Hello, everyone!
I visited my surgeon's PA about a week ago, and she confirmed that everything was going well. The soreness is almost completely gone unless I twist a certain way or lift my arms too high, which is lovely. I am driving and resuming most normal activities. The only really annoying this at this point is that some of the swelling is still quite obviously around and that I can't reach behind my head to tie my hair back - I have to rely on someone else to do it for me. Always the little things.
The PA removed my surgical tape and replaced it with paper tape for cosmetic reasons - the less the scars stretch, the better they will look. After another two weeks, that will come off and I plan on rubbing the scars with emu oil, a substance that my family has had personal experience with in terms of healing surgical scars. My cousin was in a severe car accident that had him fly through a windshield, and after all the surgeries were over, he had some pretty ugly scars all over his forehead. After using emu oil for about a year (and not very much of it, about a drop across the entire forehead a day), it barely shows.
Apart from that, no major problems! It kind of sucks that I can't swim yet, but I am walking quite a lot and enjoying it.
Sunday, June 22, 2014
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Breast Reduction Surgery - Two Weeks Post-Op
Hallo, everyone!
I completely abandoned this blog thanks to the chemical engineering life at university, but it was fun. It's nice to be back.
I just underwent breast reduction surgery a few weeks ago, and these are my full thoughts up till this point. For now, even two weeks after the surgery is over, I am relieved to have gone through it. My back and neck pain disappeared overnight.
I started as a 32DDD. It is unbelievably difficult to find bras that size, and to be honest, I was probably bigger than that. I just refused to admit it. I had a lot of tightness in my upper back and neck, and physical therapy did help. However, constantly maintaining that looseness was just not possible, and I took my doctor's suggestion of a breast reduction. I got a referral that was completely covered by insurance to see a plastic surgeon.
My surgeon is one of the absolute best in the area. He took care of all the paperwork and submitted to my insurance, and he purposely went low (300 g removal proposal) so that, when insurance rejected him, he could ask for slightly more and be approved. And that is exactly what happened - they asked for 350 g minimum, and he immediately wrote back and said that that was completely fine. And then insurance approved me. I set up my preop, surgical, and post-op appointments.
As soon as I came home from school, I went for my preop. They did a blood pressure check - the lower, the better because, after anesthesia, your blood pressure shoots through the roof. Then I signed all the consent paperwork and headed home.
The day of the surgery, I arrived at the hospital at 5:30 AM and wore a sweatshirt to the hospital. Surgery was due to begin at 7:15 AM, and they did a weight and blood pressure check. They were extremely happy with my 85/40 blood pressure (this is why everyone should have a good exercise regimen), did a pregnancy check for liability reasons (I have to say, this must have been my eighth pregnancy test so far when there is no possible way I could ever have been pregnant), and set me up with an IV. The anesthesiologist came to speak with me. I mentioned to him that, when I was briefly taking Vicodin last year for endometriosis, I needed very little because I try, in general, to not take painkillers. He nodded and sought out an extra brain monitor for that reason. Then, my surgeon came in and marked me up. That took quite a while, but as he said, "measure twice and cut once." He left afterward and said that he would see me when I was conscious in about six weeks maximum.
I am glad that the anesthesiologist found the brain monitor because, about fifteen minutes later, he put a sedative in my IV that he said would quieten me down but shouldn't knock me out. It knocked me about in about ten seconds, and that is not an exaggeration. I briefly remember, what must have been a few minutes later, the doctors in the operating room tapping my shoulder, trying to wake me up so that I could move to the operating table. I somehow managed to get over - I do remember not being able to straighten my leg out from underneath my butt - and that is the last I remembered until I "woke up" with a nurse next to me. She immediately checked my blood pressure, which had gone up to 120/65 (which is good blood pressure, but look at the difference from before surgery). I drifted in and out of sleep for the next hour or so, and as I was feeling okay, I was given some crackers and water before I felt up to going home. I honestly felt completely fine apart from soreness in the area in which I had just been operated. No nausea or anything, for which I was quite lucky. One thing I will say - it is easiest, when you leave the hospital, to wear a garment that is warm but also that you can put your arms straight in front of you (you can't lift your arms above your head) so that someone can button or zip up the back. I wore one of my mum's sweaters backwards, and that worked completely well.
