I swear I am not whining

OK, maybe a little.

After seeing Renee's FABULOUS brachioplasty pix, I sent a letter to Agha whining about why her arms look SO fabulous at 4 weeks out and mine at 2.5 weeks are such a horror.  I sent him the closeup of her arm as evidence.  His answer:

Healing is dependent on age, genetics, nutrition, tension, etc.  She looks young to me.  She will definitely heal faster.  Also, she may have had less tissue removed. 

Well, I posted that to Renee and found out she is only about 8 years younger than me, so i was having a bit of a pity party for myself anyway.  Renee is also a DS patient (Agha is somewhat concerned that we tend to heal less well), and she DID have lipo (I had quite a bit of lipo myself, which I think caused quite a lot of the post-op pain I'm having).  But I am trying to talk myself down now.  I AM a bit older than her, and my arms pre-op were heavier.  Agha also said everyone heals at different rates, that I should not compare myself with another patient, and I should work even harder at optomizing my nutrition (I am probably not getting the high amounts of protein in that he wanted me to, because I can't stand the ProCare and I had dental work done earlier this week which is making it even harder to eat.

So, yeah, just a little whine.  Here's my arms yesterday:

I can't see the picture here at work, I'll try to take a look when a get home.

You are allowed to whine at least a little.  You are compressing a lot of stuff in a short timeline and it's turned your whole life upside down.  If these doesn't warrant a valid reason to whine, I don't know what does.

Diane, I am 8 years older than FAbydee. I moved along in the healing process more quickly than she did. And I am a DSer.

Dr Agha is right. So much depends on each individual. It is that simple.

Give yourself time, you will be thrilled in the long run.


Soapy

Really, Diana, I don't see what you have to whine about, why you're being such a baby, and any reason for you to be healing slowly.

After all, with multiple procedures, major dental work, and home renovation all going on at the same time, I'm sure you've been resting well, eating properly, and maintaining low stress levels in order to promote proper healing.



. . . did I ever tell you about the time I came out of major reconstructive surgery and felt compelled to wake up every day at 5:30 AM in order to clean the floors . . . because there was a CLEANING lady coming?  And I wanted the house to look nice . . . for HER????  

My early over-activity kept me from healing well and quickly, early on.  Go ahead and whine if you want, but I think you probably have a clue as to what's going on here . . . also, I hate to mention this because it irks the living daylights outta me . . . but eight years actually is a significant difference and age in some respects.

Plus, there's the dental work and home remodeling thing.

But .. but .. but ... I lost my MISERABLE stressful job working for the Boss from Hell (and got a good severance package as well)!!  I am bereft of stuff to whine and complain about!!

Actually, there is probably something to that, which I intended as a joke.  I'm used to a high-paced life, and suddenly everything has slowed to a crawl.  I don't have enough to keep me busy, to distract myself from wallowing in my pain and misery.

I need to start going through the closet and drawers in the bedroom and start throwing crap out.  I'm a horrible packrat, and I need to declutter my life -- when better to do this?  Especially if I have to move for my next job (or "get to move" in case a job in Europe comes through).

 I need to start going through the closet and drawers in the bedroom and start throwing crap out. 

In a word --- NO!!!

Cheesus Fries, Diana -- get a clue.  All the crap will just build up and you'll have to throw away a new generation of it if you start throwing it away now, before a move, and during a remodel.  

Are you running out of Percocet, or what!!!!  Do yourself a serious favor, and find someone who can put you under complete sedation for the next few months so you can heal!!!

Do as I say, and not as I did!  When you get the lower body stuff done, you will totally thank me.

Well, my statement probably sounded more ambitious than you might think.  I was thinking about doing 2 drawers/day.  Maybe take a week to get through the closet.  That kind of pace.

Sedation is starting to sound pretty good, however, especially post-LBL.  But the type A stuff is hard to suppress -- especially since I am inherently lazy and feel guilty when I allow the lazy to show.

I will bookmark this and reread as needed.  Every 4 hours, while waiting for the Percosets to kick in.

It's ok to whine but I really think you are going to see a big change in the weeks to come. Once your sutures are removed and you can start massaging them it's going to steadily improve how they look. I think you are being too hard on yourself. You are only slightly over 2 weeks out....that's nothing in the scope of things. Hang tight, they are going to get MUCH better!

When were your sutures removed?  (There's that comparison stuff again ...)  Mine are supposed to dissolve on their own but they don't seem to be dissolving.  I am not being a very patient patient, am I??

I didn't have any that had to be removed. All of mine were internal. I did have a few very thin (hair-like fishing line) poke through in a couple places but they were easily snipped. My steri-strips were removed after 2 weeks and that's whan I could start rubbing the neosporin on. I'm not very patient either but this plastic surgery stuff seems to be helping me in that area!