DA2012

Review from Realself

May 26, 2017

Age 40, 5' 7", 140 lbs, 2 Kids, Looking for a Boost Wow! Looking at these photos of my breasts is shocking. I "knew" they'd lost volume, but seeing it in a photo makes me realize how much. I never thought I'd have plastic surgery, but my husband offered it several years ago and it's been in the back of my head since then. I selected 340 cc round gummy implants. I've listened to others with size regret, so I went bigger than I had intended. My doctor mentioned I have a decent amount of tissue, so I hope my natural tissue combined with the implants will give me the look I want. I'll have an anchor incision and my doctor said he'd do lipo in my underarm pit crease during surgery. I saw 3 surgeons before selecting Dr. Terrence Murphy. To be honest, I thought all the surgeons were pleasant and did great work. All were board certified, of course, and within easy driving distance. Dr. Murphy's approach of educating me and explaining his job appealed to me. Also, he didn't strike me as salesman; not slick or slippery in his approach. He also talked to me at length about post-surgery mammograms and cancer. I had done some research on my own and my husband had too, so I was really pleased to see him refer to articles that we had recently read. He is Chief of Plastic Surgery at his hospital, so it's clear he continues to learn and cares about keeping current. Dr Murphy suggested an anchor incision as opposed to a lollipop. The other two suggested a lollipop. While I'm not craving a more complicated incision, I want good, lasting results. If an anchor is the way to do it, then I want to hear that. While it did not factor into my decision making, I was pleased to see that he provides surgery to trans patients via the Murphy Gender Center. Does it make sense to bring my "like" pictures with me the day of surgery? Nothing's changed since my pre-op appointment, but would it be helpful? No changing the implant size at this point (not that I want to). I guess it's just that I want to make sure my doctor and I are on the same page. On the flip side, I feel like I've read enough reviews on RS to sometimes (not always) feel that patients get what they get in terms of results, and they either like it or don't. I'm not trying to say patients don't communicate and surgeons don't listen (and vice versa); it's just that there are unknowns during surgery and they can really impact the outcome. Some women have taught skin and others have stretchy. Amount of breast tissue, amount of muscle, width of chest, likelihood of bad scarring...these are all things patients can't change, and they will impact the look of their results. Anyway, I think what I'm feeling is anxiety. It's the feeling that the surgical outcome is largely out of my hands. With the exception of post-op care and following order's, there's little I can do to impact my results. Surgery is in less than two days, so here's what I've been doing. Cleaning house. No one else will do it, so I've been vacuuming, washing laundry, and I fully switched out the kids winter clothes for summer. I live in Denver, so the weather is really unpredictable. I think summer is here for good, so all the shorts and t-shirts came out. I also spent time helping out one of the teachers. Only a few more days of school, so this was my last opportunity. I've also spent a lot of time adjusting and changing out the yard sprinklers. This is a task my husband doesn't keep up with, so I needed to get it right before surgery. I changed a lot of plantings, so there were a number of adjustments to be made. Tomorrow (last day before surgery), I have a big business meeting. I'm glad to get it out of the way; however, there will be a lot of work that comes after the meeting. It will just have to wait until I'm feeling good. I also need to cut grass, use the weed whacker, and weed my flower beds. Again, the yard/flowers are not on my husband's radar, and I anticipate I will not be able to handle a lawnmower for a while. The good news is that I'm not doing any meal prep. My husband wouldn't reheat any of it anyway (just the way he is). He'll get prepared meals or take the kids to a restaurant. We've been together 20+ years, and I know how he rolls. My husband has talked about taking the kids to an indoor water park an hour away while I recover. He wouldn't take them right away, of course. He's taking 7 days (including a weekend) off work, so he'd only go after I'm off pain medication. The water park is attached to a hotel, so they would spend the night. I think the kids would love it, and I'd get some peace and quiet. Fingers crossed that I'm feeling good enough for him to do something special with the kids. Not a lot to see in the photo. I feel better than I'd anticipated. Had a few drops of fresh blood seep out when he used the bathroom. Am faithfully getting p to walk around every two hours. My husband is keeping track of my pain medicine, antibiotics, and muscle relaxer. I'm too far groggy or that job. My husband says the implants used were 320 cc as compared to 340. I'm not upset about the change. Just curious. So far I'm feeling better than I anticipated. Reaching for something and getting shirts on and off is hard. Other