I’m thankful for the reminder…
June 23, 2022
June 22, 2022
Today I had to remind myself that it’s not even been a full week since my surgery. I’m in that awkward stage post surgery where I’m starting to feel a bit better, but when I try to do stuff, I feel lousy and tired. It’s frustrating. My stomach is more sore today and my incisions are starting to itch. That’s probably a good sign. I was able to go the day with over the counter pain killer instead of prescription, and I even walked a bit after dinner, so I’m getting there. I’m thankful for that.
June 21, 2022
Patrick is teaching face to face summer classes now, so I was alone most of the day. Thankfully, I’m moving a bit better now, so I wasn’t too worried about managing on my own. I’m still extra tired, so I ended up watching a movie and napping a bit. It was kind of nice having complete control of the tv. And a couple of my sisters had chocolate-dipped fruit delivered, so lunch was covered. Yum! I’m thankful for my sisters, and I’m grateful I’m on the mend.
June 20, 2022
I saw my plastic surgeon today for a follow up. He explained again what he did and where he took the fat from. I’ll go back on Friday to have my bandages replaced with silicone tape. Everything looked good; he simply cautioned me not to lift more than 5 pounds and to wear my sports bra 24/7 for the next 6 weeks.
I was able to take the bandage off my stomach. He went through my belly button for the fat grafting, so I really expected to see a lot of bruising around it. It’s mostly bruised inside, so that wasn’t too bad. My hand looked worse. I’m guessing they broke a blood vessel there.
I’m thankful things are looking well. I’m still tired and sore, but I’m able to move a little bit better today.
June 19, 2022
I’m 2 days post surgery and I feel like I’ve done 1000 sit-ups. I tried to go without pain meds for a while today, and that backfired. So I think I’ll stick with it for a little while, even though it makes me sleepy. I’ve had 4-hour naps the last couple of days, yet I’m thankful the pain is manageable.
On this Father’s Day, I’m grateful for my stepdad, who passed away too young 8 years ago, and my father who is trying to be more involved in my life. I’m also thankful for my father-in-law. His birthday is on our anniversary, and he didn’t care that we usurped it. He also likes to go junking, and he sometimes sends me stuff for my booth. He’s generous and sarcastic and fun. I lucked out with my in-laws.
June 18, 2022
I’m thankful today for Patrick’s help, for delivered flowers, for pain meds, and for beautiful weather.
June 17, 2022
I’m so grateful to have my surgery done. Yay! We made it to the hospital by 5:30 am as directed, and they brought me to the surgery room around 8:00. In between I saw 3 or 4 nurses, the attending anesthesiologist, the anesthesiologist who would be in the room with me, and my plastic surgeon.
When my surgeon came in, he marked me again with Sharpies of different colors. Since I couldn’t see it, Patrick joked that he was just playing tic-tac-toe. Haha!
For the record, I’m pretty sore. I’m wearing a compression wrap around my stomach. My throat hurts, but the nurse said that could be a side effect of the ant-nausea patch behind my ear. Overall, it’s the incisions that really hurt, especially when I try to sit up or twist.
Aside from the compression wrap, nothing else is covered, so I can see the results He made them look fairly even. And they’re no longer hard. Another yay!
Once again, I’m also grateful for my friends and family for thinking of me today .And for Patrick for taking care of me. Their prayers and well-wishes helped my mood. I even got some surprises and my mother-in-law funded dinner!
June 16, 2022
I think I got what I needed done at work today so I can recuperate without thinking too much about it. I’m glad for that. I’m also thankful for the well wishes from family and friends today. It reminds me that everything will be good.
June 15, 2022
Well, it’s less than 2 days to my surgery, and I’m starting to think about it. I’m always nervous before surgery (who isn’t??) but this time I’m also excited about it. So long, rocks! I cannot wait for my chest to feel normal again. Or as normal as it can be considering it will still be implants.
Things I’m looking forward to after a year:
Laying on my stomach. Getting a good massage because I can lay on my stomach. Breathing normally. Maybe getting a full stretch out of my left arm. Wearing shirts that fit properly. Wearing shirts with stripes that don’t zigzag weirdly across my uneven breasts. Sleeping on my side. Holding something against my chest. Giving really tight hugs. Bending over without pain. Jumping jacks.
Just kidding on that last one. I don’t care if I can do jumping jacks again.
I’m trying to focus on the positives with this surgery and not on what makes me nervous about it. But today I was talking to someone who asked if I was going to be ok on Friday. Um, yes. I’d better be. And don’t jinx me like that. I told Patrick that if something crazy happened and I died on the table, my plastic surgeon better finish up. I’m not going out without great boobs. I’ve waited too long.
Probably the biggest thing that makes me nervous is not knowing what to expect afterwards. Since I’ll also be getting fat grafting, I’ll have some pain/discomfort from the liposuction to my stomach, but who knows how much. Or what my stomach will eventually look like. And although my plastic surgeon discussed how he would pull up some of my stomach skin to help create the missing inframammary fold on my left side, I just can’t visualize the outcome.
There are still a lot of “what ifs” rolling around in my head, yet my gratitude for finally being at the end of this long path is going to win out. It’s going to be fine. Maybe even good. Or great. After all, I have a lot of things I’m looking forward to.
June 14, 2022
I’m grateful today for air conditioning. Like much of the US, we’ve entered a heat wave. It was 95 F today but it felt like 105. We were lucky that there was a breeze, so it wasn’t completely oppressive.
melissagratitude 