PO Day 14

Last night, I pulled the tape off my stomach. A big section on the end at one side had come off... I was just going to cut it off but it started to pull off the rest of the way pretty easily, so I took it all off. The scar underneath looks really good! Not as lumpy & bumpy as my arms. I had another doctor's appointment today. There is 1 spot on my upper right arm that is really hard. I thought maybe my muscles were swollen. I massaged it last night & it seemed to get smaller. But it's preventing me from being able to lay my arm flat against my body. Anyway... I mentioned that to him & he felt the area. he thinks it could be a pocket of fluid (especially since that is the side that swelled really bad). He's going to leave it alone for now & if it's still there at my next appointment, he will drain it. Speaking of my next appointment - as long as everything contiues to go well and I don't have any problems, I don't have to go back to see him for 2 weeks!! That's Feb 19th. Yay! But he said everything looks great - all the incisions are healing well. the swelling in my stoamch is going down. I told him that it seems like in the morning the swelling is pretty much gone but then throughout the day it swells back up. I really hate that... makes me look/feel like I'm 4 months pregnant. lol. but he said that's totally normal. And I've noticed something kind of weird.... my feet swell towards the end of the day too. My right foot was swollen for a few days after my surgery (which is the same side as my really swollen hand/arm). So I'm thinking I must still have alot of water retention going on. =/ Let's see.... I don't have to wear the binder/girdle thing anymore. But honestly, I haven't worn it since Friday. I didn't tell him that though. lol And he said it would be fine for me to start walking for exercise. But NO aerobics, jumping around or using my arms. woo hoo!! But ofcourse, now that I'm allowed to walk, it's way too cold out to walk outside. And I don't have a treadmill. I'll have to figure something out I wore a bra for the firs ttime today since the surgery. it is pretty uncomfortable since it rubs up against the scars under my arm pits. =/

PO day 13

Aside from the minor, constant discomfort of all the incision sites (not to mention that they're starting to get itchy), I'm feeling tons better today I'm really itching to get back into an exercise routine, even if it is just walking for now. I don't like being so sedentary. I'm going to the doctors tomorrow so I might mention it. He'll probably say no, especially since he already thinks I'm doing too much too soon. But he was the one that told me most people go back to work after a week of this type of surgery. so..... I have noticed that in the morning, my stomach is always super flat & by night time it's swelled up quite a bit. I don't see any pockets of swelling (like at first), just an overall swelling of the entire area. I've heard the swelling can continue for up to 12 months or even 18 months. =/ And I also need to ask him if it's ok to start massaging my arms and what I can use on the scars to make them soften up faster. It's annoying to have to walk around with my arms away from my body because I still can't lay them completely flat against my body. And lastly, a note to self... I need to drink more water! I have really really slacked off on drinking water these past few weeks... partially because at first, it hurt too bad to get off the couch & pee frequently. lol. Water is the only thing I drink. And I've barely been managing to drink 1 bottle (16 ounces) a day. That's really low compared to what I used to drink - 80+ ounces a day. So I've got to step it back up& start drinking more!