than that, I just feel pressure in my breasts. I hope the wort is over. The ice packs feel great! At my appointment this morning the nurse took off my bandages and let me take a look. My left breast had fresh blood on the gauze she removed. The left was also more swollen and up higher and than the right. Fingers crossed that my left will line up over the next few weeks. I get to take a shower on Sunday. I know that will feel nice. The photo shows two small blood spots under each breast. I guess it's good the office gives white bras so I can monitor how much blood is seeping. I've taken 2 or 3 cat naps today. Each only about 5 minutes long. I'm sure I'll be going to bed early. I need to run a few errands today. My husband will be driving, so I just need to get enough energy to leave the house for a few hours. Using an ice pack now, and it still feels great. I'm only taking 1 Percocet at a time, and I'm able to go 6 hours. Anything oxy scares me, so I'm thinking long and hard if I need a pill or can hold off for a bit. Mostly I'm holding off simply because the pain is not too bad. For me, it's feeling exhausted that's the hard part. Errands are complete. I didn't have to do much other than sit in the car. Here's a photo of my favorite way to relax post-surgery. Ice paks feel so good. This bag of edamame hits the spot. I'm able to take a shower today! Can't wait to feel clean and refreshed. Also the gauze is supposed to come off in the shower on its own. Hope to see a bit less swelling, though it's so soon after surgery I'm not sure I will. The gauze did come loose in the shower so I wasn't tempted to tug at it. My breasts look like they are 3 days post-op: bruised, swollen, few drops of blood. Not exactly a pretty sight. I think the left breast has come down a smidge to be more in line with the right. I didn't wash my hair today. Getting my arms above my head for that length of time would have been to painful. My husband was great to help apply a peroxide solution, bacitracin, and more gauze. I noticed the bra I have at home has a tighter band than the one from the PS office. I was worried it would dig into my lift sutures, but so far it's been fine. I have the one the PS provided in the wash now. Took another shower this morning and really looked closely at my breasts afterward. Boy, my left breast is so much more bruised than the right. It's a deep black/purple at the areola. I'm curious why the right is not as bruised there. I certainly expected bruising. I just thought it would be equal on both sides. I'm taking arnica tablets now, but I think I read it's best to take those ahead of surgery. Hoping I'll still get some benefits. Have not taken any percocet since midnight. I may take one at night, but I'd like to stop during the day. My son wanted to see the incisions but my husband and I told him he needs to wait for several days. He's a very sensitive guy, and I think seeing my breasts as they are right now would really worry him. The day of my surgery he didn't eat because he was too worried. We have given him age appropriate information and answered his questions as they come up. I've been feeling really tired for the past two days. I get out of bed and wander around the house for a bit and then I'm ready to sleep again. I'm so thankful my husband is home. I was asking him how the incisions looked as he helped change the bandages this morning. He reminded me that healing is going to take 6 weeks, so there's going to be very little change from one day to the next. He said I really should be comparing week to week. He did say my right breast looks a bit better than the left at the incision. The left has bad bruises, so maybe that's a factor. Glad I have little sensation in my breast I keep reminding myself to take it easy. I am a bit bummed that I still tire so easily. I had prepared myself to be out of commission for 7 days, but as I approach my one week mark, I'm realizing that I am no place close to normal. It's not that I'm in pain, though I do have moments of discomfort. I take a percocet at bedtime and none during the day. I guess I thought I'd bounce back to normal after a week ( I think I read that someplace), and I'm feeling a bit useless. I moved the laundry from washer to dryer, helped set the table for dinner, and then I was exhausted. I am extremely fortunate that my husband has a few more days off work. Also, I am extremely fortunate that my kids are old enough that the thought of watching videos for a few hours while mom rests is super exciting. If I still feel this way when my husband goes back to work, they will be watching a lot more screen time than normal. My husband also said maybe I'm coming down with a bug. That might explain my exhaustion too. Anyway, I have healing to do and my body still needs rest. So my husband was called in to work today. It wasn't planned and I was worried how I'd manage, considering I slept 5 hours during the day yesterday! I usually never sleep during the day, but my body seems to think sleep is the best medicine. I got up with my husband and he helped change my bandages. I then fell asleep again until the kids woke up. I got breakfast, cleaned up, did some paperwork and took a 1.5 hour nap while the kids watched