FFS countdown with before pictures and recovery with after pictures

[Jeneva]

BA under pecs two weeks after major surgery was wrong by both Dr. Z and me.  Big saggy breasts would have been fine until face healed.  Work all looks nice and I look good for my age group. 

Was there a reason they couldn't be combined?  He did my BA as soon as I went under and then he did my FFS while I was still under.

[wendy]

Was there a reason they couldn't be combined?  He did my BA as soon as I went under and then he did my FFS while I was still under.

I never asked or wanted a BA.  I did want a mastopexy if that could be done.  It would take my saggy 40c breasts and make them perky 40b breasts.  He did not want to scar up my breasts and I was high on pain killers and anti-anxiety.  I was doing well two weeks after surgery so that he told me my breasts would be easy to hide if that is what I wanted and I would be real pleased.  My pecs hurt for two months and my extremely sensitive nipples are still sore.  My breasts have a one inch scar under nipples and saline implant is under each pec.  My breasts are now perky 40DD.  I am a very physical person and I could not do anything with upper body.  I think second surgery caused me huge anxiety, then severe depression and total lose of energy.  Dr. Z had not seen breasts like mine in five years and he wanted to do surgery.  I wanted nice 40b or 40c breasts.   I now have centerfold breasts.  I told him no but he kept selling until he got his yes.  It was wrong time and wrong procedure.

His work is great as I look 10 years younger.  Jeneva are people on this site going for perky 40DD?

.........
Anti scar gel made my forehead scar itch.  I think I may stop for another week.  Anti-scar gel is fine under nose and under chin.  Spread fertilizer on lawn today and did some gardening.  Under chin was swollen and sore this evening.  I took 400mg of ibuprofen and will take some pain meds before bed.

Hope you are well and healing!

Thanks.
Wendy

[Jeneva]

His work is great as I look 10 years younger.  Jeneva are people on this site going for perky 40DD?

Well..... I'm a bad one to ask that.  I've ended up with 42 big D or small DD.  He was shooting for 40D based on his recommendations because of my size.  I'm 5'11", VERY big framed, and obese.  They don't look disproportionate, but yes they are LARGE.  I do wonder if it will reduce to size or two as I lose the excess weight.

It all depends on the height/weight/rib and shoulder size of the person.

--------------------------
On the recovery front:
I've had a TON of forehead spitting this week.  It's made my forehead scar a little more noticeable since the knots tend to open the incision a bit wider.  I've probably cut around 8 or 9 knots and I've been able to pull out 3 decently long
sections of the "fishing line" stuff.

I do have to confess I've done something that was probably stupid.  My neck scar closed before I left Chicago even and both Dr Z and Rena warned me that I'd have to massage it firmly to get keep it from being permanent.  The other day when Shannon was helping with my dinner time massage she accidentally scratched the scared area and it got roughed up badly.  The next time I shaved I found that it cut the roughed up area clear away and didn't hurt at all.  Unfortunately when I get under high stress I tend to tear my cuticles halfway up my fingers and pick at scabs and stuff.  This week at work was awful and I ended up scratching with just fingernails away pretty much all of the scar area.  It just crumpled and peeled away and didn't really bleed at all, it was all just clear fluid.  It is almost like I had a hollow tube with fluid in it.  Needless to say it looks awful now since it is a huge raw place now.  On the plus side I can now see the threading that hadn't spit before and the deepness of the scar is GONE.  I know I shouldn't have done it, but I know I shouldn't pull fingernails into the quick and rip up cuticle but I still do when I get too stressed.  I've got a follow up call with Dr. Z on Wednesday and I am expecting that he will freak over what I've done, but at least I'll hear from him how to best care for this now.

[wendy]

Well..... I'm a bad one to ask that.  I've ended up with 42 big D or small DD.  He was shooting for 40D based on his recommendations because of my size.  I'm 5'11", VERY big framed, and obese.  They don't look disproportionate, but yes they are LARGE.  I do wonder if it will reduce to size or two as I lose the excess weight.

It all depends on the height/weight/rib and shoulder size of the person.

--------------------------
On the recovery front:
I've had a TON of forehead spitting this week.  It's made my forehead scar a little more noticeable since the knots tend to open the incision a bit wider.  I've probably cut around 8 or 9 knots and I've been able to pull out 3 decently long
sections of the "fishing line" stuff.

