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They woke me up around 5:30 to take out the catheter, which felt very strange but didn't hurt. My nurse also made me eat some crackers and started me on oral pain medication (Hydrocodine). I kept both down fine. I felt totally gross; my skin was greasy from the morphine and my hair was plastered to my head. (When I look like crap I feel even worse!) Dr. Austin came in around 6ish (I think) to look at everything and see how I was doing. I still had feeling in both nipples and hardly any drainage (5cc's). He was pleased with everything. I don't remember what time Kelly came - it was early - but I knew she was there because I could here her laughing in the hall. I was glad she came, I had to go to the bathroom soooooo bad! She helped me sit up, held on to me because I felt increadibly dizzy and almost toppled off the bed onto the floor, and helped me both walk and pull my IV stand into the little bathroom adjacent to my room. She stayed and talked awhile and tried to get me to eat breakfast. After arguing about it for a while I finally agreed to try some friut, which wasn't that bad. It wasn't that I didn't want to eat, but I really didn't want to throw up again. She left, my mom and dad, grandma and grandpa, and friend Susan all came and I couldn't wait for them to leave - nothing against them, just that many people in the room was highly irritating to me because none of them would let me rest and I was tired. Kelly came and brought me a Coke (my favorite! :-P)



I had slipped down on the bed, which was forcing me to take really shallow breaths so Kelly called another nurse in to help pull me back up. The other nurse was not too bright - not to be mean because I'm sure she really is very nice. She told me to just grab the top of the bed railing and pull myself up. Yeah right, notice the note on the dry erase board? NO lifting, Rest arms and chest! So then when they put their hands under me to slid me up, she pulled rather hard right on the outside of my left breast. OUCH!! (maybe that's what it was bigger! LOL) Anyway, I was okay. I had to get up and walk and that all went well so I was discharged at 11:30, but didn't actually leave until 5pm. LaNaya came to see me off and helped me get into the car.



My mom and I stayed at her friend's house that night since she lives real close to the hospital. When we got there I cried. I think it was because the surgery was finally over and I was very paranoid something would go wrong. I had spent the past few months waiting for my surgery and now that it was over I was emotionally drained. When my mom emptied the drains that night I got dizzy and very hot, but I didn't have a temp so I just went to bed. My mom's friend was very sweet and let me sleep in her adjustable bed.



I went in the next day to have the drains removed (the maximum output I had was 5 cc's). It didn't hurt but it did feel kind of gross, like a worm or something. My PS said everything looked good and gave me the okay to shower. I was not to lift anything over 5 lbs and rest my arms at all times for at least the next week.



This is not relavant to my surgery, but I am using this site as a diary of my recovery so I've decided to include it. Three days after my surgery I got a letter from my boss in the mail saying she felt it was best that I return to the stable only as a client and not as an employee. I was SO angry. How rude! It's one thing to not tell me I'm fired in person, but it's quite another to be so insensitive as to send someone a letter like that right after they have had major surgery.



I took my first shower 5 days after my sugery. My PS gave the okay to do it sooner but I wasn't ready to see myself yet, so my mom washed my hair for me in the sink. Taking off the surgical bra was very nerve-racking as I had forgot that steri-strips were coving my incisions. It was not nearly as bad as I thought and I was totally shocked at how small they were in comparison to the last time I had seen my breasts! Awesome! :-D My mom had to was my hair for me because I couldn't lift my arms up high enough to do my whole head and there were several times I started to get dizzy, but other than that things went very well. It took me a week to be able to lift my arms and wash my hair myself and I was very determined to shave under my arms!

The first two weeks of my recovery were pretty uneventful. I slept in the recliner most of the time with the TV on Discovery Health Channel. I think the best thing I did for myself at this time was drinking a ton of water and eating lots of high protien foods like chicken, spinach, and other dark leafy veggies. All of these things helped get the drugs out of my system. I went in at two weeks to have the tapes changed and Dr. Austin told me my incisions looked about a month old, not just 2 weeks! Yay! I must have done something right! Just a note about what a great surgeon he is: while he and his nurse were taking off the tapes every time I twitched, weather my finger, foot, or whatever he stopped, held his hands up and asked if it was hurting me. I was just so surprised that he even notice all my twitches, which were just reflexes, not from pain.

I was supposed to stand an arms length away from a wall and slowly crawl my fingers up, increasing the height each time, to return ROM to my shoulders. It took 3 weeks before I could get my arms straight up above my head. Around day 11 I hit post-op depression. I cried over anything and everything and had absolutly no appitite - my mom had to force me to eat. It was during this time that I found Breast Health Online. The wonderful women on that site helped me get through that difficult time and greatly aided my recovery. I am now a BHO addict! I walked every day - I had to, my stomach stuck out farther than my boobs! I had a lot less stamina, even lite shopping at 2.5 weeks made me feel exhausted.

My 4 week check-up went well, they removed all the tapes (since they had refused to fall off on their own) and it was the first time I got to see my IBTs in all their glory! Even the incisions weren't as bad as I expected. I was told to start massaging the incisons with whatever I wanted to use. It's the action not the product. I tried Vite. Eand had a reaction, so I used Aveeno lotion which worked well. Now I use Palmers Cocobutter Formula (which is supposed to help with scarring), but I occasionally have reactions to it since it has Vite. E in it. School started when I was 6 weeks PO and I was okay during the day, but very tired by the end of the day. I am very lucky to have been able to take a whole six weeks off, there is no way I would have been ready to go back at 2 weeks. It was about 7 weeks before I really started feel like myself again.

I got the okay to ride my horse at 6 weeks, but waited until 8. My dad did all the saddling and unsaddling for me because my horse is tall and the saddle's heavy! I wore my surgical bra over a sport bra to keep from bouncing, but I was still sore when I got off the first few times. However, my legs hurt my than my chest since it had been two months since I had been on a horse. I started vaccuming and driving againg at week 6 and as long as I took it slow I was fine.

My 3 month check up was last week. Good thing because the day before I was out in the field shutting a gate and slipped and fell in the mud, catching myself with my arms and pulling on my chest. I was okay though. I talked to Dr. Austin about the possible size difference and he measured, and compared, and studied each breast then told me that they are different shapes - one is more round and the other is narrow and pointed; which is why one looks bigger looking down from my perspective. He also explained that the scar tissue still has to break down and it will be another 3 to 5 months before I begin to see the final results. He gave me the ok to wear underwires (Victoria Secret's flex wire is the only wire bra I could wear comfortably) and resume all normal activities. I feel extreamly lucky - I have had no open spots, infections or spitting stiches at all, which is largely due to my surgeon's good work and BHO's healing diet (and all the water :-P).

We finally got all the statements back from the insuance company - the total cost for my surgery was $11,161.69!! Wow! My breasts are worth more than me! And that was after the PPO dicount! It was totally worth it though. I am so happy with my breasts and am glad that I had the surgery when I did, instead of waiting for the problems to get worse.