Recovery Talk

I’ve been having trouble knowing whether to post or not with everything going on. I have so much to be thankful for & don’t want to seem like I’m whinging. I was very blessed to have my surgery the week before the Covid-19 cancellations, but it has also meant that things have been much harder too. The current situations are apart of my journey so I’ve decided to continue sharing & being 100% honest.

I am really looking forward to removing the mesh tape as I think it’s making me itchy & the very end on my right hip is a bit angry! I’m hoping that I find it easier doing it myself as I can control the speed & hopefully the amount it hurts but I’m also a little bit nervous because at my breast tape removal I went to faint so hard & I’m still a little traumatised 6 months later. The tape is off! I did it, I’m so awesome. I did it, I’m so awesome #happy dance 💃🏻🤪😂😂😂Well that went way better than I could have ever imagined 🤯🥳☺️ I had a nice warm shower, laid down in my mountain of pillows & slowly started to peel. So far I think I looking pretty fantastic. I only removed my tapes yesterday so my skin, incision & overall swelling have a lot of calming down to do. It’s still has a Frankenstein look to it. 2.5 weeks is nothing in the whole healing process given it can take up to 12 months to see the absolute final results. This process takes a lot of patience (I’m not a very patient person 💆🏻).

Say hello to my new belly button 👋🏻😉😂 and goodbye to my 11 year old hernia.

I found that from days 1-10 my body just naturally got a little straighter each day without any extra effort. I was amazed & thought this is pretty easy. Little did I know that the last part of straightening does not happen on its own & it does require quite a bit of effort 🙄😬   The final stretch feels scary because oh my goodness am I so tight from my groin up to my bra strap

As I have super crazy sensitive skin, like I mean next level annoyingly sensitive skin. I ended up with my skin fusing to the tape which also peeled off at removal leaving a sore carpet burn like graze & an itchy rash that lasted for 5 months first time around.

You probably all noticed that I don’t have the taupe steri strips covering my glue & mesh tape like everyone else. I totally forgot to talk about it.

Nurse Kat & Office Manager Katie became my advocates for doing something different this time around which has been really good but if I were to do stage 1 all over again, I wouldn’t actually change a thing.

 

 

 

I am finally here, all drawn up & ready to go. No more planning or waiting.

Waking up from anesthesia went even better than last time. I came out so gentle, like I’d just had the best sleep of my life, no aches, pains or sore throat & absolutely no nausea. 

I’m not going to lie but the first 18 - 20 hours were rough & there were a few moments where I thought what the hell have you done to yourself.

Getting up for the first time was a bit scary & most of it wasn’t painful except for the part where you use you’re legs as a lever to sit up, ouch! 

The only struggle I did have was with my left drain. It decided it didn’t want to stay in & all day it very slowly started to slide out. 

I was really looking forward to seeing my husband & going home to my boys as I wasn’t able to have them visit due to Covid-19 restrictions. Little did I know that home was going to be so hard & all I would want is to go back to hospital!

I cried quite a lot this afternoon. I originally had planned for my husband to stay home for 3 weeks off work to help me & take care of our boys & only do a little work while I rested & the boys were at school. Instead I came home to chaos. 

 

 

Recovery has been quite easy up until this point as my husband has been doing everything but he returns back to work tomorrow so it’s back up to me to wrangle our 3 boys 😬

Survived my first week without help. 

Dr M had a massive task to make me even & more so as I didn’t want implants. Amazingly he was able to get the projection, drop & nipple positioning symmetrical but what he can’t change is that my larger breast is wider on my chest wall than the other resulting in a longer scar & a slightly wider breast. 

12 Week Mark! 🎉🤩😍 It was a roller coaster of emotions. I didn’t realise the emotional impact this was all going to have on me. 

Dr M is a Genius 🙌🏻

I couldn’t believe it was all done. Amazing! 😍

Coming out of anaesthesia was pretty good. 

First night is always the toughest.

My hospital stay was a bit rough & the food they gave me was full of ingredients that I couldn’t eat. The nurses were awesome but I was keen to get home.

 

I absolutely loved meeting the man himself. I had done so much research that I didn’t really have many questions but it was awesome to finally see him & go over it all.

Always listen to Dr M! He knows best.

I was so ready for today. I had well & truly had enough of waiting & preparing. My body was shaking all over from anticipation, excitement & anxiety.

Bring it on!

This is the point where I decided I could not live in this body anymore. I could no longer take the anxiety that filled my body every morning when I put on a bra & got dressed.

My poor tummy hated being pregnant. Being so short my babies had no where to go but out.

I had learnt to live with my body as it served me well. I was able to fall pregnant, deliver all babies naturally & breastfeed all 3.

I went through so much, worked so hard & had rediscovered myself again but living with this body everyday was hard & I still have a lot of life left to live. My husband didn’t want me struggling anymore & said I could make an appointment with Dr M!