12 days PS and doing really good!

I am now 12 days PS post op and I am doing really great. All the drains are gone and that helps in feeling better. My perky new breasts are really strange for me to look at and understand since I have always been huge....I LIKE THEM small and more compact. My neck, shoulders, arms, and upper back no longer hurt!!!!!, no longer pull on my. My upper ventral hernia repair is healing well and I am so aware of the fact that I must respect the hernia to heal well and not do a Stupid Monica Trick and mess this up. Where my ample panni was is now a flat, flat, flat area. I can see my pubic mons area without lift the panni and contorting myself...I don't mean to be too graphic but hey I have not been able to "see" me since 1976 without lifting, separating, or looking in a mirror. The incision from hip to hip is healing well and yesterday the PS took off the clear tape and special steri strips and some of the sutures. I can sit comfy and bend. My new belly button is still red and ugly lookiing but I am putting on the bacitracin and covering the area with gauze. Like I am so happy and so surprised at how good I feel. I expected such pain and pain and pain and it ain't there. I am not taking any post op meds any longer. The PS and I agreed that the antibodics were causing me the tummy and "totaly rectal hemrroids swollen" problem and we stopped the antibodics. I am wearing two binders one low and one high and they feel wonderful. The PS reminded me to take off the upper during the day so that I felt like eating....she feels that some of my not wanting to eat is caused by the binder constricting me. I wore a size 20 pair of jeans to the PS on Tuesday and they were falling off me as I walked. So we stopped at WalMart and I got a size 18 petite and they are already big in the lower area, but fit good around my waist area as this is still swollen. When I went in for the surgery I weighed in at 186 and today I am 174. The PS said they took 2 pounds from each breast and 10 lbs from the panni area. The pathology on the breast tissue all came back normal. All the scars on my body that had been there begining in 1970...Gbladder, 3 C-sections, tubal ligation, hernia repair, laproscopic gastric bypass are all cut out so I will be left with the hip to hip and vertical scar and the breast reduction scars. I feel blessed that I could have this surgery and can already tell that the panni being gone is helping my lower back since the skin is not pulling me down, I can stand straighter. No more smell....very nice.

You share ANYTHING you want with us girlfriend This is how we learn by others sharing what they have gone through. I wish I could afford PS but my husbands insurance don't pay for it. I don't have a lot of skin but I have some and I'm not proud of it. You go girl Hugs Donna

Congrats Monica! What a great PS story! Did you take pics? and BTW You can never give Too much Info.... we are all here for support! Tell us anything you want! So glad you are recovering nicely! Kelly

Congratulations Monica! I am so glad to hear that you are doing well! I am scheduled for PS on January 9, and totally excited about it! I am having an abdominoplasty and breast augmentation. Can't wait! Best of luck to you! Tracy