Days 3&4 post-op - So Fresh and So Clean Clean

They say that after surgery, every day you feel just little bit better, and it's so true!!  Here's a recap from the past couple days of recover:

Day 3 -
No Norco still...just some ibuprofen to ease the pain during the day.  I took 2 walks today, 2-3 times around the cul-de-sac each time and felt tired after but not exhausted.  My breathing was still labored, feeling like I couldn't get a full, deep breath in.  I had more of an appetite today and felt like I ate a lot (which is good)!!  My tummy and left breast were both sore today but nothing crazy.  Oh, also...still no bowel movement since the surgery but I definitely HAD to go......so it was becoming frustrating.

Biggest achievement of the day (drum roll please....) I GOT TO TAKE A SHOWER!!!!!  The dressings on my wounds are covered in these bandaids that look like saran wrap (and feel like you're ripping a layer of skin off when the surgeon takes them off) so they're water proof!! My husband had to get in the shower with me (unfortunately, even though it was exciting that I got to shower, I couldn't shower on my own) and as I faced away from the shower head, he sprayed me down ensuring the water didn't hit the front of me but only ran down over me.  He even washed my hair for me (aaaaaawwwwwwwww, I know)!!  I didn't get so far as to shaving my legs or armpits, but that will come later, and really? who cares at this point anyways???

I have to say, that first shower after surgery feels INCREDIBLE!!!  You feel like a new woman!!  The smell of surgery has been washed off of you, the sticky residue left all over you from the random tape and bandages that they used to hold iv's in you and tubes on you can be scrubbed away and you really do feel like you have some normalcy to your life again!!  So DAY 3 = AWESOME SHOWER!

Day 4 -
I woke up late (10:30am) with no appetite and NO energy.  I felt lightheaded, dizzy and had labored breathing again.  Around 12:30 I FINALLY ate a small bowl of cereal and 1/2 banana.  I was getting annoyed that I hadn't had a bowel movement, and I had emailed my plastic surgeon asking if a small cup of coffee was OK, to which he said it was.

It's true...I do

(photo from morethanpaleo.com)

So, a few sips of coffee in, and even dizzier than when I first woke up, I got up and walked around trying to "shake" things loose (or something).  Well, a miraculous thing happened.....I had to go!!!!  But, this was no ordinary bowel movement, this was the most INTENSE bowel movement of my entire life (that might not be entirely true, but at the time it felt like it).  In the post-op care instructions it says "do not strain during bowel movement," well, my body sort of forced me into an involuntary straining game.  I focused on my breathing and tried to allow my body to...do its thing.  And OH MY GOODNESS, let me tell you...IT DID.  It was the most glorious thing and I felt 20lbs lighter and also had been wiped off all energy and felt completely exhausted and sapped.  I ended up having to lie down for an hour feeling so light headed and dizzy that I could hardly move!!!  (And my bum bum was sore...is this TMI?? Oh well!!)

A friend visited for an hour, and as we were catching up I started feeling better as time went on.  By the time she left I felt like I needed/wanted to go for a walk.  This was my longest walk yet!!!  We went out of the cul-de-sac and continued down the street!!!  My 2nd walk of the day took me even farther AND I even put on some of my Lululemon yoga crops (talk about feeling awesome!!)!!!

As the day continued, my breathing got better, I no longer felt light headed or dizzy and I was more awake.  I had more of an appetite as well and had a slice of leftover (dairy free) pizza for lunch and pasta for dinner (my appetite had reduced by dinner and I didn't eat as much).  I took absolutely NO PAIN MEDS at all today, no tylenol or ibuprofen!!!

None at all!!! WAHOO!!

I was able to wash my face comfortably on my own and it felt amazing!!!!  The one thing about today was that I wasn't tired when I went to bed.....I ended up reading until 11pm and STILL wasn't tired.  I ended up putting my book down and sort of forced myself to close my eyes and try to sleep.  I ended up sleeping because I had 2 separate bizarre dreams and I woke up at 8:30 feeling tired, but good!!  I also want to note that I slept almost completely flat last night with only 2 pillows and they were pretty much all the way down!!
I'm able to use my arms almost completely, pushing myself up out of bed and turning/leaning onto one arm.  I can fully extend my arms out in front of me and bring them behind me.  I still can't lift them laterally (out to the sides) all the way up to shoulder height yet, but that will come with time.  All in all, I have SO much more ROM after this surgery than I did with the mastectomy/expander surgery.  The laparoscopic surgery threw in some unexpected feelings and nuances but I guess that's normal!!

