Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Following Weeks
One Week After...
Two Weeks After...
Three Weeks After...
Two Weeks After...
Three Weeks After...
Four Weeks After...
I couldn't be happier with how the healing is going. I won't lie, it hurts like none other to massage the incisions, but I have to tell myself it will be worth it!
After Surgery Pics
First time I saw my chest!
As you can kind of see the drain tubes go in your arm pits to minimize scarring on the chest!
Leaving the hospital!
Friday I went to Dr. King's Office to get my drains out. This is also when he stitched my arm pit from the drain. They stocked us up with extra bandages and binders.
After some breakfast we hit the road for Appleton!
Leaving the hospital!
Friday I went to Dr. King's Office to get my drains out. This is also when he stitched my arm pit from the drain. They stocked us up with extra bandages and binders.
After some breakfast we hit the road for Appleton!
Picture Results! Befores BEWARE
First off I would just like to thank everyone for their love and support! This has been and will continue to be a journey, but it's something I've always wanted. As I've said before I am so very thankful for all that Christi has endured with this process! I'd like to thank my extended family for all the kind words and conversations of love and acceptance. Last but not least I'd like to thank my closest friends for being there for me through the tough times and helping me literally get through life day by day sometimes. I now have a family that I have created and couldn't be more happy.
I decided to post all the pictures up until this point all together so its easier to compare. First up, the befores.
The before surgery procedure.
I decided to post all the pictures up until this point all together so its easier to compare. First up, the befores.
The before surgery procedure.
When I woke up, kinda...Courtesy of Christi
The lovely drains...
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Recovering At Home
Once I was home I was feeling really good. I had a surreal amount of emotions and every time that I took my bandage off, I just couldn't believe my eyes. Christi made sure that I was eating and taking my four medications. My best friend Misty came over to visit and we had pizza for dinner. I was flying high on cloud nine until I woke up Sunday, extremely sick. I couldn't eat or drink anything. I was in and out of the bathroom constantly. I tried taking the nausea pills, but it wasn't helping. Of course this was the day that some more of my friends stopped over. I appreciated David and Logan coming over along with my other best friend Annie, even though I didn't even socialize with them. Eventually I broke down and had Christi call Dr. King (He had given us his personal cell phone number). Christi told him what was going on and he said to throw all the medications out and he would fax an anti-nausea prescription right away. Unfortunately it was a suppository, but it worked! Everything was going good again. I started showering every other day. Christi had to help me because I didn't have much range of motion with my arms. I was very scared to shower, but I felt phenomenal afterwards! As Friday approached I found some hard spots in my chest. I immediately called and it didn't seem to have an infection or feel warm so I decided to just wait until my two week checkup. When Monday rolled around Dr. King's nurse called and said he wanted me to come down if I could so he could check everything out. I got to the office around quarter to two in the afternoon and he came in and examined me. He started to scrape and peel the adhesive off my incisions. He literally did this with a scalpel and it was pretty painful. He then felt the hard spots and was pretty sure it was just swelling, but to be safe he stuck a needle in the side of my chest and moved it all around to make sure there was no fluid built up. Turns out he was right and it was just swelling so he gave me some more bandages and took the stitch out of my arm pit. I was then on my way home.
My next appointment was Monday October 8th. Up til this date I began to be more self-sufficient, started going on walks with Christi and Denali, our puppy. As I showered more of the remaining adhesive would slowly come off. I moisturized everyday to help with this. On Monday I made the trip down to Middleton to see Dr. King. He was super impressed with how I was healing. Some of my stitches hadn't dissolved so he had to pull and cut them off. Only one of them started to bleed. He then told me that because I was going on my fourth week I needed to start massaging my incisions. The purpose of this is to help the skin heal together better and to help smooth the scars. He said I had to push pretty hard and he began doing it. It hurt so bad. He showed me how to do it and we could literally feel the scar tissue popping and breaking apart. He said that that was a very good sign, even though it felt really weird. I then had to get some after photos taken and he said I no longer had to bind or bandage my chest! I scheduled my next appointment for December tenth and walked out of the office just wearing my polo!!!!
