Exchange City

Wow Sweetandspecial, I'm very impressed that you are up and writing an essay after 3 hours of surery and anesthesia. So happy to hear you are doing so well. Rest and allow your body to recovery and enjoy your birthday gifts...roses and squishy. What a day, I'm thrilled for you!!!!!

Thanks ladies.  I'm definitely taking it easy, just keyboarding, watching TV, reading and peeing occasionally .  I can't believe I haven't felt the least bit tired after three hours of anesthesia either.  It'll probably hit me like a ton of bricks tomorrow or something. 

I do hope I sleep well tonight.  That happens so seldom you'd think God could see fit to give me one good solid night's sleep after surgery, huh?

Cya later.....

Lisa Jayne,

So happy things went well! Rest, rest & REST! But, occasionally DO smell those gorgeous roses....

Bless You! Hope you have a Speedy Recovery!

Thanks everyone for the thoughtful comments.  I was really surprised too that I didn't need to sleep after coming home.  I was actually up until midnight even after taking my customary tylenol pm around 9:30.  Was up around 3:00 for a couple of hours then got maybe another 1.5 or 2 hours after that.  Egads!

I took 800mg of ibuprofen at lights out and nothing since then.  I really don't have much pain, just an occasional twinge in the areas where he did some minor pocket work and of course, the f'ing drain tube sites.  This too shall pass .

Lisa Janye: Sounds like you might have an adrenaline thing going on! Maybe you'll come down and be able to get some solid sleep tonight. It's great that you are not in a lot of pain!

Bayoubabe: Your bruising sounds really massive. But I'm glad you are liking the girls. As you said, the pain and brusing will pass, and it will be worth it. Let the drugs help you thru! Hope your PS is pleased with his work today.

Andrea63: Sorry your pain is flaring. Hope that resolves quickly for you.

My drains came out Tuesday and it's amazing how much better I feel this soon. Last night I could even slightly lean towards my sides already to sleep.

I must say I do kind of feel the implants, but wouldn't say they are painful at all (except area where extra deep-stitching pocket work was done, and that's not too bad already too). I would call it an internal 'cotton bra'. So, for example, when I have my support bra on my brain knows that it is there and I almost am not aware of the new girls. But when naked, my brain 'feels' the internal cotton-bra and says 'whoa, what's that!' I'm thinking with time my brain will get used to the new feel of the girls and not 'alert' me anymore.  Does anyone else feel this way?

Andrea: I see PS at 3:15 EST today and then again on Monday for drain tube removal. Can't wait for that!  I don't know how in the world I lived with 6 of them after BMX, omg!  I hope your pain issues get resolved.

Rose: I sure hope I sleep tonight. Tried to take a nap earlier and it didn't work at all.  I think I still have a couple of valium left so I might try that tonight. Still no pain except drain tube sites so I do feel blessed about that.

Andrea and Rose: I'm 'aware' of the implants too, but not nearly to the extent of the TEs.  I imagine we'll always have some level of that awareness because let's face it, they are foreign objects in our bodies.  With the pecs on top now it's always going to feel a little different than it did with the pecs where they were supposed to be and the natural tissue on top.

BayouBabe: So glad I didn't have fat grafting.....sounds like a tough recovery!  Hope you feel better soon .  I'm already bored out of my gourd but I'm being a good girl and taking it easy.

Thanks Lisa Jayne, Andrea and Lala for your responses. It helps to know what I am feeling is in the norm. I kind of thought it was, because as Lisa Jayne said, logically, we do have something foreign in our bodies that our brains have to adjust to. It's just we have so many different ways to express what it is we are each individually feeling, I wasn't sure if this is what you guys meant . So my tightness is a bit disconcerting, but really not too bad to deal with. And I know that my expanders got much more 'comfortable' in my body once I was able to resume my running and light weight training (6 weeks to wait again). My theory is that it kind of forces my body to 'perform' in sync, so it gets my brain on board with the program! Till then, I'm supposed to be in support bra's 24/7 anyway to protect my new pocket work. So, just need to handle some quick shower time ... right Lala?