a video. I was up in time for lunch. I only took one other 30 minute nap in the afternoon. I can't say we did a lot. I read to the kids and they made me get well cards (so sweet!). I am very tired now and ready for bed, but I'm proud of myself for getting through the day pretty well. In 3 days I go to have some stitches removed. I have no sensation in my nipples, so I hope that means having the stitches come out will be painless. I was really worried my implants would be high and up to my neck. I'm fairly pleased with how high they are 8 days post-op. I want them to come down for sure, but I'm not worried that they'll end up too high. I'm pleased with how my areola have healed so far. Stitches come out tomorrow on them. I've tried 4 times to post a photo of the healing but RS issues ! I will try one more time. I have more energy every day. I'm so grateful for that. There was a stretch of days where I couldn't do much of anything except sleep day and night. Reaching for things is much easier now, and I was able to give my hair a deep cleaning today. Still have questions about sutures and scars. Dr Murphy does not use steristrips (or didn't on me), so I'm curious if I will continue to apply ointment and gauze twice daly or if that will change. Also curious about more flattering supportive bras to wear now. I will ask these questions at my appointment tomorrow. Stitches are out and I feel good about my post op appointment today. I should mention a good deal of my bruising comes from a little upper arm/pit lipo Dr Murphy did during surgery. Also, I bruise really easily. My mom does, too. I guess it runs in the family. They aren't even sore at this point. Dr Murphy's nurse, Sarah, answered all my questions. I have the low down on massage, scar treatment, and bras. Dr Murphy examined me and said I'm healing well. I like that he is direct but not overbearing. I'll go back in a month. Technically I can wear underwire bras now, but that doesn't seem like it would be comfortable at this point. I have two spots on my anchor incision that are sore. We discussed it and right now it appears one stitch had a knot in a bad place and another stitch that was removed had newly healed tissue growing over it. I'll continue to put ointment on those places and keep a close eye on them. The scar treatment I'm using is Scarguard. two nights ago a small gap at the T intersection of my anchor incision appeared after massage. I know it's a common place for wounds to separate. I emailed Sarah pictures and she responded right away with helpful tips. Fingers crossed the healing will continue quickly. That it's common to feel low 2 weeks after surgery. That's my mark today, and I'm feeling it. I am physically not my normal self, I'm still several weeks from healing, it's hot out and I feel crabby. I sleep poorly at night. I can't get in the pool with my kids (health-wise totally makes sense), but it's just another annoyance in my day. I can barely (ok, that is an exaggeration) push a grocery cart, I tire easily, and getting shirts on and off is still tricky. I guess I am ready to be farther along in my healing than I am. I can't even enjoy my new look bc I'm feeling crappy. I see photos of women at my stage bra shopping and I think to myself who has the energy? And second, I don't want a germy bra from a rack touching my incisions. I'm a germaphobe! And thirdly, I want comfort not sexy right now. Basically I'm a ball of complaints and crabbiness. Like I wrote at the beginning, I'm glad I was forewarned and know this too shall pass. Just pissed off about everything for now. Drove a stick shift for the first time since surgery today. I would not recommend it. I just don't have the muscle strength to shift one-handed at this point in my recovery. Thankfully, I was staying local, so no highway driving and max speed of 35. Took both hands to shift gears. Now that I'm back home, I took two Tylenol and am resting. I also have had a better outlook the past two days. I'm not nearly as crabby and had a good night's sleep last night. I am using Scar Guard. It goes on like clear nail polish. Some incision areas I can see well (like tops of areola), though I can't see the "stick" of my anchor incision well. I apply it while looking in the mirror. It's a little tricky because it goes on clear, I'm relying on a mirror, and I still don't have sensation in my nipples and a good portion of the "stick". Without feeling, i can't feel the brush on my skin which is just odd. Happy beyond belief that our quarterly cleaning lady is coming tomorrow! I usually rely on her to do a really thorough cleaning and I maintain in between. I haven't been able to mop since my surgery, and I get twitchy every time I see another dirt spot on the kitchen floor. It will be clean tomorrow! RS photos are not easy to use...anyway, I can't explain why my photo keeps flipping upside down! Here's me as of today. When I look at shape and symmetry, I am happy. I still have a lot of healing to do, so I'm prepared for the appearance to change over the next 4 or so weeks. For now, I am really happy. I bruise easily, so I am not surprised that I still have bruises this many days post surgery. They do not hurt, but they don't look pretty. I