Wearing my Verily Birdcage Dress
Tomorrow I reach my 1 week milestone and next Monday I’m off to the hospital to see my plastic surgeon (Yvonne Chow – she did a brilliant job as far as I can tell so far and one of the nurses said that they were the best breasts she’d seen!) to have some dressings removed and new ones applied.
So far, I’ve not been allowed to take a shower (can’t get the dressings wet) so I really can’t wait to do that! It feels so wrong not showering daily. I miss the water so much. This morning I managed to take a shallow bath, whilst wrapped in Glad Wrap (plastic kitchen wrap) to keep my dressings dry. It did feel good, though no sinking down!
My breasts are still very swollen and I’ve been bandaged up now in compression bandage (tubigrip) since my operation (2 layers of it). It helps to hold me all together, and it’s not like I’m allowed to run anywhere or do any sort of activity anyway. After this doctors appointment I will be allowed to go and buy a soft cup bra to support me for the next while. I’ve been doing some measuring to figure out my current size (best instructions I’ve found on the web for finding your bra size here) and think I’m currently a 34DD, but expect as the swelling subsides to end up a 34D .
The pain has been nowhere near as bad as I expected. I’m basically taking a couple of paracetamol a couple of times a day now and that’s enough. I’m more sore and bruised where my drains were, than my breasts (at the moment), though I do get some weird sensations through them (tingling and concessional burning kinds of feelings) though I believe this is totally normal and is nerve pain.
I’m not allowed to do much, no grating cheese or hanging out washing (or using a hair dryer, which is something that is even harder for me as I’m having non-stop bad hair days at the moment). Have to let all my wounds heal so that I don’t tear stitches or do any sort of damage that makes me start bleeding. I had my root touch up appointment scheduled for my hair today, so it was great to also get a wash and blow dry, and I’ve booked in for another wash and blow dry next week, so at least I get to have a couple of good hair days! I feel way more human now.
Have been feeling pretty tired. Do a lot of napping, and really not doing much else, watch TV, read some magazines and write the odd blog post. Can’t concentrate too much. Go for some short and slow walks just up and down the street to ensure that I don’t have any blood clot issues (DVT).
A friend dropped over some lovely flowers and commented on just how much smaller I look. It will take me a while to adjust to my new body image, and I’m looking forward to getting into a proper bra (the tubi-grip gives me a terrible mono-boob) to see just what the new boobs really look like. I have discovered that every top I put on is saggy and baggy over the breast area. I am kind of surprised at just how big everything is! I think I’ve lost about 1/2 my breast tissue (will find out at the doctors appointment about exactly what they took out. I know she told me after the surgery, but I was so dozy on the anesthetic I can’t remember anything she said.
I was thinking this morning that it will be interesting after I get into a proper bra again to re-measure my body proportions to see how they have changed. Most of my tops hang off me at the moment, partly from the reduction, but also the weight I’ve lost. I’m looking forward to trying on lots of clothes when I’m back in a bra to see just how things fit and how this has changed my appearance.
The first thing I notice when I look at myself, is that my breasts no longer jut out over my upper arms. They are contained with in my torso. This alone makes me look way smaller.