'm assuming that's also because they just grew 4 times their original size in less than an hour.  Anyway, here are pictures to update.  And if you're wondering, I asked the PS about the size difference.  It could just be the swelling.  They were confident I had nothing to worry about.  I guess 6 months from now we'll be able to tell if they were put in the wrong sides or if we didn't estimate sizes correctly or if it was just swelling.  Either way, they said they'll work with me if I'm unhappy.

One more thing.  Previously, you saw how my belly was VERY bloated from the anesthesia.  I read on a lot of blogs and chat boards about women being bloated for weeks.  Do not put yourself through that pain.  Take some probiotics and juice a pineapple.  I drank an entire pineapple and within hours I lost 4 lbs.  Anesthesia and Vicodin will both cause swelling, bloating and constipation.  "P" fruits (peaches, pineapple, pear, etc) are called "poop fruits."  That's the only way to get your belly back to normal.  Lovely, I know. :)

Day 6

So far, I haven't had a lot of pain.  The bottle of Vicodin says "take 1-2 every six hours as needed" and I usually take 1 every 4-ish hours.  First thing in the morning I sometimes take 2 because I'm so achey.  If I set my alarm for the middle of the night to take 1, then I'll take 1 when I wake up.  That works best for me.

Today is day 6.  I'm not sure if I over did it yesterday or if I've just accidentally grabbed for things and it just got to be too much.  But today, I hurt.  REALLY bad!  Just my right breast, and mostly at my nipple and incision (which is at the crease under my breast.)  My nipple feels like a sharp knife and the incision feels like it's open and someone is pouring salt into it.  But, it's covered with the surgical tape.  I'm hoping that it's not an infection and it's just nerve endings trying to reattach.

You'd be surprised at how many things require you to use your chest muscles.  Sitting and standing (if you push yourself up), flushing the toilet, buttoning jeans, pulling pants up or down, opening fridge door, drinking from a cup, brushing your teeth, holding the phone between your shoulder and ear...  It goes on and on.  So I'm sure I just over worked it.

I mentioned this in the last post, but I had an allergic reaction to the first antibiotic.  I broke out in hives (or really tiny, itchy red bumps) on my belly, chest and neck.  Now they're on my face, back of my arms and shoulders and the back of my thighs.  My face feels like sandpaper, but it doesn't look too bad.  The itching isn't quite as bad as it was, but I've been lathering all of it with coconut oil.  My post op is tomorrow morning so I'll be asking about the bumps, my uneven breasts and the pain in my right breast.

Sorry for the Debbie Downer post.. but it seems like it all built up today!  Tomorrow is a new day :)

Day 4

I was prescribed Vicodin for pain, Phenergan for nausea and Cephalexin for the antibiotics.  2 days after surgery, I started getting itchy red bumps on my belly and chest.  It spread up my neck and onto my face in just a few hours.  Apparently it's an allergic reaction to the antibiotics.  So I stopped taking that, and they prescribed a new one.  Here is a picture of the rash.

For the most part, I haven't had a lot of pain.  I haven't even seen any bruising.  As long as I stay on top of the pain medication, I feel great.  I keep forgetting and sometimes I'll push myself up from sitting and my breast will twitch and it hurts.  Nothing that the Vicodin can't fix.  I've also kept the sports bra on most of the time.  Every few hours I take it off for maybe 15-20 minutes.  They start to hurt if I don't keep them in the bra.  After 48 hours I was allowed to shower.  But I'm not supposed to reach my arms above my head.  Luckily, my husband very willingly washed my hair for me!

I also noticed that my breasts are different sizes.  My left has always been slightly bigger.  The sizes we decided to go with were 375CC's in the left and 425CC's in the right.  I'm not sure if they're swelling differently or if they accidentally put the implants in the wrong sides.  My post op appointment is in a few days, so I'll ask then.  Here are some photos of my swelling and the one at the end shows the size difference.

PS- take notice to my belly.  I'm not sure if there's still air in me or if it's still all the water weight from having IV's pumped in me.  But if you compare to 3 days ago before surgery, this is not what my belly typically looks like!  I'm surprised it's taking so long for it to go down.

 Here you can see the major size difference.

24 hours later

The surgery went great!  I always have a hard time waking up from anesthesia.  It just makes me sick and tired.  As soon as my eyes started opening, my husband was allowed to come back and see me.  I don't even remember leaving or getting in the car.  I'm not even sure I remember getting in the door at home!  But I went right to bed.  The important thing now is to lay on my back at a 45º angle.  I'm surprised I'm not in more pain.  It hurt a lot at the hospital, but now at 24 hours later I just feel full.  If you've ever had a baby, you'll know what I mean.  It feels like when your milk first starts to come in.  When I stand up it hurts a bit because of gravity.  My breasts drop a bit and sit on the incisions.

The pain medication says take 1-2 every 6 hours.  Immediately after surgery, I was taking 2, but by this morning I started only taking 1.  The nausea medicine was making me VERY tired.  But I haven't taken it since last night.  Anesthesia symptoms can stay in your body for 2-3 days.  My eyes are having a hard time staying open even though I feel awake.  In fact, I'm pretty sure every conversation  I've had today I fell asleep mid-sentence for a few seconds. Then I'd have a cliff dream type thing and I'd jump and frantically try to figure out what just happened.  I'm sure it's funny to watch!

I'm supposed to be super swollen for two weeks and only wear the sports bra type thing they sent me home in.  Then I can wear a bra with no underwire.  After 6 weeks I can wear a regular bra.  It'll take about 2 months for most of the swelling to go down.    So here are pictures from 24 hours after surgery.

** TIPS**

-Sleep elevated on on your back only.  

-Drink more water than you ever have.  Especially the day before.  You need to fast 8 hours before surgery, then anesthesia dries you out, and then you're just dehydrated.  So drink drink drink.  And make smoothies full of fruits!

-Eat a lot of fruit.  Since you'll be dehydrated, it'll be hard to have a bowel movement.  The more fluid, the better.  Take some beano too.  My stomach looks like I'm 3 months pregnant.  (The pictures above were from this morning.  I guess it grew in the last few hours.  Ouch!)=

-Eat anti-inflamatory foods.  Turmeric, garlic, quinoa, curry, dark chocolate and of course, lots of fruits and veggies.  Google Dr. Weil's Anti-Inflamatory Food Pyramid.

- Get up and walk around.  Once you're cut open, air can get into your body.  Which then feels like gas in your belly.  And it hurts!  The only way to get it moving is to get up and walk around.  I should have taken a pain killer before we went to the store.  We only had a few things on the list and I just wanted out.  So now I'm sore where my incisions are.

I'll update again in a few days.