On a positive note, so far I love love love them! No pancake, good volume, squishy soft, cute cleavage, and even the projection is acceptable, which I was very worried about prior to the exchange. Now I only pray this isn't all due to massive swelling and I shrink away to disappointment and despair in a week or two!

Hi everybody,

Sounds like a few of you had some successful exchanges in the last few days. Congrats.  I have expanders in right now, and they are being filled very slowly, as I had some healing problems at the beginning.  I am only up to 250 cc.  I am hoping to get to 500.  At one point they told me I would not be able to have implants, and would have to go for LAT or DIEP, but now they are giving me the option of implants again since I am healing so well now.  It's a decision I will make in the next few months.

I have a question.  Why do some of you hate to take showers?  What is uncomfortable about them?

mamasix, actually the warm shower feels soothing, and seems to loosen up the tightness a little it for me, but I know what you mean about the shower hitting the TE directly. It almost hurts a certain spot on my incision line. More like a pinching sensation.  I was hoping exchange would make it less uncomfortable.  Like I said, I am still on the fence on which surgery I will have.

BCO is a wonderful place for all of us to come together, swap stories, get advice, support, and make friends with women who understand what we are going through.

Goldie4040: It's not really that I hate showers. I do agree with you and Mamasixtaz that the feeling of hard showerspray right on the implants is a bit odd. But it really doesn't bother me, and the overall relaxing aspect of the shower of course is great.

I was only using the shower time to mean the time that I am naked currently, since I am in support bra's 24/7 per PS instructions. Those few minutes during the day when I am naked is when I am more aware of the tightness and pulling in my pec muscles. That feeling is a slighly weird, but in no way painful. It is that feeling we don't like, not the shower per se. And I have every hope that that wierdness will decline over time as I heal from surgery, and as I get more used to the new girls.

Lisa Jayne - That is so exciting about the drains. Oh, i hope i hope i hope it happens early!!!! I had my post-op 4 days after my surgery, with the weekend between, so my ardent hope was that my drains could be taken out at that appt. One side had low readings from the very start (leftie), but the other (rightie, obviously) had one day over the 30cc cutoff my PS likes, so I just wasn't sure what was going to happen when I went to see him Tuesday. He looked at my sheets and said something like 'well, these guys tend to do a lot of draining at first, then fall off a cliff and go to near nothing, and looks like both drains have gone over the cliff for you'. I almost cried with relief! Anyhoo, I'm trying to give you good hope that it really can happen for you. I assume your numbers have been pretty low thus far?

Glad you were able to get some sleep finally, even if you needed to bring out the heavy artillery to get there. Sleep is good.

Runnermom: oops - sorry I missed your surgery date next week! Feeling confident and ready to go?

Lisa Jayne - after my BMX the magic number was 30cc a day for 2 or 3 solid days. My PS was a little more lax after my exchange though. Those numbers look to me like an absolute lock on Lefty, and a very very very good shot on Righty! I think you're gonna get this. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.

Drain tubes are out.....yee haw!!!

Thanks TLR

Had the great unveiling for my eyes only after DH went back to work.  Just have steri-strips on the incisions and gauze w/tape over drain tube sites.  They look very nice. Shape is good, placement is good, projection is good, cleavage is good and they're nice and soft compared to the TEs. I can shower on Monday and don't see PS again until Thursday.

Did show and tell with my mom when she came to bring me grocery shopping and she thought they looked very nice too.  So, I guess there's a big sigh of relief that we're past that hurdle successfully.  Still having a little trouble feeling weepy occasionally and figure it's a combination of getting past this pinnacle along with my sorrow about my boss moving away.  I'm really happy about the exchange but really broken-hearted about the office bullsh*t that forced him to feel he had no other choice but leave.

On a happy note, DH wants to take me out for my birthday tonight now that drain tubes are out .

Lisa Jayne - definitely not just the boss thing. I came home from my one week post-op appointment and balled my eyes out the whole rest of the day. My poor husband was/is not quite sure what to make of the whole thing. I'm not either. I just know I am not as happy this side of exchange as I thought I would be. Foobs look good, pain is manageable, my emotions are not. Hmm. Who knows. Stupid BC!