Georgia Phelps Happy Sunday folks! Hope everybody is well and had a lovely week.
I can’t believe it’s been a whole week since I posted part 2 of my MYA journey. It feels like my recovery process has flown by as I returned to work today after a whole fortnight off and it felt like I had hardly been away.
Now it’s time for me to share my recovery story, tips for healing and details of my 1-week post op appointment that I had last Monday.
How Has My Recovery Been?
To be perfectly honest, I’ve been extremely lucky with my recovery. I’ve always been quite a quick healer and this operation has seemed to be no exception to that. Every tattoo and piercing, cut and graze I’ve had in the past have healed quickly and caused minimal pain and although of course my surgery is the complete opposite end of the scale and much more extreme, I’ve been healing extremely well so far.
I’ve had some minimal bruising on my left side but other than this I’ve been so damn lucky.
How Has The Pain Been?
Again I feel that I’ve been relatively lucky with pain. For the first 2/3 days, it felt like I’d done a really intense shoulder workout. My neck, shoulders and chest felt heavy and lethargic like they do after a workout but everything else was pretty much fine. The worst day for pain was the second day (on the Monday) as all anaesthetic had worn off by then and it was my first full day at home. That was probably the only day that I really struggled.
For the following few days, my ribs started to really hurt where they were bruised and a bit weak but again that didn’t last long. Since then, the only thing that has been quite sore are my actual stitches. I imagine it’s just where they’ve been tightening and dissolving and according to the nurse at my post-op appointment, it’s completely normal for them to feel a little sharper after about a week. It makes sense too as I’m not taking any pain relief anymore unless it’s really bad but my pain tolerance is pretty high and I’ve not taken anything for about a week now.
What Are My Top Tips For The Best Recovery Possible?
The main reason for my quick healing is probably that I’ve followed my surgeons instructions religiously and done absolutely everything that I was instructed to do. I cannot stress enough how important it is to follow your surgeons, nurses and your patient co-ordinators instructions. They are there for a reason and a bloody good one so never go against them.
Another thing that is extremely important and has helped me massively is patience. I’m the least patient person in the world normally but I knew that in terms of healing, I had to take this slowly, day by day and trust the process of recovery. The appearance of my boobs has changed massively since when I first had my surgery and without my patience, I wouldn’t be anywhere near as happy as I am now. TRUST THE PROCESS! The way they look straight after surgery is not how they will stay permanently. In the space of 2 weeks, my boobs have changed about 3/4 times already and look like a new pair every time! They’ve stayed the shape they are now for about 5 days which is the longest so far but I’m awaiting the next change as I know it’ll definitely happen again.
What Have I Been Up To?
I’ve spent most of my time sleeping, binge watching season 2 of Love Island and sat here typing away on my little blog. In a way, I’m quite lucky that my second job is through a laptop as I think otherwise, I would have been bored shitless by now. Keep yourself occupied, get a good book or TV series and get yourself some visitors! It gets boring and lonely being stuck at home for 2 weeks so make sure you’ve got something to do and some company every now and again.
What Have I Struggled With?
One thing that I’ve really struggled with is sleep. Ordinarily, I sleep on my front or side which at the moment, is of course a massive no-go and absolutely impossible. Being forced to sleep on my back has been tough and for the first few nights I really struggled to doze off. I have however, bought myself a V pillow which has helped massively! They’re super comfy, super cheap (I ordered mine here) and prop you up perfectly to stop you from turning over in the night.
How Did My 1-Week Post Op Appointment Go?
I was really nervous about my post-op appointment as I was terrified that it would be really painful. It was the day where my dressings would be changed for the first time, I would see my new pair fully for the first time and they would be cleaned up and checked that they were healing well. Worrying about the appointment seems silly when I look back now as I was completely wrong. I guess it’s normal to worry a little about any appointment but it went swimmingly well, was completely pain-free and my nurse said that I’m healing perfectly.
Properly seeing my boobs for the first time was an amazing experience too. I honestly can’t get over how good they look, how different they look and the fact that they’re actually mine. I’ve never been happy with my boobs so to finally be over the moon happy with them, is quite an overwhelming feeling but it’s the best feeling in the world.
Now that I’ve returned to work, it’s back to reality to a certain extent although I still have to take things very easy, not do any exercise or lifting and drink plenty of fluids too. I’ll be posting another update either as soon as I have one or in a few weeks after my 3 week post-op appointment if that’s when my next lot of news comes along.
Thank you so much for making it this far and I hope you’ve enjoyed the read.
Until next time,
Georgia x