Day 6 for me and 5 for FB. He started feeling very weak last night. Drinking lots of water helped, and we managed to get some sleep, but he's still weak today. Got in contact with the surgeon and he seems to think he's just a bit dehydrated and exhausted from not sleeping and suggested Gatorade... family is bringing some over and we'll keep updated and see if that helps. I'm just being an over worrisome boyfriend but this kid's gonna give me a heart attack!

Mom brought Gatorade and forced us to get up and go for a short walk. The surgeon apparently told her, but not US, that we need to make sure we stay fairly active because laying around in bed can make us feel sick. Whoops! FB feels a lot better now but damn these bandages are itching both of us.

Hey guys, FB is having trouble eating today. He gets nauseous every time he eats. Taking nausea pills helps, but as soon as he starts eating again, he feels sick. We've tried soup, solid food, yogurt, etc. Any advice on getting him to eat something? It's making him feel awful because he's barely eaten all day.

I would suggest something like Jelly (called Jell-O in America).  Maybe upgrade to fruit once he's feeling better.  Is he taking his pain meds?  I think post-surgical nausea is pretty common, but I'm not sure if it's all that common this long after surgery.  If it continues, speak to your doctor.

Have you guys tried liquid meal replacer? Mashed potatoes? Heck even ice cream or frozen juice? Pudding? Crackers of some kind that he can nibble on slowly? I remember from another post that he's sensitive to gelatin so jello is probably out for him unfortunately. Just something to get his stomach going. Once he starts to feel ill tell him to pause in his eating for a few minutes (10-15mins in my case) and then start again. Maybe ask the doctor if it's safe to take an antacid? I know I was extremely nauseated after my surgery, it just finally is mostly gone in fact, but I have rather exaggerated reactions to medications at times (pain meds for example and anesthesia...yeah no fun). The only thing that has worked for me ever for the nausea is a strong dose of anti nausea medication every 4-6 hrs....and boy did I regret it if I messed up the dose time. They also had to put me on a medication for acid reflux and on for stomach ulcers....a little unorthodox but it did the trick. Tell FB to feel better and take care of yourself too Nathan. Good luck you guys.

Oddly, he hasn't had any pain meds today so we don't really know what's causing the nausea besides him being dehydrated last night. You're right about the gelatin allergy (you're good!) but he did manage to finish a pudding cup earlier. He's been eating a little here and there so he's not starving or anything, but the poor thing feels hungry and then gets nauseous when he eats! He's slowly drinking some Ensure now and it seems to be helping and keeping the nausea away.

Most of all I think he just needs a good night sleep, so he's trying to get enough food in him that he can sleep comfortably. Neither of us have really had a good night's sleep in days. I talked to the surgeon and he said to get a good night's sleep and see if the nausea is better in the morning, otherwise he will prescribe something else.

Thanks guys!!

Quote from: NathanExplosion on February 17, 2014, 10:25:35 PM
Oddly, he hasn't had any pain meds today so we don't really know what's causing the nausea besides him being dehydrated last night. You're right about the gelatin allergy (you're good!) but he did manage to finish a pudding cup earlier. He's been eating a little here and there so he's not starving or anything, but the poor thing feels hungry and then gets nauseous when he eats! He's slowly drinking some Ensure now and it seems to be helping and keeping the nausea away.

Most of all I think he just needs a good night sleep, so he's trying to get enough food in him that he can sleep comfortably. Neither of us have really had a good night's sleep in days. I talked to the surgeon and he said to get a good night's sleep and see if the nausea is better in the morning, otherwise he will prescribe something else.

Thanks guys!!

Nathan, you guys are making a good choice with him drinking the Ensure.  As I was reading the post, I was planning on suggesting either that, or Boost.  He will get some nutrients, plus stay hydrated.  Good plan.  Tell the guy to hang in there from me!

No problem. If he's very nauseated you guys might use milk products with caution (my number one reactive food....group??? after surgeries, even on nausea meds). Bread like foods (even gluten free ones) can help to absorb the stomach acid a bit, which can lessen the upset stomach. Papaya is also a natural nausea aid. Fresh is best but we keep the pills on hand too. Oh and don't forget to keep track of the....stool situation. Constipation can cause nausea with me and I always feel better after that's been taken care of. Prunes usually do the trick for me or ask your doctor what he recommends if he hasn't already recommended something.

I agree, sleep is the best medicine. Just make sure to eat something if you guys are still taking pain meds, even over the counters. Some crackers or a slice of bread. It helps protect your stomach lining.