My mum and I didn't want to push the nausea thing, so I ate some jello and went to bed. And I drifted in and out of sleep that first day. I was really, really sore, and they had put in surgical drains that really, really hurt. Life was fairly uneventful, though. I was forbidden from showering, which really sucked. On the second day, I got a really high fever - 102 degrees Fahrenheit - and we called the surgeon, who told me to breathe deeply. Breast reduction makes people very sore in the chest area, and it's tough to breathe deeply. The end result can be fluid buildup in the lungs. That is exactly what had happened to me, and a few hours after I started consciously breathing deeply, my temperature went straight back down. On the third day, we went to see the PA as my surgeon was out of town. She removed my drains, and I changed out of the surgical bra into a front-zip sports bra in a size C cup. That is when the PA told me that they had removed about 450 g from each side (that is a pound - imagine the amount that was pulling me forward). My surgeon says that I should be a size B when all the swelling is gone, and I really hope that that is true. Size C looks okay, but I would prefer smaller than what I am right now. We shall see.
I gradually increased my eating until I was back to a normal diet about four days after surgery. There was one major scare - on the fourth day, I started shaking uncontrollably. I have no idea what happened, but it lasted half an hour, after which I was completely fine.
One thing I have noticed is that I am still slouching out of habit, and my back gets sore very easily. I spend most of my day lying down for that reason. I think that the soreness is the result of my muscles not sitting up straight for the last seven years, and I am going to go for physical therapy and possibly massage therapy after another month or whenever the doctor says I can go.
That is most of the exciting news up till now. I have an appointment in two days with the PA, so we shall see how that goes. I hope this is useful information, and I will continue to update my condition.
I completely abandoned this blog thanks to the chemical engineering life at university, but it was fun. It's nice to be back.
I just underwent breast reduction surgery a few weeks ago, and these are my full thoughts up till this point. For now, even two weeks after the surgery is over, I am relieved to have gone through it. My back and neck pain disappeared overnight.
I started as a 32DDD. It is unbelievably difficult to find bras that size, and to be honest, I was probably bigger than that. I just refused to admit it. I had a lot of tightness in my upper back and neck, and physical therapy did help. However, constantly maintaining that looseness was just not possible, and I took my doctor's suggestion of a breast reduction. I got a referral that was completely covered by insurance to see a plastic surgeon.
My surgeon is one of the absolute best in the area. He took care of all the paperwork and submitted to my insurance, and he purposely went low (300 g removal proposal) so that, when insurance rejected him, he could ask for slightly more and be approved. And that is exactly what happened - they asked for 350 g minimum, and he immediately wrote back and said that that was completely fine. And then insurance approved me. I set up my preop, surgical, and post-op appointments.
As soon as I came home from school, I went for my preop. They did a blood pressure check - the lower, the better because, after anesthesia, your blood pressure shoots through the roof. Then I signed all the consent paperwork and headed home.
The day of the surgery, I arrived at the hospital at 5:30 AM and wore a sweatshirt to the hospital. Surgery was due to begin at 7:15 AM, and they did a weight and blood pressure check. They were extremely happy with my 85/40 blood pressure (this is why everyone should have a good exercise regimen), did a pregnancy check for liability reasons (I have to say, this must have been my eighth pregnancy test so far when there is no possible way I could ever have been pregnant), and set me up with an IV. The anesthesiologist came to speak with me. I mentioned to him that, when I was briefly taking Vicodin last year for endometriosis, I needed very little because I try, in general, to not take painkillers. He nodded and sought out an extra brain monitor for that reason. Then, my surgeon came in and marked me up. That took quite a while, but as he said, "measure twice and cut once." He left afterward and said that he would see me when I was conscious in about six weeks maximum.
I am glad that the anesthesiologist found the brain monitor because, about fifteen minutes later, he put a sedative in my IV that he said would quieten me down but shouldn't knock me out. It knocked me about in about ten seconds, and that is not an exaggeration. I briefly remember, what must have been a few minutes later, the doctors in the operating room tapping my shoulder, trying to wake me up so that I could move to the operating table. I somehow managed to get over - I do remember not being able to straighten my leg out from underneath my butt - and that is the last I remembered until I "woke up" with a nurse next to me. She immediately checked my blood pressure, which had gone up to 120/65 (which is good blood pressure, but look at the difference from before surgery). I drifted in and out of sleep for the next hour or so, and as I was feeling okay, I was given some crackers and water before I felt up to going home. I honestly felt completely fine apart from soreness in the area in which I had just been operated. No nausea or anything, for which I was quite lucky. One thing I will say - it is easiest, when you leave the hospital, to wear a garment that is warm but also that you can put your arms straight in front of you (you can't lift your arms above your head) so that someone can button or zip up the back. I wore one of my mum's sweaters backwards, and that worked completely well.
