Kathy goes under the knife!

[SkinnyKathy 99]

Second post-op appointment was today (12 days post-op). The steri-strips came off my breasts, and most of the staples came out of my arms. One spot on my right underarm is a little wonky, so the doctor left two staples in on either sides of that. He also left my one remaining drain in, no surprise there. It is still putting out about 40 cc/day.

I am super duper swollen today. All my skin all over is sensitive because of it. I think this must be what people mean when they talk about swell hell! It might be exacerbated by the fact that I have been running around quite a lot, doing errands, cooking, meetings, etc like normal. The only thing I'm not doing is any heavy lifting, or even moderate lifting for that matter. For example, I'm still making my husband and kids do the laundry!

I have a job interview tomorrow afternoon. I went through all my clothes to find something with long sleeves that fits properly. Turns out I don't have much with long sleeves!

[KirstenHope 40]

That is great! I had my appointment too. thinks are looking great. I am able to not wear anything on my arms and it is making them swell and tingle BUT not a happy tingle (is that swell hell?) I am happy to be able to go back to wearing "normal" clothes but the loose of feeling creeps/freaks me out a bit. I am on the message the scars and use coco butter on the scares phase. My scares look great. I little punky looking in the arm pick but getting better every day. I can move my right arm almost anyway. My left arm is WAY more stiff. I can now clip a bra behind my back. One thing that is kind of funny is my arm pit hair. I do have some left but not very much. I guess a lot of it was removed - never thought about it until I finally felt good enough to save in the shower and went to check the pits out and it had VERY little hair. Another guess I guess!

[SkinnyKathy 99]

That is great! I had my appointment too. thinks are looking great. I am able to not wear anything on my arms and it is making them swell and tingle BUT not a happy tingle (is that swell hell?) I am happy to be able to go back to wearing "normal" clothes but the loose of feeling creeps/freaks me out a bit. I am on the message the scars and use coco butter on the scares phase. My scares look great. I little punky looking in the arm pick but getting better every day. I can move my right arm almost anyway. My left arm is WAY more stiff. I can now clip a bra behind my back. One thing that is kind of funny is my arm pit hair. I do have some left but not very much. I guess a lot of it was removed - never thought about it until I finally felt good enough to save in the shower and went to check the pits out and it had VERY little hair. Another guess I guess!

I don't mind clothing on my arms, in fact I prefer it to hide my Frankenstein scars for now. I'm sure they will look better soon, but right now they look ghastly, blood mixed in with the "superglue" all along the incision line, so I am only wearing elbow-length sleeves or longer out of the house.

I need more lightweight, opaque, long-sleeved tops! When I went shopping at Target today I bought one but even that one you can sort of see that I am wearing a sports bra underneath. I have one t-shirt that is perfect. Smooth, comfy stretch, totally opaque, classy material with lace detail, V-neck which shows off the girls nicely! I wish I had 4 more of it in different colors, I would wear it every day!

Oh and an incision in my left underarm is bleeding a little. I really need to be careful with these arms.

In contrast to my arms, my breasts look awesome! When the doctor took the steri-strips yesterday I was left with perfectly clean, fairly faint incisions! My implants are still riding high, and my breasts are still a little squarish, but I understand that will settle out soon enough. In a bra they look fine.

Tummy Tuck continues to be almost a non-issue, both vertical and horizontal incisions. No pain, only a little itching. I'm putting Bacatracain on the incisions. Left drain is still putting out slowly.

The biggest problem I'm having now is sleep, or lack thereof. The last two nights I haven't been able to get to sleep until 3am, which is very unusual for me. It's not pain that's keeping me awake, but a vague feeling of chronic discomfort and being physically "stuck" or "clogged up". I think it's the swelling and lack of drainage. Maybe toxins building up in my system with no way to clear. It doesn't bother me as much during the day but at night it keeps me awake. I SOOOO desperately want to do some yoga stretches to wring out my system but there is no way I can do that yet. Last night I woke up my husband in the middle of the night and asked him to massage my arms and legs. That helped a bit, and I got to sleep after that. I think I am going to ask for a nightly massage for the next few days.

I'm scheduled to go to a professional massage therapist for post-surgical myofascial release and lymphatic drainage massage in another week. 3 weeks post-op is the soonest she will do it, and my first appointment is exactly 3 weeks. I hear it can be painful but really helps.

