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 45ยบ 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.