So everyday now I massage my incisions, continue to moisturize, and plan to start using some scar medicine. Today, October tenth, marks four weeks since my surgery. I'm a little sore and almost have my full range of motion back. The hardest for me is to reach up above my head. As for my pain I only take ibuprofen. I still have swelling on both sides which can take up to six months to actually settle. Even with the swelling, I couldn't be happier. My chest is unbelievably flat! It feels so good to not have the tight binder on. It just feels so right!
I will try to get some photos up next. I warn you that I will show the whole process including before and afters. Consider this your warning!
My next appointment was Monday October 8th. Up til this date I began to be more self-sufficient, started going on walks with Christi and Denali, our puppy. As I showered more of the remaining adhesive would slowly come off. I moisturized everyday to help with this. On Monday I made the trip down to Middleton to see Dr. King. He was super impressed with how I was healing. Some of my stitches hadn't dissolved so he had to pull and cut them off. Only one of them started to bleed. He then told me that because I was going on my fourth week I needed to start massaging my incisions. The purpose of this is to help the skin heal together better and to help smooth the scars. He said I had to push pretty hard and he began doing it. It hurt so bad. He showed me how to do it and we could literally feel the scar tissue popping and breaking apart. He said that that was a very good sign, even though it felt really weird. I then had to get some after photos taken and he said I no longer had to bind or bandage my chest! I scheduled my next appointment for December tenth and walked out of the office just wearing my polo!!!!
So everyday now I massage my incisions, continue to moisturize, and plan to start using some scar medicine. Today, October tenth, marks four weeks since my surgery. I'm a little sore and almost have my full range of motion back. The hardest for me is to reach up above my head. As for my pain I only take ibuprofen. I still have swelling on both sides which can take up to six months to actually settle. Even with the swelling, I couldn't be happier. My chest is unbelievably flat! It feels so good to not have the tight binder on. It just feels so right!
I will try to get some photos up next. I warn you that I will show the whole process including before and afters. Consider this your warning!
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Getting Started
Finding a surgeon was a challenge. Most people that I have talked to have had to go out of state. I personally had hoped that I could find something in Wisconsin. I knew the surgery was expensive and I didn't want to add to the cost by having to travel, find a place to stay, and then have to constantly travel back and forth for check-ups. After a tremendous amount of research I found a doctor in Middleton WI. Dr. Clifford King I would recommend to anyone. He is super professional, very caring, and an EXCELLENT surgeon. Throughout my process I've had several appointments both before and after the surgery. The entire staff is very accomadating and understanding. I had to travel just over two hours to get there and they always said if I was late it was ok and always asked how my drive went. It was just a very comfortable atmosphere which I never thought you could find in a hospital.
Dr. King examined me and discussed the options that I had. It came down to two options: a lipo procedure with minimal scaring or the bilateral breast reduction. I decided to go with the bilateral surgery because I would have had a lot of extra skin, given the size of my chest. So I had to then schedule a pre-op appointment. At this appointment I had pictures taken, a brief physical, and the procedure was went over again. I got all of the "pre-surgery" rules, where to go and I got scheduled as the first surgery of the day. My surgery was on Wednesday September 12th. Christi and I were up at three a.m. to get ready and head to St. Marys Hospital in Madison. We gave ourselves enough time to find the hotel that we had reserved before going to the hospital so that when I got discharged we had an idea of where we were going.