I do have to confess I've done something that was probably stupid.  My neck scar closed before I left Chicago even and both Dr Z and Rena warned me that I'd have to massage it firmly to get keep it from being permanent.  The other day when Shannon was helping with my dinner time massage she accidentally scratched the scared area and it got roughed up badly.  The next time I shaved I found that it cut the roughed up area clear away and didn't hurt at all.  Unfortunately when I get under high stress I tend to tear my cuticles halfway up my fingers and pick at scabs and stuff.  This week at work was awful and I ended up scratching with just fingernails away pretty much all of the scar area.  It just crumpled and peeled away and didn't really bleed at all, it was all just clear fluid.  It is almost like I had a hollow tube with fluid in it.  Needless to say it looks awful now since it is a huge raw place now.  On the plus side I can now see the threading that hadn't spit before and the deepness of the scar is GONE.  I know I shouldn't have done it, but I know I shouldn't pull fingernails into the quick and rip up cuticle but I still do when I get too stressed.  I've got a follow up call with Dr. Z on Wednesday and I am expecting that he will freak over what I've done, but at least I'll hear from him how to best care for this now.

Jeneva I can relate to all written.   TG does not go away with age.  I was a big strong male.  My male figure was 48-38-38 and I was off radar of all.  I actually digested about 50 pounds of muscle off my body.  Dr. Z saw a 40c-32-38 androgynous person with no facial or body hair.  He told me if you have saggy 40c breasts that you can hide you most certainly can hide 40d.  Hello I just wanted my breasts to be lifted without all this implant stuff.  I am going to guess he gave you a small scar under your aureola and breasts are anatomically correct for your size.  I do not think GG's have nipples that are as sensitive as mine.  Mine still hurt.  Dr. Z did what he thought was right but I needed to heal and adjust.

My forehead still spits but you sound as if you have process correct.

Dr. Z and Rena told me I need to massage scar under neck.  It has not spit stitches and I have not rubbed it raw.  I seem to be doing to my forehead what you just did to your neck.  I am aggressive on massaging neck.  Tell me what Dr. Z has to say because neck is not spitting stitches.  Is it supposed to spit stitches?  My incision was closed in two weeks and feeling is coming back into my chin as it is numb.  Left side of mouth continues to improve on mobility.

Jeneva did you see any of fishing thread in your neck area?  Has it spit stitches?  My neck leaked fluid into gauze pad for at least one month.  Please share what you learn.

Sorry you neck is messy.  Think it will heal fine. 

Thanks for sharing!
Wendy 

[Jeneva]

Jeneva did you see any of fishing thread in your neck area?  Has it spit stitches?  My neck leaked fluid into gauze pad for at least one month.  Please share what you learn.

My neck sutures that I pulled before and that I saw in the raw areas were the ones that looked like braided cotton thread and not the "fishing line like" stuff in the forehead.  I suspect it is a self dissolving suture, it is the same material I had in my nose and mouth and they are pretty much just gone.

[Jeneva]

Ok, so I had  to "clean" the neck area.  I was pretty vigorous to get rid of the scabbing that had started.  It is actually almost smooth now and didn't really bleed at all.  I did rub away quite a bit of flesh (originally it was a smooth scar over top the groove.

This is what it looks like now and I'm not nearly as worried about it.  I'm just going to keep moist with neosporin and see what happens.

[Jeneva]

I'm almost to 6 weeks.  I will try to update the website on Friday and will pick some of those pictures for here too.

I've got a call with Dr. Z on Wednesday and am going to ask him about my neck and if it is too soon to restart working on my leg sleeve tattoo (I want it done for shorts weather).  I'll probably also confirm that I can restart laser on Thursday.

I actually feel like I'm mostly recovered now.  I was able to keep a 3mpg average for a 30 minute hill climb on an elliptical at lunch.  It'll be a week or two before I start doing the cardio setting again (it is a lot of spikes vs just 1 spike in the hill climb), but it felt good to know I've got a lot of my energy back.

Still more forehead suture spitting.  WOW, I grabbed one today that REALLY hurt, but that knot is gone.  My neck isn't scabbing over at all with the Neosporin use.

I'm going to try and get in my laser hair removal place as soon as he gives an OK and Wendy has an opening.  I joked with Shannon the other day that I may just have a day of pain and have laser and another tattoo session on the same day.

[atheuona]

I've got a call with Dr. Z on Wednesday and am going to ask him about my neck and if it is too soon to restart working on my leg sleeve tattoo (I want it done for shorts weather).  I'll probably also confirm that I can restart laser on Thursday.

When I asked Dr Z about restarting hair removal he said that that I had to wait until 2 months post op.