My mum and I didn't want to push the nausea thing, so I ate some jello and went to bed. And I drifted in and out of sleep that first day. I was really, really sore, and they had put in surgical drains that really, really hurt. Life was fairly uneventful, though. I was forbidden from showering, which really sucked. On the second day, I got a really high fever - 102 degrees Fahrenheit - and we called the surgeon, who told me to breathe deeply. Breast reduction makes people very sore in the chest area, and it's tough to breathe deeply. The end result can be fluid buildup in the lungs. That is exactly what had happened to me, and a few hours after I started consciously breathing deeply, my temperature went straight back down. On the third day, we went to see the PA as my surgeon was out of town. She removed my drains, and I changed out of the surgical bra into a front-zip sports bra in a size C cup. That is when the PA told me that they had removed about 450 g from each side (that is a pound - imagine the amount that was pulling me forward). My surgeon says that I should be a size B when all the swelling is gone, and I really hope that that is true. Size C looks okay, but I would prefer smaller than what I am right now. We shall see.
I gradually increased my eating until I was back to a normal diet about four days after surgery. There was one major scare - on the fourth day, I started shaking uncontrollably. I have no idea what happened, but it lasted half an hour, after which I was completely fine.
One thing I have noticed is that I am still slouching out of habit, and my back gets sore very easily. I spend most of my day lying down for that reason. I think that the soreness is the result of my muscles not sitting up straight for the last seven years, and I am going to go for physical therapy and possibly massage therapy after another month or whenever the doctor says I can go.
That is most of the exciting news up till now. I have an appointment in two days with the PA, so we shall see how that goes. I hope this is useful information, and I will continue to update my condition.
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Eight Hour Diet... Week Something
Hello, everyone!
So, it has been over a month since I posted anything. I really, really apologize for this. I got really busy with my summer class, and then I had to move back to school which involved a road trip and lots of heavy lifting and setting up my apartment. But it's good to be back.
I am still on the Eight Hour Diet! I have not been losing weight as dramatically as I had been. That being said, I have lost about ten pounds since then. That's not bad... at all. I have also adjusted my weight loss goal by a lot - right now, I have twenty pounds to lose whereas I would have only had about nine to lose a few weeks ago.
Now that I am back at school, I've been able to exercise a lot more. For instance, I walk to school, and that takes at least twenty minutes each way. I also am taking a physical activity class - swimming, which is pretty intense! 900 meters in an hour is A LOT.
Because of this new exercise regimen, this is what I have found works the best for my Eight Hour Diet schedule:
Wake up, drink loads of water, walk to school
After swimming class, walk back up to the apartment and eat my major meal, starting the Eight Hour cycle
Walk back down to school, drink loads of water
Walk back about forty-five minutes before the Eight Hour cycle ends, eat a peach and a hard-boiled egg
That has been working quite well in terms of losing a fraction of a pound every day, which is a very healthy way to lose weight. I don't ever really feel hungry anymore, and I definitely don't feel as if I am deprived of nutrients.
I highly recommend this Eight Hour Diet. I was a huge skeptic at first, but I really, really like the concept, and I think that I will continue to eat like this for possibly the rest of my life - perhaps not as religiously once I reach my goal weight, but I definitely will do my best. That is because I have noticed so many side benefits - my sleep is better, I'm not eating nearly as much junk food, and I have a lot more energy than I used to.
Thanks, everyone, for reading! I have a lot of beauty products that I want to formally review, so I will try to post those pretty soon!
So, it has been over a month since I posted anything. I really, really apologize for this. I got really busy with my summer class, and then I had to move back to school which involved a road trip and lots of heavy lifting and setting up my apartment. But it's good to be back.
I am still on the Eight Hour Diet! I have not been losing weight as dramatically as I had been. That being said, I have lost about ten pounds since then. That's not bad... at all. I have also adjusted my weight loss goal by a lot - right now, I have twenty pounds to lose whereas I would have only had about nine to lose a few weeks ago.
Now that I am back at school, I've been able to exercise a lot more. For instance, I walk to school, and that takes at least twenty minutes each way. I also am taking a physical activity class - swimming, which is pretty intense! 900 meters in an hour is A LOT.
Because of this new exercise regimen, this is what I have found works the best for my Eight Hour Diet schedule:
Wake up, drink loads of water, walk to school
After swimming class, walk back up to the apartment and eat my major meal, starting the Eight Hour cycle
Walk back down to school, drink loads of water
Walk back about forty-five minutes before the Eight Hour cycle ends, eat a peach and a hard-boiled egg
That has been working quite well in terms of losing a fraction of a pound every day, which is a very healthy way to lose weight. I don't ever really feel hungry anymore, and I definitely don't feel as if I am deprived of nutrients.