Do you guys usually take a multi vitamin of some kind? That might also help some. And don't forget to move around and get the circulation moving and the digestive tract, your stomach needs the movement to stay "awake". I remember walking the hospital halls very quickly after my hysterectomy to "wake up" my digestive tract and keep things moving. They made me walk every 4 hours until I had a movement and honestly the more I walked the better I felt. After this surgery I just wandered around the house for 10-15mins at a time and then went back to recline in bed or in the living room.

Drag a cat toy around to entertain your cat maybe? A length of yarn perhaps? (I remember one of you saying your cat won't let you sleep.) A laser pointer to wear him down? I have a small poodle who sleeps with me and my sister has one too so I sleep with a pillow laying over my chest and stomach to provide a...."pounce buffer". It has saved many could have been painful moments.

Oh I forgot to add rice, good old plain rice. It's very bland but it may be just what he needs. Easy to fix too and it comes in microwave cups. The minute rice kind. And once his stomach is less upset you can add more things to the rice. I did the same thing after my first kidney surgery. Fixed a big bowl of rice and reheated it in small portions when I got hungry, slowly adding a bit of seasoning and some veggies and chicken breast pieces once my stomach was ready for it.

Thank you so much Sebryn, that all sounds like awesome advice! Especially the "pounce buffer" pillow, LOL. The cat SEEMS to have gotten the hint that he can't walk on us now (maybe - he's a moron), but the pillow will at least let us rest a little easier. I think the "stool issue" might be a lot of why he was nauseous today. I'll spare you the details but that's been... relieved.

Meanwhile, I feel a little guilty because I feel AWESOME today. No pain, lots of energy, eating fine. I think I took all of the good feelings between us and left FB high and dry. Whoops.

Seriously, thank you guys so much for all the advice. This would have been a LOT more difficult without some advice from others who have gone through this.

Some of FB's seemingly slower recovery might be the hit his immune system took right before his surgery when he had the flu. He and I are in the same boat there I think. I'm recovering a tad slower and my surgeon confirmed that it could be the fact that I had the flu two weeks before my surgery date and had just recovered (thank you tamaflu) five days before the surgery. So I've been taking immune boosters and multi vitamins that have been cleared with my surgeon.

As for the cat....if he doesn't like water you might want to keep a squirt bottle on hand to keep him at bay to help you guys recover without being pounce upon. Or give him a catnip laced toy to take his frustrations out on?

And Nathan don't feel bad for feeling good. It just means you'll be able to help your guy out when he needs you.

Take it easy and tell FB not to worry, he'll feel better. Give it time, you guys haven't even reached the week marker. Honestly I haven't started to feel good until just the last two days (I'm three weeks post op on the 13th btw.) I still get tired and want to sleep a lot. I wasn't cleared to drive until Friday in fact, so I'm a bit behind most people in recovery, but that's okay. Everyone is different in recovery.

Quote from: Sebryn on February 17, 2014, 11:46:31 PM
Some of FB's seemingly slower recovery might be the hit his immune system took right before his surgery when he had the flu. He and I are in the same boat there I think. I'm recovering a tad slower and my surgeon confirmed that it could be the fact that I had the flu two weeks before my surgery date and had just recovered (thank you tamaflu) five days before the surgery. So I've been taking immune boosters and multi vitamins that have been cleared with my surgeon.

As for the cat....if he doesn't like water you might want to keep a squirt bottle on hand to keep him at bay to help you guys recover without being pounce upon. Or give him a catnip laced toy to take his frustrations out on?

And Nathan don't feel bad for feeling good. It just means you'll be able to help your guy out when he needs you.

Take it easy and tell FB not to worry, he'll feel better. Give it time, you guys haven't even reached the week marker. Honestly I haven't started to feel good until just the last two days (I'm three weeks post op on the 13th btw.) I still get tired and want to sleep a lot. I wasn't cleared to drive until Friday in fact, so I'm a bit behind most people in recovery, but that's okay. Everyone is different in recovery.

Excellent point about FB having been sick before, so immune system being down to begin with.  I agree with vitamins (vitamin C important) and immune boosters.  Eat clean, whole foods, stay away from processed stuff, if possible.  Salmon, walnuts, almonds, blueberries, homemade chicken soup, protein, are immune boosters.  Get his mom to bring you some healthy groceries.  Lots and lots of filtered water after the nausea goes away.  Take light walks to get the body moving.  He needs to sleep a lot too (with no cat interruptions!)

Obviously, all the above food is after he can eat.

Ginger candies or ginger chews for nausea.  His mom can get some at the pharmacy/grocery maybe.

Side note, the same directions are good for you, too! 

Hello, by the way, to the new people posting updates. I only have a few minutes spare here and there to post so forgive me for not addressing everyone individually.