started having flaky skin yesterday. I'd read about that, so I put a little moisturizer on targeted patches last night and this morning. With Dr. Murphy's approval, I am allowed to wear any bra. During the day I am sticking with functional front-close bras. For the past two nights I've worn an old camisole with a build in shelf bra. Pure comfort! I love it. The elastic does not touch my incisions (I think it would probably be fine but I'm paranoid). It provides support but is not binding. Also, in this heat, the skin on my upper ribs and back needs a break from the tough elastic of the front-close bras. My husband says the small gap at the T incision is healing. I've had the strips on that spot for 7 days, so they likely will fall off soon. Fingers crossed that that location is fully healed when they do fall off. I also have a small gap where the stick incision meets my areola. It's minor and is definitely healing. My guess is that the scar there may be worse. Fingers crossed on that one too. The highlight of week 3 was that I learned that I was doing too much. It's amazing how you can follow your doctor's orders (NO exercise, NO exertion, NO lifting) and still do too much. It took me a few days to realize that I woke up every morning feeling good and by the afternoon my breasts ached. By evening my chest throbbed and I'd take 2 Tylenol and gently ease myself into bed. Sleep and repeat the next day! Like I said, I wasn't doing anything strenuous, but I was trying to resume some household duties. Opening and closing the dishwasher, car doors, the washer and dryer all add up. By the afternoon, my chest ached even worse when I'd do something simple like push down a hand soap pump. I'd have to think about my every movement by the evening and decide if it was worth the extra ache to reach for a bowl at dinner. I came to this site and did searches for other women who had achy breasts. At this point, I hadn't figured out what was going on. All I knew was that I was taking a step back in my recovery. I finally found the review of a mom with 5 kids. She talked a lot about aching in week 3 and ultimately got medication from her PS. I figured my body was sending me a message loud and clear to take it easy, so I did. My husband took the kids and his parents out of town for the weekend, and I did absolutely nothing but rest. I think that 48 hours, in addition to the passing of more healing time, did wonders. I am now in week 4, and I am better able to handle using my pec muscles. I think I am taking it easy, plus I've had a whole exra week to recover. Still some light bruising. I think they are actually more symmetrical than they look in this photo. Holding the camera skews the symmetry. I'm happy with current shape. Looking forward to dropping more and softening. I'm currently in week 4, but I'm pretty sure I've already had the high/low-light. One week ago, I decided to go bra shopping at Target. This was a big step for me because I previously had been worried (germaphobe) about infecting my incisions. Anyway, I decided I had to have more comfortable bras because the front-close I had been using were constantly pushing my boobs together. In my head, this was possibly part of the achy issues I'd had in week 3. In hindsight, I don't think that's the case. Anyway, I got 4 bras at Target. No underwire and all were billed as comfort style. I wore them for 72 hours happily. After that, I began to get a very, very, very sore spot below my right anchor incision. It hurt at just one location, and it hurt a lot. Bending over and lying down hurt tremendously. My husband jently pushed there and that was super painful. I ended up emailing Dr Murhphy's nurse, Sarah, after I tried to sort through the pain for two days. She responded right away and said she thought the area looked irritated by the steristrips and suggested I remove them. I hopped in the shower and did that. I wasn't quite sure the sore spot was related to the strips since they did not touch, but I trust her expertise. Later on she emailed again and said Dr. Murphy suggested comfortable bras and warmth on the sore spot. One of the 4 bras was very comfortable. They all seemed comfy when I tried them on, but in reality 3 had piping at the base of the cup. I'm not sure if that piping caused the pain or made it worse once it became sore, but I stopped wearing those bras and used a homemade heating pad many times over the next few days. I'm happy to say the pain is considerably better. Still sore, but the intensity is gone. I'm not sure if the steristrips , uncomfortable bras, or some other reason led to the pain. I got 3 more bras today that have zero piping. They are all "seam-free". I'm hoping to put this episode behind me. Lots of changes within the past month. I'm sure many more will come in the next 5 months. Hard to believe 5 weeks have passed! I originally thought I'd have my final look after 6 weeks. I think 6 months is more accurate. I'm hoping for more softening and implants settling. I am hoping to see a less boxy shape over time, too. In terms of healing, I think I am right where I should be. I have a small crack at the T incision on my right breast. Totally annoying, but I'm treating it as instructed and am optimistic