We got to St. Mary's by six thirty where I got prepped for surgery! Everything went smoothly! My IV went in the first try and my pregnancy test came back negative! The anestesiologist came in and just went over what he was going to do. I informed them that I have issues with getting sick so I got a special nausea patch put behind my ear, plus some meds directly into my IV. Dr. King came in and marked me all up, made sure I was comfortable and ready to go. They gave me something to relax me before actually getting to the OR and I don't remember anything or evening getting there! The surgery lasted three hours and I spent a good two hours in recovery. He removed three hundred grams of tissue from each side. Christi was a trooper through all of this. I am so grateful for her. It was a long day for her. I apparently asked her the same questions over and over after my surgery and she was gettting annoyed :)
Everything went well. I woke up in moderate pain, two drains, and a really big bandage. I felt pretty good overall and really just slept a lot. The nurses got another bed in the room for Christi and she finally passed out. She never woke up once through the night through the commotion of the nurses taking my vitals, my countless popscisles, and getting up to go to the bathroom. Dr. King came in and took my bandage off and checked out my chest. This was the first time I saw myself with a flat chest and it was AMAZING! I got out of the hospital by seven thirty in the morning on Thursday. Christi got us to the hotel where I just sat propped up in the bed. She emptied my nasty drains numerous times and made sure I had all my pills on time and consistently. My cousin Theresa stopped by to visit and brought us some muffins and cookies from Perkins. When I woke up Friday I had to go see Dr. King so he could check on everything and remove the drains. When I got up I had bled through my bandage and I didn't know why. When we got to the office he removed the drains and ended up stitching my right arm pit from where the drain tube was. This is where the bleeding was coming from. Everything else went fine and looked good. They gave us a bunch of trauma bandages so I could change them out before coming back in two weeks.
We started on our way home and stopped in Sun Prairie to meet some of my cousins and my Aunt and Uncle at the Country Cafe for some breakfast. Christi drove us home while I slept. When we got home Christi propped me up on the couch and basically did everything for me. I'm so thankful for her and all that she did because I couldn't have done it without her.
Dr. King examined me and discussed the options that I had. It came down to two options: a lipo procedure with minimal scaring or the bilateral breast reduction. I decided to go with the bilateral surgery because I would have had a lot of extra skin, given the size of my chest. So I had to then schedule a pre-op appointment. At this appointment I had pictures taken, a brief physical, and the procedure was went over again. I got all of the "pre-surgery" rules, where to go and I got scheduled as the first surgery of the day. My surgery was on Wednesday September 12th. Christi and I were up at three a.m. to get ready and head to St. Marys Hospital in Madison. We gave ourselves enough time to find the hotel that we had reserved before going to the hospital so that when I got discharged we had an idea of where we were going.
We got to St. Mary's by six thirty where I got prepped for surgery! Everything went smoothly! My IV went in the first try and my pregnancy test came back negative! The anestesiologist came in and just went over what he was going to do. I informed them that I have issues with getting sick so I got a special nausea patch put behind my ear, plus some meds directly into my IV. Dr. King came in and marked me all up, made sure I was comfortable and ready to go. They gave me something to relax me before actually getting to the OR and I don't remember anything or evening getting there! The surgery lasted three hours and I spent a good two hours in recovery. He removed three hundred grams of tissue from each side. Christi was a trooper through all of this. I am so grateful for her. It was a long day for her. I apparently asked her the same questions over and over after my surgery and she was gettting annoyed :)
Everything went well. I woke up in moderate pain, two drains, and a really big bandage. I felt pretty good overall and really just slept a lot. The nurses got another bed in the room for Christi and she finally passed out. She never woke up once through the night through the commotion of the nurses taking my vitals, my countless popscisles, and getting up to go to the bathroom. Dr. King came in and took my bandage off and checked out my chest. This was the first time I saw myself with a flat chest and it was AMAZING! I got out of the hospital by seven thirty in the morning on Thursday. Christi got us to the hotel where I just sat propped up in the bed. She emptied my nasty drains numerous times and made sure I had all my pills on time and consistently. My cousin Theresa stopped by to visit and brought us some muffins and cookies from Perkins. When I woke up Friday I had to go see Dr. King so he could check on everything and remove the drains. When I got up I had bled through my bandage and I didn't know why. When we got to the office he removed the drains and ended up stitching my right arm pit from where the drain tube was. This is where the bleeding was coming from. Everything else went fine and looked good. They gave us a bunch of trauma bandages so I could change them out before coming back in two weeks.
We started on our way home and stopped in Sun Prairie to meet some of my cousins and my Aunt and Uncle at the Country Cafe for some breakfast. Christi drove us home while I slept. When we got home Christi propped me up on the couch and basically did everything for me. I'm so thankful for her and all that she did because I couldn't have done it without her.
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