THINGS I WISH I KNEW BEFORE TOP SURGERY:
- If you have a caffeine dependency, you will experience withdrawal effects because you’ll most likely be too out of it for a couple of days after surgery to drink caffeine. The headache you get will mostly likely be a lot worse because of any prescription pain medication you’ll be taking. Acetaminophen (Tylenol) will be your best friend.
- Getting drains removed isn’t necessarily painful, but it is the most unnerving feeling ever, especially since they don’t do anything to numb you beforehand. I’m warning you now that you’ll most likely feel sick and potentially black out for a few moments. The feeling will pass quickly though, and the nurses are prepared for this.
- Your scars are going to look a lot bigger and messy when you first see them. This is because of swelling and surgical glue. After about 2-3 weeks the glue will crumble off, and the swelling will mostly go down, so you’ll be able to get a better look at how your chest/scars will actually look
- You won’t be able to reach most things you’d normally be able to after surgery due to both scarring and pain. It’s taken me 3 weeks just to be able to properly wash my hair because I couldn’t lift my arms high enough to touch the top of my head long enough.
- Your surgeon will probably ask you to stop taking your testosterone (if you’re on it) for 2 weeks before surgery, and 2 weeks after surgery. This is about a month without testosterone. Be sure to prepare for that in advance so you’re not surprised with any changes that might happen to your body. I know I got my period after 2 years of not having one because of this, so just be prepared so it’s not too big of a surprise and/or dysphoria spike
- You won’t be able to wear deodorant for about 2 weeks. It sucks, but as long as you’re able to shower frequently and change your shirt, you should be okay
- Get button up PJ sets. You can get them at Walmart. They are lifesavers, especially since you can’t really lift your arms or bend properly in order to take off normal shirts.
- Do not be alarmed if it looks like your nipple is falling off- it is just the scab I promise. Unless you smoke, you should have no fear about your nipples falling off. If you do smoke, talk to your surgeon about what to do well in advance to limit the risk!
- You won’t be able to drive for a hot second due to being on the pain medications, so make sure you have someone you trust to get you to and from places!
- Around the 3 week mark you’ll get a second spike of bad pain. This is because around this time is when you’ll be mostly back to normal routine, and moving around a lot more. Your body isn’t caught up yet, and so the soreness and the pain will be worse. This is normal, and unless the pain is unbearable, you shouldn’t have to contact your surgeon/doctor about any complications
- For any fellow poc, your nipples will most likely heal pink/light. This is fucking weird and I don’t like it, but I’ve heard they’ll eventually go back to normal over time. It’s most likely due to scar tissue
- When you go to put back on your medical binder with padding after you shower or take it off for scar cream, etc.: lay down to put it on. I promise you it’s so much easier than attempting to hold all the padding against your body and put on the medical binder without hurting yourself!
That’s all I got for now! I’ll add on if I remember anything else! Please remember that everyone’s surgery experience is different, im just illustrating some things that happened to me and might happen to others as well! Im only 3 weeks post op as well, so I’ll update if anything else weird happens!