Uh. So some of this might be TMI or whatever, but some of you might be interested, and I'm feeling a lot more up to typing it all out now so here's the recap of the breast reduction. I might, at some point, post under friendslock the before/after pictures my doctor took, but that will have to wait a while because I totally haven't reached the after stage at all.

The basics:
The surgery took about 3 and a half hours. They took out close to 3 pounds of breast tissue and I went from a 36DDD to a low 36C.

---

Pre-Surgery:
I had a pre-surgery appointment two weeks before the surgery where we went over a lot of the little details of what to do post-surgery and I got my prescriptions for both antibiotics and painkillers (percocet because vicodin doesn't do shit for me anymore.) I was also amused (and) pleased to note that my plastic surgeon gave me homeopathic arnica montana caplets to take after the surgery to help with the swelling.

The Surgery:
Was last Thursday, June 22; I went in at 7am and changed into a gown, from there my surgeon did a bunch of measurements and drew a ton of purple inked guidelines so that he'd know exactly where to do the cutting and whatnot. It mostly tickled. I also got to meet the anesthesiologist before the surgery and he was really, really nice too. From there I went into the operating room and was strapped onto the table while the anesthesiologist took like, ten minutes trying to find my veins for the IV. He finally found one on my right wrist and the thing hurt like hell, evidently it was because I have "good skin." I took that to mean that the elasticity in my skin was strong enough to be attempting to push the IV line out of my body, that's what it felt like at least. From there, I don't remember anything until waking up four hours later.

After I woke up they wrapped me in bandages, helped me into my button up shirt, and walked me to the car. My strongest memory is that when I first woke up–incredibly groggy–I mumbled, "is it over?" and grabbed my much!much!smaller breasts to make sure because I was completely numb and I didn't remember falling asleep. That was weird.

I should probably talk a little about how the actual surgery works now. There are a couple of ways to do the surgery, my surgeon uses what is sometimes called an anchor cut because of it's shape. It's a cut all along the underside of the breast and then straight up the middle to the areola. From there he makes another cut around the nipple. After that it's liposuction to remove some of the fatty tissue and then, because breast reductions often are paired with a lift he sort of rewraps the skin in a tighter cone around the breast and removes the excess if that makes any sense. The benefits of doing it that way are that the nipple doesn't have to be removed and thus some of the bigger side-effects–loss of nipple sensitivity and ability to breast feed–are usually avoided.

Post-surgery, there's a lot of swelling, and most surgeons insert these really creepy drainage tubes into you for a couple of days after. When I woke up my doctor told me that my surgery had gone really, really well and that I probably wouldn't need my drains in for more than a day. So my mom got an appointment for the next say and I took a percocet and went home.

The Recovery:
I mostly napped after that, although I woke up just about every hour on the hour. Some of my friends were supposed to come to visit me later on that night, and about when they were supposed to come my doorbell rang and it was my doctor. He actually came to my house to check up on me. He said I was doing really good and then (I think) took off for his yoga class. I cannot even begin to explain how impressed I am with my doctor. He has continued to go above and beyond in every possible way. I am so, so happy I ended up choosing him.

I should note that it's possible that I might have had an unusually easy recovery (but I don't really know for sure) because even with the percocet and the having been knocked out and cut open less than 8 hours before, I was pretty with it when my friends came to visit and they were all really surprised about it. Especially since I was cracking jokes and stuff.

And now I'm getting off track. For the first days and a half you're not allowed to get up on your own. I had to keep elevated and sleep and sit on my back in a reclined but upright position with a pillow under my knees. And despite being somewhat upright, it wasn't enough to sit up without someone helping me with a hand on my back and pushing. You're also really not allowed to use your arms for the first day or two for more than like, lifting your water bottle or fork, so that was a challenge. I felt a lot like a Tyrannosaurus rex with stubby little arms.

In the morning on Friday I went in and had my bandages removed and drains taken out. It felt really creepy and my doctor laughed when I squealed about it being a really gross sensation. He told me I was allowed to take a shower if I wanted to since the bandages were off, but I didn't feel up to an attempt until Saturday. Because I didn't have bandages on anymore, I really needed some more supportive clothes, a tank top was okay the first day but by friday night even, I was really feeling the lack of support and my mom and I checked the internet for advice about good sports bras. I ended up going with this one which featured a very handy zip front and is all soft cotton.

