Yesterday I knew my follow up was coming at 3 pm and I was so ready because I just wasn't sure if I was healing correctly or not and I wanted to hear the words from my doc's mouth. I woke up exhausted but did a little work on my computer. After a brief meltdown after stepping on my scale, I decided, THAT'S IT, I've had it and off to my apartment gym I went. Putting on workout clothes and tennis shoes was quite the hilarious scene but I did it. I was hoping to find a recumbent bike (the kind you lean back on) in my apartment gym but all there was was 1 stationary bike so I said eff it and climbed on. I rode for 30 minutes/6 miles and just loved the sweat pouring off my body. I love working out...it's what I do when I'm stressed, sad, grumpy or bored so not having that but still having all of those emotions has been a killer. I did a little lower body stretching then came back and made a healthy brunch. I add a new page on this blog (at the top) called "Feel the Burn" where I am going to keep track of my workouts so I can remember my limitations.
Now to my follow up. Here is how it went down:
1. I am healing at a perfectly normal rate and the swelling is fine.
2. My left implant, well expander, is sitting a little higher than the right but should even out with my expansions.
3. All those restless nights + anxiety was more than likely from the cold turkey removal of the Percocet I thought was such a great idea on Saturday.
4. I am done taking my Soma muscle relaxer and now onto 400 mg on Ibuprofen every 8 hours.
5. I learned that during surgery he put in 60 cc in each implant/expander. That doesn't sound like much but it's basically 2 ounces. My other doc who removed the tissue removed 195 cc from my right breast and 215 from my left. SEE, one boob is always bigger! So keep that in mind...they took out roughly 200 to make me flat chested and only put 60 back in so far so I have quite a ways to go to just get back to my original 200 plus a little more as a reward to myself for doing this surgery. ;)
6. I start my expansions NEXT Tuesday and he will put in 60 cc at a time and thinks he will stop me at 360 cc total so only an additional 160 cc on top of what I use to have. We're aiming for a small C but also they want to expand one extra time so that when they do the exchange (expanders out, implants in), there is enough wiggle room. I can't wait but it's also freaking me out a bit. More pain, here I come!
7. It's time to start doing arm stretches to get my muscles active. I have to do door stretches and wall arm crawls. My right arm is almost perfectly normal and limber but my left is the step child in this situation only able to do about 1/2 of what my right arm can do. I have to work on that daily and not being afraid to sit up straight even though it pulls and tugs.
Overall I feel much better after that appointment and am hoping the Ibuprofen and ice packs alone will do the trick from here on out!