I hope these updates are helping all of you who are going through the same thing as I am right now or are planning to have this surgery in the future!!  Feel free to ask me any questions at all!!!

2 days post-op

I woke up super tired this morning but actually had an appetite!!!!  My husband made me 2 pieces of toast and a half banana and I ate it all!!!  I also got visitors this morning, my dad and step-mom!!!  While they were here I was feeling very tired though and my breathing felt labored (CO2 pressing against my diaphragm) and so I fell asleep shortly after they left.  I ended up taking 3 naps throughout the day (all short though, around 30 minutes - 1 hour).  Rest is so important during your recovery!!!  It helps you heal faster and allows your body to really recovery.  As a personal trainer, rest is sometimes difficult because all I want to do is workout, but after surgery I have to continue to tell myself that REST is good and necessary!!!

I took 2 walks today, 1 lap around our cul-de-sac each time.  These felt better than yesterday, but were still difficult!!  Each day they'll get easier and I'll get stronger!!  Also, I only took ibuprofen a tylenol today and that was enough to manage the pain.  My sleep was ok and I had slept at around a 30 degree angle (3 pillows).

Pains/things noticed today:
-tummy felt very full due to CO2 pressing against my diaphragm
- shoulder pain still there
-breasts sore but able to move arms well (much more ROM than the initial surgery)

Freaky first day after surgery

Sooooooooo the day after surgery.....I wake up, feeling ok, groggy, but ok thinking "Yes! I'm on the road to recovery and of my surgeries are done!!"  So, I get up, grab a bowl of cereal with a half a banana cut up in it and turn on a movie and take a Norco (pain be gone!).  Well, within 20 minute or so my left hand starts to tingle, very lightly at first and then starts becoming more intense.  At this point I mentioned it to my husband who was asking me what it felt like.  As I was explaining, my right arm starts getting tingly and intensifies to pain and then my hands cramp up into little claws that I can no longer move.  The tingling and numbness travels down into my legs and it's at this point that I grab the phone and hand it to my husband telling (more like yelling) him to call the doctor or 911 or someone.  But as the pain got worse I thought "forget this," and pretty much grabbed my husband and ran out the door to his car saying that we needed to get to the ER.

And that's what we did.  On the way there, the tingling/numbness went up to my stomach, back and into my face where my jaw locked up.  I focused on my breathing all the way to the ER, hardly able to talk or move, my only thoughts were "just get there, just get there."  When we pulled up I stumbled out of the car and a woman saw me and ran inside to get help.  They put me in a wheel chair and told me to start taking deep breaths and so I did as they cut one of my arm bands (still on from the surgery the day before) to get my information.  As they wheeled me into another room, feeling started to come back into my limbs and as a nurse put an IV into my arm the tingling decreased as well, thank goodness!!!!

After that they got me into a bed, hooked up an EKG to me and drew some more blood to do some tests.  I was then wheeled into another room where they hooked up a bag of fluids to my IV (I was dehydrated) took a chest x-ray and let me rest while they ran some tests.  The results came back....great!!  My lungs looked clear, heart rate was good, everything looked good except for my potassium levels which were a little low, but not crazy low.  They had me take these 2 giant horsepills of potassium to get my levels back up.  I have never taken such giant pills before in my life, ugh!  I hung out there for a while and the doctors came in and said that they think I just hyperventilated and maybe the low potassium had something to do with it.  The only thing is, I don't feel like I was hyperventilating while I was at home, so I have no idea what to think.

When I got home, I went on a 100ft walk (which felt like a half marathon), ate and took another Norco and what do you know, the tingling started to come back, so I lied down and focused on slow breathing.  About 20 minutes later the tingling reduced and I fell asleep.  When I woke up I felt better, but still groggy.  I took Norco that night but felt like I had strange dreams and woke up at 2:30am having hot flashes.  That was the last time I took Norco.  The weirdest part is that I took 2 Norco pills for my last surgery every 4-6 hours and was fine!!!  I still have no idea what really happened or why but I'm glad it's over and I'm feeling better!!

Pain today:
- sharp stabbing pains in the left shoulder
- very sore chest
-uncomfortable bubbly feeling inside of tummy

Surgery completed!!! 8 hours later...

Yep, my surgery took a grand total of 8 hours, which seems like a VERY long time and FELT like a very long time when I woke up.  Just in case you're just joining now, I had my initial preventative double mastectomy this past March 18, 2014 and my final breast reconstruction surgery AND an added bonus of a lapraroscopic ovarian cystectomy to get rid of a nagging cyst that had been hanging around for 6 years on my right ovary, on Thursday, 9/11/2014 at 9:30am.