After that it was just a matter of mostly sitting around all weekend and slowly getting strong enough to get out of bed on my own and walk around more. A bunch of my friends came to visit. I switched to Advil on Friday after my doctor said I might be able to try doing that. It would be an understatement to say that it did not go well. I spent Friday night begging my mom to open the percocet bottle (childproof caps are hell on you when you don't have the armstrength to open them) despite that I'd taken Advil and my mom was like, worried that I'd OD on three advil and a percocet (she finally gave in so I could go to sleep.)

On Sunday the advil treated me much better when I decided to give it another go. I even went for a walk around the block that day. I should note that after Friday's medication debacle, my mom called the doctors office to check if it was okay that I would have advil and percocet in my system at the same time and my doctor called me that night to check on me and to give me his number so that I could call him over the weekend if I needed. His home number.

I had a followup appointment on Tuesday when he told me again that my progress was really, really good and that I needed to buy some really supportive push up kind of bras because the lift would hold better shape if I start wearing bras that encourage the more lifted shape. I was surprised to be told that even 5 days after the surgery underwire bras would be okay over my stitches (which are covered by steri-strip tape.)

My most recent appointment was yesterday (Thursday, one week post-op) to get some of my stitches out. My doctor used a combination of dissolving and non-dissolving stitches. The ones around my nipples had to be removed by hand, but the ones below my breast and the line down the breast are dissolvable. I'd never had stitches before, and while most of my friends (pretty much all guys) said that it just feels like a weird tugging sensation, getting the ones around my nipples out felt remarkably similar to getting my eyebrows plucked. My doctor was surprised that it even hurt that badly. Possibly I am especially sensitive, I have, after all, literally passed out while getting tattooed. At that appointment I got the go ahead to begin driving and sleeping on my side (as long as it doesn't hurt) he also told me that I can go back to work if I want.

My next appointment is a check up next Thursday, and after that my appointments are going to be even more spread out.

---

In summation:

movies watched, 3: Harold and Maude, The Producers, Superman Returns.
tv watched, a ton: Seasons 1 and 2 of Grey's Anatomy (LOVED!), 2 episodes of Dark Angel (omg Jessica Alba is painful to watch) 2 episodes of Gilmore Girls (also sort of painful to watch) The BBC/Colin Firth version of Pride and Prejudice (awesome, very, very awesome.)
percocet taken: 24 over approx. 72 hours (about 1 every 3 hours.)
advil taken: I could not possibly begin to count. A lot. I'm not in much pain anymore aside from muscle stiffness but the advil helps with inflammation so I need to keep taking it.
time slept: a lot. Strangely, the first night I woke up every hour on the hour. The second night I did the same every two hours and the pattern continued over the third and fourth night. Weird.

The most pain I've had, interestingly, hasn't been my breasts themselves, but my back muscles which got really tense from having to stay so immobile for a couple days. Unfortunately, that's one of those things that they don't warn you about.

Advice I'd have for other people who elect to get the surgery: Get a good zip-front sports bra or two (at least one size larger than normal) and a couple tank tops for wearing post surgery. Book at least two massage appointments 5 to 7 days from your surgery. Buy easily cooked and eaten food ahead of time unless you have someone cooking for you. Stock up on vitamin water, arnica, advil, a small bike bottle, and paper plates because real plates are going to feel too heavy. And definitely, definitely have a friend/parent/relative who can take care of you for at least a couple days cause you are not going to feel up to doing anything up to and including flushing the toilet and washing under your arms.

Oh and also, my doctor told me that for scarring silicone sheets like these are actually quite effective and that "if I were his daughter he would have me use them."

---

Reading this over before posting I notice that I haven't said a single word about how I feel about my results. And the only possible answer I can give is fantastic. I keep looking in the mirror and staring at my awesome breasts. They're the perfect size for my body now and I feel so much better. I can't tell you how good it is to not feel dominated by my chest. I can't wait to go shopping in a few weeks (and I really can't wait to get back to the gym in two weeks, the lack of workouts and my ability to move easily is driving me a little nuts.) But seriously, impatience aside I don't think I could possibly be happier, it really helps that I have a lot of really awesome friends and a fantastic mom and dad who took care of me this past week.

Anyway, I'm going to wrap this up but if any of you have any questions, or want to refer other people to me, feel free!