PO Days 3-6

Day 3 - Thursday, the 24th I woke up feeling swollen from head to toe. My husband called the doctor to schedule my first pre-op appt for Friday and informed him of the swelling in my hand/arms. My right side was basically double it's normal size now. I asked for an anti-inflammatory (they had give me some at the hospital) but he said to try to hang in there until I saw him the next day. Today was a painful day, I tried to sleep most of it away, but I couldn't wait to get to the doctors to get the bandages taken off - and to hopefully get a peek at my arms. Day 4 - Friday, the 25th My doctors appointment went well. He removed the bandages on my arms and said he wanted to leave them off to see if the swelling would go down. He warned me that it would take a long time for the swelling to go down, but to keep them elevated as much as possible (which I was already doing, but it was hard with the bandages on them). I also got a peek at my stomach (laying down). While it looked like a roadmap of black stitches, it looked nice & flat and I was pretty excited about it. My doctor told me I was still draining too much for him to remove the drains, so they would have to stay in but that everything was waterproof so I could start showering if I wanted to. He also informed me that the vicodin I was on, was going to cause me to be constipated and I should start taking colace. Wish he had told me that on Wednesday, because I could already tell I was getting bound up. I hadn't had a BM since before surgery. When I got home that afternoon, I decided it was time for a shower. That's the first time I got a look at my stomach while standing up - it was awful. I hate it! My waistline is completely different and the middle sticks out like I'm about 5 months pregnant. It makes me really upset to think about it - all this pain and I don't even like the results. I spent months wondering & dreaming about what it would look like & this is not what I expected it to be like at all. I know it will take a long time for me to get used to my new shape. I'm so used to having a smaller waist... but now it's all kind of the same width and it's going to take awhile to get used to. While it will be a little while before I'm brave enough to share pictures of my stomach, I did take some 'after' pics of my arms to share (which can be viewed on FB or in another post here on my blog). I am pretty pleased, so far about my arms. Despite the stitches & bruising, they look so much better than before. Weird thing is, I measured them and they're measuring bigger than before despite that they took skin off... I'm assuming that it's from all the swelling. I just hope all this swelling & stretching of the skin isn't going to make them look awful & saggy once the swelling goes down. I stepped on the scale and I'm about 10 pounds heavier than when I went into the hospital - not making me happy at all. I know that most of it is from the swelling, but I also have not been eating that great since surgery day so I need to buckle down on that. I can't exercise for awhile, so I can not let myself go... I do not want to gain weight & have to lose weight once this is over. I also measured my waist and again, just like my arms, I am measuring bigger all over the place. Again... NOT happy. Anyway, my shower went well. I started to feel more like a human being. I spent the afternoon elevating my arms and the swelling seemed like it was starting to go down. Still not able to pass a BM. I was in the bathroom every hour or so trying to poop.... it was there, but just too big to pass through & I didn't want to push too hard. Day 5 - Saurday the 26th. Woke up at 2 am and had to poop. This was finally it! If you thought the first BM after childbirth was bad... this was 10 times worse. I have never been in that much pain before in my life. But it finally passed. And the swelling in my arms was back. All that time elevating them & the swelling came right back. Saturday morning Hayley had ballet & Ryan had soccer. I had to miss both. The rest of the day was spent doing much of the same - laying on the couch in pain. Day 6 - Sunday the 27th I didn't take my vicodin last night because I was worried the constipation would come back. Instead, I only took tylenol and I could definitely feel it when I woke up this morning. I was in pain & very moody. I took a shower this morning & cried about my arms & my stomach.... wondering why I did this. The swelling is finally going away (again) in my arms, but the upper arms are still extremely tight and painful. The stiches go into my armpit and aren't that painful but they're uncomfortable & they get snagged on my bathrobe. my arms are also oozing blood & other drainage 24/7. it's pretty discusting to have stuff just oozing out of you all the time. Hayley & Alex both caught a glimpse of my arms when i took off my bathrobe and are now scared of my arms. Alex wants to know what is that black thing on my arm is (the stiches) & Hayley just says she doesn't like them and ran away from me. And my stomach is still a mess. I just can't imagine that in a few weeks time it's going to be looking anything like what I imagined it would be like. This afternoon, I noticed that I was peeing a lot more, even though I'm not really drinking more than normal. I think all the excess fluid is finally starting to make it's way out. There is less drainage coming out of my stomach, so I'm hoping that at my doctors appointment tomorrow atleast one of the drains will come out. they're not in the most ideal location and I can't pull my pants up all the way. I also have to wear a binder (big girdle thingy) around my waist. The doctor said it was to put pressure on my stomach, but I don't really know if it's helping... it just seems to make switching positions (sitting to standing) more difficult. i'm walking around pretty easily. the pain in my stomach is actually pretty minimal. It's mostly my arms that are still causing the most discomfort. So far, everything I was told about the surgery is completely different.... I was told (not only by my doctor but by others that had similar surgeries) that it's not an invasive surgery & most people go back to work within a week or so. I think that's a complete load of bull shit!! This recovery is going to take a lot longer than I expected. So here I was, thinking surgery would be the worst part & that everything else would be easy breezy but it's not. I wish I could speed up time past these next few months. Right now, if you were to ask if it's worth it, I would say HELL NO! Don't do it. But... ask again in a few months and maybe I'll have something different to say. I've been mostly passing the time watching Gilmore Girls (I have all the seasons on DVD). I'm already about halfway through season 2.... although I haven't actually watched all the episodes. I fall asleep most of the time and only watch a few bits here & there. I also feel like I'm sleeping ALL the time and I miss out on so much of what the kids are doing. I'm hoping in a week or so that my schedule will be a little more normal