Had to do a pre-surgery flex ;)

Now, the OB-GYN said the surgery would take her about 1.5 hours, but apparently the cyst had made it's home on my ovary and fallopian tube and did not want to leave.  So her surgery ended up taking about 3 hours.  Then it was the plastic surgeons turn and he said his procedure should take about 3 hours...well it actually took about 5-5.5 due to the fact that Thelma (my left breast) had encapsulated the expander with a giant mess of scar tissue and made it extremely difficult for him to get to.  He is an excellent surgeon and took his time removing all of the scar tissue so that the least amount of damage would be done to my muscles and skin.  He ended up being able to get 210cc silicone implants into each (which is a little bigger than we thought we'd get due to the fact that we had to stop expanding in july because of the scar tissue), so I'm pretty happy!!!  They do look a bit swollen right now, so it'll be nice to see them in a few weeks once the swelling is gone!

I should also mention that I started my period the day before the surgery.  This made things interesting and a bit awkward because I had to ask the nurses for pads and since you don't wear underwear in the prep room they told me to just hold the pad between my legs....."uuuuuum okaaaaaaay."  When I woke up from surgery I couldn't tell if the cramps in my tummy were from my period or the surgery, so this made things a bit confusing!! Overall, I guess it was ok...if I had to choose, I definitely would choose NOT to have my period during surgery!!!

My tummy post-surgery. I couldn't bring myself to post a picture of both my tummy and breasts.

I am so thankful I had excellent surgeons and that they took their time to ensure each procedure went as perfectly as possible.  But, waking up after an 8 hour surgery definitely has an impact on you and I was discharged to go home that night.  Well, I can tell you that was the last thing I wanted to do because I was so out of it an exhausted.  Pain wise, I only noticed how sore my left breast felt when I moved my left arm.  It felt like I had done 1000 push ups or something.  My right seemed fine!  My tummy was a bit swollen and uncomfortable and there were sharp pains in my left shoulder(due to the extra CO2 hanging around after the insuflation from laparoscopy).  I tried to tell the nurse I wanted to stay and didn't want to go home but he was following duty and continued with the discharge procedure from the hospital.  And so I went home and fell asleep shortly after to begin my recovery!!!

Scar tissue issues

Scar tissue: a pain in the butt, that's what it is....

I'll begin with a reminder that I named my tissue expanders Thelma (left) and Louise (right).  Louise is totally fine and normal, no scar tissue at all, that I can tell!!!  Thelma, on the other hand, has been a nightmare and caused me so much pain, stress and set-back in my fitness that I am honestly looking forward to getting these things out and silicone implants in on Thursday!!

The scar tissue is on the outside part of Thelma and feels like it runs the entire outside curve of the breast.  There is an actual part of my breast that is pinched in and looks really weird.  It also affects the ROM of my left arm which is slightly annoying when I run or try to do overhead presses.

Skin is pinched in at the top outer part of my left breast

As you can imagine, that spot is quite uncomfortable and it's not one of those things you just sort of "forget about."  I'm am always aware that it is there....when I'm working out, when I sleep, when I reach for something, etc.

Because of that scar tissue spot, which the surgeon explained might be due to the fact that he put some AlloDerm (that cadaver tissue they use in these procedures) on the sides and attached it to my muscle, when I pull my left arm back the pectoralis major (chest muscle) looks more taught and you can actually see where the muscle is going into my arm.  

Left arm extended back to show pectoralis muscle being pulled

I'm excited for the surgery so that the plastic surgeon can remove the scar tissue!!  I know it'll be sore and painful but it will be so worth it, when it heals, to have my full ROM back once I start working on my flexibility!!  I'll be posting pictures after my surgery once I'm healed up to compare the before and after :)

Pre-Surgery Training

Now that my race is over and I have 9 days until my next and final surgery, I'm focusing on strength to build some muscle!!!  (I was also working on this before I started training for my 1/2 marathon)  Seeing as I don't have too much time I'm using heavier weight and fewer repetitions to really focus on hypertrophy (increase in muscle fiber size).  After surgery, and during the 4-6 weeks that I wont' be able to do much, my muscles will, sadly, atrophy because that's how the human body works.  So, if I can build up muscle now, when it atrophies slightly, I will lose some of what I gaining now but hopefully not all of it!  Here is my current lifting program in case you're interested:

Monday - LEGS
4-5 sets
6-10 Deadlifts (Currently, I'm warming up with the 45lb bar, then I add about 10lbs each set)

