June 11, 2019 - I started writing this post 8 days ago and never finished. (See below for original post.) I'm almost 6 weeks post-surgery and doing great overall. Yesterday I rowed with my team again for the first time since April 30. It was awesome to be back on the water!! It was pouring rain but I didn't care. I felt fine during the row but in the early evening I developed a pain under my left breast. It feels deep, like it's near the chest wall. Perhaps I broke a stitch or something? I emailed Dr. Brown about it and am waiting to hear back. I'm supposed to row again on Friday, but I may wait until next week if I still have this pain.
June 3, 2019 - First, apologies for those of you out there waiting for an update on my May 2 surgery! In addition to dealing with recovering from the surgery, May turned out to be a very busy month, and I just never managed to get around to writing a blog post.
The good news is I'm doing great 4.5 weeks post-surgery. It turned out to be a 4 and a half hour surgery on both my breasts and belly.
Breast surgery involved:
Doing liposuction on my flanks (sides) and lower abdomen for use in fat grafting and also as part of my tummy tuck
Re-opening the incisions under my breasts - the left incision is shorter than the right because he had to remove some skin from under the entire right side to even out my breasts
Deflating (taking saline out of) the expanders (temporary implants) and then removing them from the pockets he had created during the mastectomy to hold the implants.
Inserting various "sizer" implants to figure out what size (CC's and profile) created the best cosmetic result. Dr. Brown ended up having to use slightly larger implants than we anticipated (Allergan Natrelle Inspira Cohesive, 605cc's).
Doing fat grafting in the skin over the implants and around all sides of the implants to smooth contours to make my breasts look as natural as possible. Fat used was from the liposuction.
Removing the sizers and inserting the final implants, and sewing the pockets and skin closed.
Tummy tuck surgery involved:
Liposuction of flanks as noted above
Incision around belly button to "release" it from the skin
Incision at bikini line from hip to hip
Lifting up the skin and fat layer and dissecting that layer away from the muscle layer below, all the way up to just under my breasts
Sewing the fascia of my stomach muscles together so these vertical muscles are right next to each other as they were before pregnancy (mine turned out to be not too far apart, but they were sewn together anyway)
Removing the skin and fat from my belly (the part below my waist)
Stretching the skin down from above my waist to meet the incision at the pubic bone and sewing it up
Creating a new hole for my belly button, bringing the belly button back up to the surface, and sewing it in place
The weight of the belly skin and fat he removed was a little over 3 pounds! When I woke up, I was in a post surgery compression bra and compression girdle and with 2 drains coming from below my belly incision. I opted to stay overnight "under observation" and am really glad I did. I had a catheter in which meant I didn't have to get up and down to go to the bathroom. I went for a walk around the floor that evening and was surprised that I wasn't more in pain. I learned the next day that the reason it wasn't so bad was that I still had a lot of anesthesia in me!
I'm not going to lie - this surgery was more painful than all the breast surgeries were. I ended up being able to forego the heavy-duty painkillers after about 3 days, though. Once again I rented a recliner from Rent-A-Center for a month, and am very glad I did. Had thought I might sleep in it for the first week, but was able to sleep in my bed OK with pillows propping up my head and knees.
Yesterday was 1 month since my surgery. I am now feeling about 90-95% back to normal. I can walk at normal speed and go about all my normal activities around the house. A couple days ago I decided to go without my compression garment and see how it felt. It was fine, so I tried it again yesterday...and realized I'm not quite ready to be without it. (Update: As of a week later, I don't need it anymore!)
June 11 (again) - Today is Mom's 85th birthday!! It's great having her living nearby for the last 4 years. June 4 was three years since Dad passed away from a stroke. Hard to believe so much time has passed. Mom is doing great on her own with me as her "personal assistant"! We are celebrating her birthday tomorrow with a trip to Annapolis for sight seeing and lunch.
My son Gabe returned back to the USA from Israel after living there a little over 2.5 years. It's great having him back state-side! His decision to return was difficult and he took his time to make sure that's what he really wanted to do. He had been a part of a socialist movement there called Dror Israel and was living in a cooperative group house in Tiberias. He is about to start a job at the JCC pre-school for the summer (and possibly also at REI) to earn money for a trip to Asia in the fall.
My son Eli graduated from the University of Maryland on May 23 with a degree in environmental science and technology with a minor in GIS (geographical information systems). He left a few days later for a summer Americorps position at the Teton Science School in Jackson, WY. He is enjoying it so far, and especially loving getting to rock climb out West!
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