And here’s the breast…

And here's the breast update. (Did that get your attention? If you haven't been following along, it's not what you think.)

So I'm currently....[counts on fingers]...nineteen days post-op breast reduction, going from oh, maybe a F or so, to a C. I'd asked for B, but they said that was more dangerous than they were comfortable with. So. I was sort of planning to do this update after my two-week follow-up appointment, since I figured I'd know more then, but the doc got called into emergency surgery, so my appt. was rescheduled for this coming Thursday. I might have waited, but I didn't want to forget details, so.

PAIN & DISCOMFORT: Week two, I did too much, and as a result, had a relapse in terms of pain, and had to go back on the percocet. (Lovely, lovely percocet. I think I'm going to miss you the most.) I eased off of that a few days later, went to ibuprofen, and then cut that out too. No painkillers for the last three days, and I'm doing pretty well. I know exactly where my lifting-child muscles are now (hmm...how to describe that spot? on my side, just past my breasts, a few inches under the underarm? something like that), and if I do too much lifting of Anand, I definitely feel it, but it's totally manageable. There are still occasional flashes of pain in the breasts themselves, but sort of random and occasional -- don't know what that is.

BACK PAIN: The main reason for the surgery was back pain. I've lost about two pounds off my chest (should remember to check exact amount with the doc at Th appt.), and so far, no back pain. Of course, I've only had three days without painkillers, and the pain in the front is a little distracting. But so far, so good. We'll see if it holds.

SCARRING: The tape has come off (from showering; they said that might happen, and it was fine) from the incisions under my breasts -- I have some nice thick-ish scars there, mostly not that visible even if I were topless (a bit on the sides). Huh -- I just realized that if I went topless on say a French beach, my breasts would look sort of like they did thirty years ago. Plus some stretch marks and scars, but I'm talking overall shape / perkiness. That's weird, and kind of disturbing. The tape is still mostly on around the areola incisions, but from what I can see, the scars around them disappear into the areola pretty much. The vertical line from areola to base of breast is still taped up and still seeping just a bit -- the wounds are not quite sealed yet, which means I'm not cleared for swimming, which is annoying. The nurse said probably two more weeks.

OVERALL HEALTH: I am going stir-crazy with lack of activity. I'm gardening as much as seems reasonable (no heavy tugging allowed, or spading up big shrubs or the like, but the weeds are falling swiftly to my fiery wrath -- I've cut quite a swath in them in the last week, and I'm sure my neighbors are appreciative. I can't do most other exercise -- just walking. Thankfully, the weather has turned gorgeous, so I've been walking some most days, but I definitely feel like I've lost a lot of tone and possibly some muscle, which is frustrating. Convalescence, bah. After the move, and hauling all those boxes up all those stairs, my arms had gotten kind of buff. It's amazing how quickly (19 days!) that muscle melts away. I hope it's not all gone.

APPEARANCE: I look thinner, according to my friends. I haven't actually lost weight (aside from the part they scooped out), but I guess the big chest just added to the overall bigness of my appearance? I don't know. The breasts are still somewhat swollen (though better than they were a week ago, when their swollen hardness was eerily akin to rocks, or at least melons, or lumpy potatoes), but they're obviously, clearly smaller. Sort of amusingly, a lot of clothes that didn't fit in the chest for a while now fit, like my favorite raincoat. I can wear it -- I can even button it across the chest. It's amusing, because those clothes fit when I bought them, despite my huge rack, so clearly I had added some fat (I'd like to think muscle, but really, no) across my back. And that fat is still there -- it's just that my chest has shrunk enough that I can get into the clothes again. I feel a bit like the Amazing Expanding-and-Shrinking Girl.

Nineteen days. So far, so good. I cannot WAIT to get out of this itchy, painful compression bra, and the kids will be happy when I'm freely picking them up again (it's happening more and more, even though it probably shouldn't yet, but they were so sad when mama couldn't pick them up, I couldn't bear it). But otherwise, mending pretty well, I think. On Thursday, we'll find out if the doc agrees.