[wendy]

Jeneva, I am glad sutures seem to be dissolving variety in neck!

My forehead continues to spit but have not seen fishing line in couple of days.

I do walk a big Irish Setter every day for two miles so that I get a little exercise.  DO not have your level of energy.

Your neck actually does not look too bad.  I will guess it will heal up nicely.  I would keep gauze pad on at night with ointment.

Have you been using laser treatments on face prior to FFS?

Look forward to your updates.
......................................

P.S. Does an administrator have to give permission to post pictures?  I have never been able to figure out how to insert a picture on a post.

[madwoman_in_the_attic]

Jeneva your neck looks like the skin is very healthy and healing! Also glad your energy is coming back. Thank you to you AND WENDY for inspiring us all!

I do wonder if it will reduce ... as I lose the excess weight.

I can reassure you that when most women lose weight, THE FIRST 5-10 POUNDS come straight off the breasts. I expect you'll have that plus the same "gradual reduction of everything" that I got (in my case after gastric bypass surgery).

ROFL re the tattoo: my partner has a new tattoo she plans to get after her next surgery and watching that heal will be a nice distraction from the dilations. At least, that's the plan.

[Jeneva]

When I asked Dr Z about restarting hair removal he said that that I had to wait until 2 months post op.

2 months is what he told both JenJen2011 and me on the phone for eyebrow plucking and waxing.  But previously I had gotten a 6 week for facial laser.  Are you using electrolysis?  Perhaps  it is 2 month because he is worried that if they don't zap it well enough they end up plucking the hair?  I'm going to ask for sure now and I'll post back his answer.

Your neck actually does not look too bad.  I will guess it will heal up nicely.  I would keep gauze pad on at night with ointment.

Have you been using laser treatments on face prior to FFS?

Thank you for the suggestion, that should have been obvious, but I've just been putting it on by hand and of course it is dried and scaly in the morning.  I'm going to ask Dr. Z if I can just buy some silicone strips for it on the call since that should remove/minimize the scars.

I'm on my 6th laser treatment, but I'm not honestly sure that she was using enough power on the first few settings (based on what I saw on the machine and what I read on HairTell).  Of course it hurt even with the numbing cream, but I've gotten a decent amount of grow back.

P.S. Does an administrator have to give permission to post pictures?  I have never been able to figure out how to insert a picture on a post.

They have to be hosted somewhere else.  Most of the pictures I use are up on our farm website, but I occasionally use Facebook hosted pictures or even Flickr.  Once you have it hosted somewhere else you grab that URL and use the [img] tag or just click the picture icon (underneath bold) and paste in the URL.

I can reassure you that when most women lose weight, THE FIRST 5-10 POUNDS come straight off the breasts. I expect you'll have that plus the same "gradual reduction of everything" that I got (in my case after gastric bypass surgery).

ROFL re the tattoo: my partner has a new tattoo she plans to get after her next surgery and watching that heal will be a nice distraction from the dilations. At least, that's the plan.

In this case that would be fine with me.  They look proportional right now only because of the size of my tummy so as I lose weight it is going to "seem" bigger.  I did ask Dr. Z if that would cause problems with the implants and he said because he was going under the muscle and the amount of tissue I already had (because of my weight and HRT) it shouldn't be a problem.

How quickly is your partner planning on getting the new one after SRS/GRS/GCS [we all have our favorite acronym]?

I skipped the last tattoo session before my surgery and haven't had any more work because I wanted to make sure all my energy went to healing from FFS and i worried that it might make the tattoo take longer to heal and it would mess something up.  The crystal and its light beam/rainbow will likely take a longer session and the apple is probably a session (going to use a green to red gradient since Spring/Summer/Autumn/Winter are represented by the branches and the apple is right in the middle of the summer/fall break.  And then of course I have a lot of tree limbs (from 4 different trees in 4 different seasons) framing it all together.  Between the greenery and general touch ups I figure at least 2 sessions, so that is 4 right there.  If he is flipping sides he thinks he can tattoo as often as every two weeks, but the same side is taking almost 4 weeks to heal enough for another session without risk to the last session's ink.  I didn't understand that sleeves (or any large piece (like the back) is a serious investment in time and money until I got started on this.  The design is still very significant to us both so I'm happy, but I didn't fully understand how much work this was going to be when I came in with the concept pictures.  I already have a design in mind for my water element in memory of my FFS, but we've got to finish the earth first.