Somebody beat me to it, but I was going to suggest ginger for the nausea, ginger biscuits/gingerbread works best for me. Anesthesia and pain meds in general always make me sick. I think it's awesome you guys are going through this together. That foam looks super uncomfortable, it'll feel awesome once it all comes off. I barely kept my compression tube on never mind bandages and padding xD I'm terrible

About scar treatment: I haven't been doing anything consistent. When I remember, I have E45 cream I massage all over my chest but that's about it

As for revisions, I assume he will mention the dog ears, and the fact one side has quite a bit more fat left in in than the other. The dog ears also seem to have fat in them - which is why I'd rather lose bodyfat overall and see how it looks then. My surgeon seemed pretty adamant in our pre-op consultations that he would like to do some cosmetic tweaking 6 months after my initial surgery to make my nipples shorter, correct dog ears and do some lipo. If I could afford the downtime, then sure, why not, it's free but I really don't want to be incapacitated again. The nipple thing I definitely don't think is necessary. The idea of having them shaved down doesn't appeal

I'd be interested in seeing pictures of the person who mentioned they opted to have no nipples at all. Hopefully your recovery starts to go a bit better, it'll all be worth it in the end I told my surgeon I would rather opt for no nipples than go for a two step procedure to save them - like you I plan on tattooing the entire area anyway so I wasn't worried about it. It turned out I got to keep them, so that was a bonus.


Edit: I got my partner to take a picture so you can see my chest in a more natural position

Definitely a good point about FB having been sick. He went to sleep really early last night, and got interrupted a couple of times, but he never stayed awake too long. He's asleep now thank goodness and I'm going to let him sleep as long as he can! We finally gave up on sleeping completely elevated, but it's uncomfortable to sleep completely flat, too. I long for the day I can sleep on my side again...

I think I might make the trek (down the street, literally) to the grocery store and pick up some more Gatorade and get some ginger chews and what not. Thanks for that suggestion - I used to LOVE those ginger candies that came in the green wrappers from Trader Joe's.

As for me, I had my first nightmare about having my bandages off last night. That was not fun. My chest looked like some melted, mutant version of its former self. -shivers- At least I was sleeping deeply enough to dream!


Jeatyn, I definitely don't think nipple revisions are necessary, if any revisions at all! Your nipples look fantastic (which is such a weird thing to say out of context...) and I didn't notice any asymmetry in pictures.

hehe I complimented someone's nipples earlier in the thread and had the same thought

The beginning of recovery sucks because you're tired but unable to get comfortable and everything is so much effort. I can't believe I'm 10 weeks down already, it flies by don't worry!

How long until you get the bandages off? Though I'm not familiar with your surgeon I'm sure it won't be as you've pictured

Quote from: Jeatyn on February 18, 2014, 01:02:18 PM
hehe I complimented someone's nipples earlier in the thread and had the same thought

The beginning of recovery sucks because you're tired but unable to get comfortable and everything is so much effort. I can't believe I'm 10 weeks down already, it flies by don't worry!

How long until you get the bandages off? Though I'm not familiar with your surgeon I'm sure it won't be as you've pictured

Don't I know it! I tried a little too hard to sleep on my side last night and now my sides are sore.

This Friday, thank goodness. The closer we get to getting them off, the slower time passes, LOL.

First night of good sleep I get...and the cat jumps right on my chest. Luckily I caught him before he landed, and he just got a claw stuck in my bandages. Managed to get back to sleep after that, miraculously. My rampant insomnia that I always have doesn't help my rest needing situation. Feeling a bit better today.

Funny, the thing that kept me going is the feeling of how good going for our walks make me feel. When im up and around I feel fine, when I lay down I'm nausious and sick. Weird.

The Mythbusters did an episode on seasickness (well the nausea) remedies. Ginger worked the best of common remedies. Though seasickness itself is dizziness and not nausea, per se. I think Scope is a dizziness treatment, btw. Not sure how effective and safe it is after surgery. Side effects and warnings are quite serious (psychosis and so on).

--Jay

So we had a big "D'OH" moment and remembered that FB is slightly anemic... usually having a rare steak now and again was keeping it managed, but we kind of forgot about that when I started watching my cholesterol. I think with all of this healing and such, his iron levels just completely bottomed out. He's got all the symptoms, too - weakness, dizziness, fatigue, pallor, cranky, short of breath, and the biggest one that lead us to this conclusion is RESTLESS LEG SYNDROME. Poor kid runs a marathon in his sleep.

Picked up some iron supplements and some salmon for dinner. He's asleep again for now.

Glad to hear you think you found the missing link, Nathan!  Jeatyn, your chest looks better with every picture!  <high five>