Well, it's been a pretty uneventful week for the most part. I've Christmassed up this house, done some shopping, done some work, just kind of normal holiday season! I don't really feel like I'm "special surgery person" anymore, and I have not found myself having to modify other activities because of pain/discomfort much.
A friend's father passed away, and I went to the funeral. My friend's wife had triplets a few years back, and has a lot of excess skin on her abdomen. She shared with me that she's scheduled her tummy tuck, so I invited her into the giant handicap stall in the church bathroom and showed her my tummy incision... I'm happy to see that she's excited to have that extra sagging skin gone. I felt a little odd flashing someone in a bathroom stall, but in this application, I guess it's ok.
The 8-week checkup
Doc took some pictures of my 8-week progress. My tummy is good and flat, so that's nice! The super-metabolizing issue is resolving itself, but I still can't take a bath because it isn't completely sealed up. There are still a couple of small spots that are oozing infrequently and have not healed back together. On the bright side, the oozing is a super-slow leak, it doesn't increase when I exercise or anything. I've been sleeping with the incision exposed to the air so my skin can suck it up and get to healing. Momma wants a bubble bath!
I got my silicone gel sheeting for the abdominal incision, but i haven't worn it yet. Doc is still under the assumption that because of the super-metabolizing, my scar won't be up to his standards of fantastic, and they'll have to mend it later to be thinner and prettier.
Notable events this week...
Well, I tried some bra shopping. Meh. Nothing is feeling spectacular besides my nice little microfiber bra friends with the padding across the nipples. Putting on anything with an underwire makes me feel caged. I had Doc's wife measure me, and she came up with 38 D or DD... I tried some on at Target (probably mistake #1, I should look at better bras!) but they all felt tight and... not particularly "pokey", just not good. So screw it. I'm wearing my microfiber friends for a while longer.
I found a really comfy one at a discount store (Marshall's). It was in the "yoga" section of the workout wear, it's just another microfiber bra with pads, but hey, it's what I like. I'll wear real bras when/if I need to.
I do need to find a more stabilizing sports bra. I am still in the process of un-swelling, so I'm hesitant to drop the big bucks on anything because I know in a few weeks it'll be useless to me. Right now I'm rocking a Champion bra from Target. I bought it 2 weeks ago, and already I'm seeing that I'm a little bouncier now than I was when I bought it (YAY!).
In other news, I need some new underwear. Mine are just barely too baggy, but when I try and wear them under something fitted, you can see their baggy-ness.
I can sleep on my side comfortably, I can almost even sleep on my tummy comfortably... maybe next week.
Pain Level
Left nipple is slowly but surely calming down, LOL! I can still feel it more frequently than normal people can feel their nipples. Sometimes it's an itchy sensation, sometimes it's like the feeling when your'e really cold and your nipples harden-- not "pain", but not pleasant. It is not as bad as it's been in weeks past. Last week the left side of my abs was sensitive and felt sore, but that has gone away.
When I get up from sitting for a while, my abdominal muscles feel "hard", like I need to stretch them out or something. It sort of feels like they had settled into the position of sitting, and standing up makes them have to "warm up" and stretch out again (for like 3 seconds). It isn't pain, just a sense that you are far more aware of muscles than usual. I'm starting to get more feeling back in the non-muscle part of my abdominal skin & fascia too.
My breasts are not really painful/sensitive (save for that left nipple). I am still very conscious of my front side when I'm around little kids being crazy/running around, or anything like that.
Energy/Strength Level
I'd say I'm at a relatively normal energy level... I jogged/walked twice this week (each time, about 3 miles) and felt pretty much the way you should feel after something like that when you haven't worked out in a while.
Strength and range of motion continue to improve. I lifted a stack of 4 outdoor patio chairs and carried them into the house the other day. I probably shouldn't have (I was more worried about my back not being up to strength than anything surgery related), but hey, I did.
I can squat down and get stuff off the floor, or back in a cabinet. I lifted my kitchenaid mixer from a bottom cabinet, so that was cool. I can reach up pretty high. On my right side, I feel a little tightness/discomfort when I try to reach up to the tippy top of out super high cabinets, but it isn't "pain".
I can pick up and hold my ~20 pound dog. When I was taking a box of Christmas cards to the post office yesterday (160 cards or so, so it was a big cardboard box) I was not super comfortable resting the box against my stomach. It didn't hurt, it just wasn't comfortable. Same for when I'm carrying a heavy load of something that needs to rest on my abdomen or chest. If it's soft, it's one thing. If it's flat and hard like cardboard, it's not my fave.
Hugging Level
As long as my hugger isn't being super aggressive, I think I'd say I'm back to normal hugging capacity.
Snuggling Level (this section is off limits to relatives and people who don't want to hear about mushy stuff and/or my love life)
I can totally spoon. I love it! I am back in the snuggling zone!
In the forking department, I can tell you this: I'm back. Even in a bellies-touching sweaty scenario. Perhaps not back to 100% but certainly a good 95%.
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