[JenJen2011]

Since surgery, I haven't seen any "spitting" or "fishing line" in the forehead. Are we suppose to be trying to find the stitches? I look at myself in the mirror and try to feel for it but I just don't see it. No knots, no nothing.

[Jeneva]

Since surgery, I haven't seen any "spitting" or "fishing line" in the forehead. Are we suppose to be trying to find the stitches? I look at myself in the mirror and try to feel for it but I just don't see it. No knots, no nothing.

If you don't have it then great.  It is only if it DOES spit that you have to do anything as far as I understood him and the video.  Eventually they must dissolve, but once part breaks the skin it has to be removed.

I had visible "fishing" line from the first day I could see my forehead.  But I also had a VERY aggressive forehead reduction.

You would know if you had it when you massage the forehead scar.  They are very stiff plastic and are obvious.

[wendy]

Since surgery, I haven't seen any "spitting" or "fishing line" in the forehead. Are we suppose to be trying to find the stitches? I look at myself in the mirror and try to feel for it but I just don't see it. No knots, no nothing.

My fishing line is starting to slow down but areas still spit.  It still looks messy.  I think I over massage areas that are sore.  Only got .75 inch advance so that I will think it was pulled tight.

Neck scar never spit and is starting to look better.  Still swell at three months.

[JenJen2011]

Thanks Jeneva and Wendy. I'm over here touching my forehead trying to see if I feel something, lol. I remember right before I left Chicago, he was like, "feel this" and put my fingers on it. It did feel stiff and weird. I'll continue to be on the lookout.

I have an appt tomorrow to speak with Dr. Z. I'll ask him about it too.

[JenJen2011]

Have any of you recently skipped a massage or two, and if so, did you swell up more?

I'm asking because I went back to work yesterday and it threw my scheduled times for massages off. So, I ended up doing only 1 massage yesterday and I missed this mornings massage. And I feel like I may have swelled up in the jaw area. It could all just be mental but I need to make time for them massages!! Aargh!!

[Jeneva]

I'm asking because I went back to work yesterday and it threw my scheduled times for massages off. So, I ended up doing only 1 massage yesterday and I missed this mornings massage. And I feel like I may have swelled up in the jaw area.

Not sure about the effect of missing massages, but I did notice yesterday that when I exercised it caused much more swelling.  Could you be more active at work than you were at home and that is the reason for the extra swelling?

[atheuona]

Have any of you recently skipped a massage or two, and if so, did you swell up more?

I'm asking because I went back to work yesterday and it threw my scheduled times for massages off. So, I ended up doing only 1 massage yesterday and I missed this mornings massage. And I feel like I may have swelled up in the jaw area. It could all just be mental but I need to make time for them massages!! Aargh!!

I've missed a few massages and have definitely noticed an increase in swelling afterwards.

[JenJen2011]

My mouth is way more active. I answer phones all day. By the end of the day, I'm exhausted and my jaw/neck area feels strained. So, that could be part of it. And the fact that I've missed a few massages could be the other part. I guess it doesn't matter what time I do them as long as it's 3 times a day.

I was going to ask him about exercise. But I'm afraid of swelling up so I think I'll hold off on that for a while longer.

Anyway, sorry Jeneva. I don't mean to hijack your thread with my questions. Lol.

[Jeneva]

I was going to ask him about exercise. But I'm afraid of swelling up so I think I'll hold off on that for a while longer.

Anyway, sorry Jeneva. I don't mean to hijack your thread with my questions. Lol.

Hijack away.  There are several recent Dr. Z patients listening in and I'm sure a lot of us have the same questions.  And I'm sure many future patients will have the same questions too, so it may be useful that they are here.

Had to wait until lunch, but I did confirm several things this morning.  Tattooing is fine.  Laser is only 6 weeks, but he said to ask her to go slower since it is still somewhat swollen.   Exercise is ok, but go with a slow buildup.  He didn't know what to think about my neck scar, but said just keep it moist.   I did ask what to do about scabbing on my forehead when I pulled a suture out and he told me to keep it covered with Vasoline until healed.  That may have been in the video or paperwork somewhere, but it wasn't something I knew to do.  He asked me to wear the garment a lot more than I was.  I mentioned that I mostly wore it while out and about to keep the scars hidden and he said just use makeup so I get the impression that makeup is ok to cover the scars (at least at 6 weeks it is).

JenJen when I said I did swell with exercise, it wasn't that bad and it did go away.  Maybe if you exercised in the evenings, it would be gone by morning that way?