[KirstenHope 40]

^{The tingle in my arms is uncomfortable. I was told to message the scare area but it totally creeps me out. Hubby is away working When he comes home on Tuesday I will be requesting he starts rubbing them. I am feeling good. Send us some pictures when you get all your drains out!!}

[SkinnyKathy 99]

It's been a while since I've posted. I'm doing well. My last drain fell out after two weeks. I'm now at 3 1/2 weeks. I've been out and about doing pretty much everything since two weeks out. I do sleep more than I did before and my left arm is a bit stiff but other than that I'm pretty much back to normal. My incisions have healed completely in most places, but I did have the incisions open up slightly in my underarms a few weeks ago. So there are some places where there are still some scabs or the skin is growing back together. Next week I will start using BioCorneum on the scars to start fading them. For now he doesn't want me to put anything on the incisions.

I can see now that my tummy is not as tight as it possibly could have been. My doctor sees that, too, and said he would do a revision on it when I go in for my next surgery. It looks good, it's just that there is still some laxity in both the horizontal and vertical dimensions. Given what I started with, a mess of skin all over the place, I think he did a good job. Now that I am very close to normal he can aim for an even tighter stomach next time. In the meantime, I am enjoying having a nearly flat stomach for the first time in my adult life.

In fact, I wore a bikini on Sunday! I was over at a friend's house and she said let's go in the pool, and I said I didn't bring a swimsuit, and she said no problem, you can borrow one of mine. Now I never thought of her and me as the same size, but she brought out a bikini (that's all she wears) which I tried on with trepidation. It fit! Now it wasn't a string bikini (thank goodness) as my hips and thighs are still a mess, and it only partially covered my rolls there. But somehow I was shocked that bikinis exist in a size that I can wear. If anything didn't fit, it was the top! My boobs are pretty large, which I love! Yes, you can see the vertical incision, but it's not that bad already. So I slathered up the sunscreen and played in the pool for a couple of hours in a bikini. Now I don't think I will be wearing a bikini to the beach or a public pool, but still it was a milestone for me. I don't think I have worn a bikini since I was 12.

[Janiece 64]

I am so happy for you! I plan to purchase an inspirational bikini , once I know what my boobs look like, to help me start saving up for a thigh lift and tummy tuck!

Is there anything you wish you'd known (or did/didn't do) during your recovery? Same question to Kirsten as well!

Thank you both so much for sharing your journeys!

[SkinnyKathy 99]

Janice, the only thing I wish I had done differently were to have a front-closing sports bra before surgery, as I didn't own one before. And to stock up on seasonally-appropriate long-sleeved shirts. I don't know why I didn't think of this before, but having arm surgery in August, the hottest month of the year, and I didn't own many lightweight long-sleeved shirts.

I did a lot of preparations that turned out to be unnecessary or I only used for a short period of time. The walker I borrowed, I only used the evening of my surgery coming in from the car to the lift recliner. The lift recliner, which I rented for a month, I stopped sleeping in after a week and a half. I continued to use it as a comfy chair until the month was up, but I didn't need it. The toilet seat riser was handy for the first week.

[Janiece 64]

Yeah, not being able to wear deodorant when it's 90 degrees out has pretty much kept me in the house the last week! I'm going to be the only person in the office next week wearing 3/4 sleeve sweaters, but there really aren't many long sleeved summer options. Hopefully it starts to cool down soon.

I'm totally an over-preparer, but I'm glad I talked myself out of random things the nurse recommended like a shower chair. My most expensive surgery purchase was a memory foam bed wedge which came in handy for about 5 nights, Now I occasionally use it to watch tv in bed until I chuck it on the floor...oh well.

I hope you're still doing well!

[GoingforGoal 1,734]

Kathy,

Thanks for sharing your story and all the insight. I am looking forward to your after pics after surg 2. I am going in for a Tummy Tuck, arm lift, breast lift and implants (same surgery) on Oct 8th and now I'm in planning mode. I will do the same as you and start either a blog or forum post to share the process with other bandsters.

Thanks again and you are looking so great !

[KirstenHope 40]

Just checking in!! How are you doing???