Deadlifts, Goblet Squats, Lunge Jumps

3 sets:
10 split squats/leg w/12.5lb dumbbells or 25lb barbell
10 leg press with 90-120lbs
10 Plie squats with 20lb dumbbell

3 sets:
10 front squats with 25lb dumbell or heavier
15-20 stability ball hamstring curls (I do higher reps of these because this is a stabilization endurance exercise)

Tuesday - BACK AND BICEPS
3 sets:
10 wide grip lat pull down
10 seated row
10 assisted pull ups or pull ups (can't do these yet)

3 sets:
10 close grip/reverse grip lat pull down
10 face pulls
10 barbell bicep curls

Wednesday - TOTAL BODY (OR REST DAY)
4 sets:
1/4 mile sprint
16 commandos (8/arm)
8 burpees
10 Overhead press
30 mountain climbers

Forearm plank

Thursday - CHEST AND TRICEPS
3 sets:
10 push ups (in whatever way you can - wall, bar, modified, military, etc.)
10 incline chest press
10 incline chest fly

3 sets:
10 close grip chest press
10 skull crushers

Friday - LEGS
4-5 sets:
Deadlift (same as monday)

3 sets:
10 Lunges/leg
10 goblet squats with kettle bell or dumbbell
10 lateral lunges/leg

3 sets:
10 seated leg curl
10 seated leg abductions
20 calf raises

Saturday - Run/Walk
Go for whatever distance run or walk you feel like!!!  No specific time, no specific distance, just whatever you feel like!! :)

Sunday - REST DAY

I hope this will help give you an idea of what a strength training routine looks like.  In case you're wondering, I don't really focus specifically on shoulders, partly because you use your shoulders for almost every upper body exercise and also because, due to my surgery, I lost some of my ROM and posture on my left side so I do not want to do any overhead heavy lifting without correct form because this could lead to injury!

1/2 marathon completed WITH tissue expanders in!!!

So, I did it!!!!!  I completed the Seawheeze 1/2 Marathon in Vancouver, Canada!!!!  This was no easy feat....I had to start training for it AS SOON as my surgeon approved me to run and I felt O.K. (even after he approved me to run, it still felt SUPER weird to run and my chest would get really warm and tight, due to my increasing heart rate and blood flow to the area).  I didn't let this stop me and I would try to run a little bit more each day!!!  Also, something I should add in here: I was training all the way up until the day before my first surgery as well (March 18, 2014) and could comfortably run 5 miles at about a 9:18 pace so picking it back up wasn't as hard as if I had started from scratch.  Nonetheless, it was challenging!!!

The hubby and I pre-race

I had a couple of set backs the two times I had to go in last minute emergency style (husband rushing to pick me up from work or home to take me back to the surgeon) to have saline removed from Thelma (the left expander) because the pain was causing my arm to go numb, dizziness and excruciating ripping/stabbing sensation on my sternum (no doubt the chest muscle literally being ripped from the origin site), ouch!!!  Each time Thelma would get tighter, it would limit my shoulder flexion and extension, meaning it became very difficult to swing my arm as I ran.  This posed a problem during my sprint training runs and my longer runs due to the fact that you have to pump your arms full ROM and super fast while sprinting and during the long runs you are swinging your arms through their full ROM for an extended period of time.

Even with all the training I did, come race day, my chest still felt tight and my left arm had problems swinging for probably the first 3 miles!!!  Even after that I still noticed that it was a bit tight,  But, I flew all the way to Vancouver, Canada to run Lululemon's 1/2 marathon and there was NO WAY I was giving up!!! :)  I was a bit bummed because I didn't feel as amazing as I thought I would....and who knows, it could have been the travelling, eating differently, sleeping differently, being surrounded by 10,000 other runners, etc.  The weekend before my husband and I had run 6 miles together and I felt AMAZING at a 9:10 average pace!!!!  We finished the half marathon in 2 hours and 16 minutes at a 10:19 average pace.  My husband was amazing and ran it with me the entire time even though he could have smoked me!!!

Running on the Vancouver Seawall

I'm happy to have completed it as it was a big goal of mine and I'm also really happy I was able to accomplish something so big before my second surgery (which is in exactly 9 days from today)!!!  The perseverance and determination I had towards my training definitely helped me succeed and push myself to my limits!!!!  Ladies, if I could run a 1/2 marathon 5 months after my PDM WITH my tissue expanders still in, YOU CAN DO IT TOO!!!!!!  So, set your goals and work for them!!

Before            and              After

(notice how excited we are after, a run can't stop us!!)

Lululemon rocks my socks off....it was way more than just a run.  Yoga and a concert as well!!