PO Day 12

Every day seems to get better! Slowly starting to feel more 'normal'. Although I know it will be awhile long before things are 100% back to normal. The thing I hate the most is my sleeping position -I have to sleep on my back with my legs elevated... I hate sleeping on my back! I prefer my side or stomach. And also, I hate how stiff I feel each morning. It takes awhile to get moving in the morning due to the stiffness, but it's usually gone in about an hour or so. Now that I'm able to move around a little better, I've beent showering daily and it doesn't take as long. That makes a world of difference! I wore a "real" shirt today (as opposed to tank tops I have been wearing) and it was still a little tight on my arms, but it was sooo baggy around my mid section! Can't wait to buy new clothes! I measured my stomach again today & the numbers just don't match up to what I was measuring before. they're actually MORE now than before. So odd since I had skin taken OFF. But then I tried on a pair of my jeans. The button almost didn't close (sob). I know, I know, give it time. But really, that's not the point of this. The jeans fit me completely differently. Like it hit in different places than it did before. I don't know how to describe it or if this will make sense.... but my belly button used to hold my stomach in... like it was pulled or sucked in from the inside by a piece of string. But now that my belly button is "fake" (since he cut out the other one to 'release' that skin down) and just kind of there for show... it's not attached to anything inside of me so it doesn't pull my stomach in. So I think that could be why my inches are different now... my shape has just changed. Yes, it's flat now, but it's different than before. I wasn't expecting it to be like that & the first time I saw my stomach I was upset by it... but over the last few days I've come to terms with it & I like the way it looks, although I would like to to be a little less 'fluffy'... but i'll just have to work on that eventually. lol. But anyway... I'm rambling. haha. The point I'm trying to make is... I guess when I try to measure in the same spot as I did prior to surgery, ofcourse the numbers are going to be different since it's shaped differently now. and that's probably why my pants fit differently. at least that's what I'm trying to believe. lol

PO day 11

Day 11 I had to go to the doctors this morning to let him look at the area on my arm that looked like it was kind of split apart. He wasn't expecting me until Monday so he was surprised to see me. When I told him what was going on, he wanted to see what the rest of my arm looked like so he pulled the tape off both of my arms... OUCH!!!!!!! it hurt like hell & I wanted to scream, but didn't. lol Luckily, that one spot was the only spot that was split open. He put some butterfly closures on it and said it should be fine. There are 2 rows of stiches on the inside. The scars on both arms are so lumpy & bumpy right now. He told me NOT to worry about that. Basically, he told me not to even look at them right now. lol. He said it will take up to a year for them to flatten out & be the best they're going to look. Also, since I was there, he said he might as well look at my stomach. He took the bandage off my 2nd drain site and he also took off the bandage around my new belly button! Then he asked me how my weight was. I told him I was back to my pre-surgery weight... well, actually today, I was a pound under my pre-surgery weight (but then I went out to lunch. lol) and he said that was good. When I first got there, and went to sit on the table, he commented that I was getting around well... maybe too well. and that i'm probably doing too much too soon. Can't put anything past him! I am doing way too much too soon... like driving myself to the store because my lazy husband can't be bothered to take 5 minutes out of his time to stop there for me. I'll try to rest more this weekend, if I can. As I was leaving, my grandmother called & wanted to take us out to lunch. So we went to the Olive Garden. I was bad =/ Ate pretty much my entire days worth of calories. I had been doing SO GOOD controlling what I was eating. the scale was going down! But I bet tomorrow I'll see a gain... even if it is only from bloating =/

PO Day 10

Today is 10 days post-op. Seems like it's going by fast. This morning some of the mesh tape stuff that was covering all the incisions came off of my arm. just a small section - about 1 inch long. but now the incision/scar underneath is exposed. It looks really weird - not like I expected it to look. it almost looks like it's splitting open so I called the doctors office - he's out of the office today so I'll have to wait to go in and see him tomorrow morning. Also, I didn't see any stitches so I guess they've already disolved? I didn't realize they would disolve so quickly. Hopefully it's all normal, but I guess I'll find out tomorrow. Also, I'm finally back to my pre-surgery weight (149). but I still have 2.4 pounds to lose to get to my lowest weight to date (146.6). and where's those 4ish or so pounds the doctor said he took off? LOL Then this morning, I had my mom take me to the store to get a compression top since I'm sick of wearing the compression band they gave me. I went to Old Navy, Target & Dick's sporting goods. There was only 1 compression top at Target but it was the wrong size, Dick's didn't have any. Luckily Old Navy did have 1, but it was ugly. I got it anyway, but I'm still going to try to find another one somewhere else. I'm wearing it now & it seems like it gives me enough support, so I'd rather wear that then the compression band.