It is eight days post-op and, as I’ve mentioned earlier, I’ve made more progress than I thought I would by this point. After the 12 block walk on Friday I only made it two blocks on Saturday and otherwise was asleep on the couch. Being someone that is used to running a lot and doing yoga / yoga sculpt, it is mentally painful to realize that walking < 1 mi is more draining than running 7 miles pre-surgery. But it still feels great to get out and move a bit and any progress is something.

I’m able to lift my arms almost to the point where my upper arm is parallel to the floor (with my elbows bent – kind of like I’m doing a chest press), although I’ve found that as the day goes on or my meds wear off it’s most definitely less than that. I still can’t move my arms very well straight back or straight up from my sides. My right arm also has a bit better movement than my left as well as less pain than my left side. As a result, I still can only wear loose button-ups / zip-ups and my mom has to help me get dressed.

I had separate appointments with each of my surgeons today and both went really well. They removed all four of the drains…drain free! I was not expecting this when I went in as, on average (from my understanding), you typically get two removed (one per side) ~1.5 weeks post-surgery and then the final drains removed the week after that. The determination for when the drains can be removed is based on the output from each drain. My mom was stripping the drains every six to eight hours, after which she poured the output of each into separate jars which she then measured. Three of them have had about the same output while one of them barely had anything, which is completely normal for them to vary. She tracked all of this in a packet of papers that the plastic surgeon (Dr. Fine) provided us. Once total output for one side (two drains combined) is less than 30 cc’s  (cc = cubic centimeter) in a 24-hour period, then they can be removed. As of yesterday, I was at 16 and 24 cc’s compared to last Wednesday morning when I was at 52 and 74 cc’s.

For anyone who may get this surgery at some point, the drains really are more uncomfortable than painful and it’s an annoyance to have to carry around these things that are sutured into your sides. I feel like I complained about them a lot but it really isn’t anything unbearable, and again everyone has a different experience. Other things that can be painful that surprised me: sneezing, coughing, laughing really hard, blowing my nose, yawning, taking a deep breath, going from lying down to sitting up and then from sitting up to standing.

Getting the drains removed, although incredibly exciting in the end, was not a blast. The PA (Physician Assistant) first removes the adhesive bandage holding the drains securely against your skin and snips the sutures that held them in place. I was told this would hurt like removing a bandaid. False. That adhesive is STRONG. It is a Mark McGwire circa 1998 steroids bandaid (Go Cards). You then take a deep breath in and on your exhale the PA removes one drain and then the other. Or in my case, “Oh, this one feels a little stuck” and it takes a few attempts. Even my mom, nurse Cheryl (she literally used to be a surgical intensive nurse in a university setting), almost asked the PA if she could sit down because she could see the drains snaking through my chest and causing my skin to gather where it was adhered to “something.” It is a weird feeling (you can feel the drain moving) and definitely hurt for me, although it sounds like my experience truly is an outlier based on conversations with others. Also, it was all over in five minutes. I’ll have gauze pads taped over the drain sites for the next 48 hours as additional drainage is common and I now get to start my at-home physical therapy to regain movement of my arms.

I’m continuing to alter between Tylenol and Advil and taking the Hydrocodone and Benadryl only at night. I have noticed that I have more pain and tightness with slightly more limited movement in switching to this but that will get better every day and I want to get off the narcotics.