that it will heal soon. Hats off to women out there who say they are 100% by 6 weeks. That's just not me, though I have improved a lot. I had to ask my husband to cut up our oldest's chicken tonight. I know I could have pushed hard with the knife and done it on my own, but I felt a twinge in my chest and knew I was better off skipping that job. I really want that last spot to close for good, so I need to take it easy and not over do it! In-laws are gone and things are much quieter, so I plan to take advantage of this window and rest as much as I can. Pre-surgery I'd wake up around 3 AM every night and be awake for an hour or two. While I'm healing, I've noticed I still wake at 3, but I go right back to bed. I'm a little past 6 weeks, but the photos are from the correct day. The small open spot on the T incision has closed. I'm very thankful. The area had been tender, but it feels good now. I had a protruding stitch on my left side. It didn't hurt and everything around the stitch had healed. I had planned to have it trimmed at my follow-up appointment next week, but it fell off/broke off on it's own. It's the dissolvable type, so maybe it dissolved on the inside of my body and the tip fell off? Who knows...it's gone now. I feel close to my pre-surgery self! A few weeks back, I wasn't sure I'd ever feel normal again. Today, I feel about 90 or 95%. I still sleep on my back or side. I hope I can be a belly sleeper again at some point. I don't have approval to work out, yet. I feel confident I can resume low-body exercise, but I think I'll have to do baby steps for upper body. I truly feel weak in my chest. The kids wanted me to push them both on a tire swing today. I reminded them that I can't push or pull like that. I do feel confident that will change over time. I'm going to give myself more time before wearing anything but sports style bras. I think the pain I experienced in week 4 was due to the piping in regular bras. It hurt a lot, and I have no desire to try again right away. Overall, I'm feeling good and happy the first 6 weeks is behind me. Had my 6 week appointment to day with Dr. Murphy. Everything went well! I have clearance to get in a pool (big question from kids). I asked particulars about exercising my upper body and what to expect down the road. I wish I had sensation or tingly feelings in my nipples or area around my areola. Dr. Murphy says never regeneration may take 18 months. It's chillax for now. As part of the surgery package, I got a coupon for a free service and opted to use it for scar laser treatment. I thought I'd have to return to the office in a few weeks, but I was able to see Beth (I think she's Dr. Murphy's wife) today. I knew what to expect based on underarm laser hair removal. It doesn't feel great, but it's very manageable. The zap (feels like a rubberband snap) fades quickly. Anyway, Beth said the laser treatement takes months to years off regular healing. The photos below are from a few hours after the treatment. The scars are currently redder than normal because of the treatment. Beth said I likely will see results in 4 weeks. Many patients have 2 or 3 treatments, so I may go back. I'll update with photos in a month to show the change. Here are some photos showing what the scars look like one month after laser treatment. I am also using scar strips at night. I am extremely pale, so my scars were very red. I do think they look less red now. I think I will probably do a second laser treatment. As I mentioned before, the laser just speeds up what would happen naturally (less redness and scars turning white). I can't say what portion of my results is from laser, scar strips, or an additional month of healing. I do think the results are noticeable. I am very pleased with the softening of my breasts this past month! I continue to be happy with the overall shape. I still do not have sensation in my areola and and a good portion of skin radiating outward. I know it can take up to 18 months for sensation to come back. I have my fingers crossed! A few days ago, a small area on my left breast that has no sensation had a numb feeling (a little tingle) for about 5 minutes. I hope that is progress! At my next appointment I will ask about doing push-ups. I was able to do push ups pre-surgery, but now I can't lower my upper body more than 2 or 3 inches without feeling tremendous tension across my pectorals. The tension is so strong it's painful. Also, I'm not sure if I were able to lower myself further if the tension would increase or stay the same. Honestly, I feel like something might be damaged. I'd like to know if I can expect an improvement over time or if this is the new normal. It's been more than 7 months since my surgery. I remain happy with the shape and size. My breasts are not identical; however, I'm a believer in sisters vs. twins. The real downside is that I continue to have no sensation in a large are on both breasts. I can't feel anything on my areola and the area surrounding. This is super disappointing. Without a doubt, I knew lack of sensation was a possibility. What are the chances I'd have no sensation on both sides? I do know it's possible for sensation to return up to 18 months after surgery. I will keep my fingers crossed.