I highly recommend this Eight Hour Diet. I was a huge skeptic at first, but I really, really like the concept, and I think that I will continue to eat like this for possibly the rest of my life - perhaps not as religiously once I reach my goal weight, but I definitely will do my best. That is because I have noticed so many side benefits - my sleep is better, I'm not eating nearly as much junk food, and I have a lot more energy than I used to.
Thanks, everyone, for reading! I have a lot of beauty products that I want to formally review, so I will try to post those pretty soon!
Friday, July 12, 2013
Eight Hour Diet - Week Seven
Hello, everyone!
I have lost two pounds this week! I think that, from now on, I am simply going to be losing one or two pounds a week. That is still fine, considering I'm finding it really hard to find time to exercise now (thanks to a summer class I'm taking). I'm not unhappy with the results at all. If you do decide to follow this diet, just be sure to drink a load of water.
So now, I am down seventeen pounds, and I have thirteen more to go! Past the halfway point, yaay!!
I have lost two pounds this week! I think that, from now on, I am simply going to be losing one or two pounds a week. That is still fine, considering I'm finding it really hard to find time to exercise now (thanks to a summer class I'm taking). I'm not unhappy with the results at all. If you do decide to follow this diet, just be sure to drink a load of water.
So now, I am down seventeen pounds, and I have thirteen more to go! Past the halfway point, yaay!!
Friday, July 5, 2013
Eight Hour Diet - Week Six
Hello, everyone!
Quick update. I've been really careful about drinking a lot of water this past week! That being said, I also had my period this week, so I'm pretty sure that I could have lost more. I did lose one pound, though - not bad, especially considering all the sugar I consumed this week due to stupid cravings!
I am...down fifteen pounds, and I have fifteen more to go! I am beyond excited that I am at the halfway mark!!
Quick update. I've been really careful about drinking a lot of water this past week! That being said, I also had my period this week, so I'm pretty sure that I could have lost more. I did lose one pound, though - not bad, especially considering all the sugar I consumed this week due to stupid cravings!
I am...down fifteen pounds, and I have fifteen more to go! I am beyond excited that I am at the halfway mark!!
Friday, June 28, 2013
Eight Hour Diet - Week Five
Hello, everyone!
I apologize for not updating last week, but I got really busy with school and such.
That being said, I actually gained a pound or two last week. I think this is because I failed to drink much water. I've lost all that weight and an additional two pounds just in the past week, and the one difference is that I drank a lot of water.
So, over the past two weeks, I have lost a total of two pounds. Not terrible at all. If you are going to go on this, or any other diet, BE SURE to drink a lot of water!! It aids your liver in metabolizing.
I am...down fourteen pounds, and I have sixteen more to go!
I apologize for not updating last week, but I got really busy with school and such.
That being said, I actually gained a pound or two last week. I think this is because I failed to drink much water. I've lost all that weight and an additional two pounds just in the past week, and the one difference is that I drank a lot of water.
So, over the past two weeks, I have lost a total of two pounds. Not terrible at all. If you are going to go on this, or any other diet, BE SURE to drink a lot of water!! It aids your liver in metabolizing.
I am...down fourteen pounds, and I have sixteen more to go!
Friday, June 14, 2013
Eight Hour Diet - Week Three
Hello, everyone! This is my week three update on the eight hour diet!
So, I've lost another three pounds, which I'm quite happy with. One thing I did notice is that it's really, really easy to fall into the trap of eating too little - probably the reason why I only lost three pounds as your metabolism is forced to go slower if you don't eat enough in order to conserve energy. If you're doing this, make sure you're eating your 2,000 ish calories (or whatever the requirement is for your gender/height) in that eight hours. My stomach has gotten so small that a few rice crackers will fill it, which is fine, but it also means that I have to eat small amounts constantly throughout the eight hour period to ensure that I actually get enough calories in one day.
So, let's see... I am down... twelve pounds, and I have eighteen more to go! I'm quite excited about this!!
So, I've lost another three pounds, which I'm quite happy with. One thing I did notice is that it's really, really easy to fall into the trap of eating too little - probably the reason why I only lost three pounds as your metabolism is forced to go slower if you don't eat enough in order to conserve energy. If you're doing this, make sure you're eating your 2,000 ish calories (or whatever the requirement is for your gender/height) in that eight hours. My stomach has gotten so small that a few rice crackers will fill it, which is fine, but it also means that I have to eat small amounts constantly throughout the eight hour period to ensure that I actually get enough calories in one day.
So, let's see... I am down... twelve pounds, and I have eighteen more to go! I'm quite excited about this!!
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