Before I ever had my plastic surgery I kept setting little milestones that I couldn’t wait to get through.  1st milestone. . .the surgery, 2nd milestone. . .the first week.  Well here I am on the other side and want to share what it was like for me.  Here are all the details from my Mommy Makeover: Week 1.

mommy makeover week 1

The first week is a little bit of a blur which is a blessing.  You start feeling better each day, so the faster the days pass the better.  You can read all about pre-op and my surgery day here.  Once I got home, there was lots of napping, walking and taking meds.  My kids were gone this whole week at my in-laws which was great.  I would not have been able to give them much attention at all and Geoff was busy helping me.  I was worried I would be bored, but honestly the first week I wasn’t bored at all.  Every hour was full of some task.  I would rest, get up and walk for 10 minutes, go to the bathroom and take pain meds.  

Here is a look at a typical day:

**Every hour I would walk for 10 minutes and do 10 deep breaths into my breathing tube thing.  When sitting I had my leg pumps on 24/7 with compression socks and compression garments full of foam

**I was taking Keflex (antibiotics) every 8 hours, Flexeril (Muscle Relaxer) every 8 hours, Zofran (nausea) every 6 hours, Percocet every 4 hours for pain and extra strength Acetaminophen every 6 hours for pain.  Geoff set timers and would come in and give me everything I needed including bringing me food and drink.  I also had to take Lovenoox injections every night for a week to help with blood clots.  These really didn’t hurt, but it was a mental challenge to give these to myself.  Geoff was freaked out to do it, so I just gave them to myself.

**They want you to have 120 grams of protein a day and 1 gallon of water a day (this had to be Gatorade or Propel with Electrolytes the first 72 hours)

7:00 wake up, have orange juice with Miralax, Premiere Protein drink with Vital Protein inside, 2 stool softeners, 2 Bromelain, Geoff would record my drain output, I would get undressed to take photos of my incisions and swelling, text those off to the post op nurse, Geoff would empty and clean my drains.  

12:00 Check drains and record, another glass of orange juice with Miralax, take a Protein shot

4:00 Check drains and record, More Miralax

8:00 check drains and record, empty drains,  Miralax, Protein Drink with Vital Proteins,  Lovenox injections (blood clots)

I would typically take a pain med right before bed around 10 and then set alarms to wake up and take meds, plus walk every few hours during the night.  I did NOT want to get behind on my pain pills so I was fine waking up.

Seriously, between doing all of this and walking there wasn’t much down time.  I would take cat naps in between, watch a few minutes of some shows, but I was very busy accomplishing all of these things.  Luckily Geoff works from home so he was able to help a ton and in between go do a little work.  I had envisioned him and I hanging out, watching movies, etc, but none of that happened.  I slept and did my tasks pretty much all day the first week.  I was still pretty loopy this first week.  I was on a lot of pain meds and I still had some of the anesthesia in me. 

PAIN: 

There were 3 types of pain.   Muscle pain, stingy pain (mostly near the drain sites) and achy pain like you had been in an accident.  All were manageable with meds.  I could not feel my incisions or my boobs at all!  The first few days I didn’t enjoy walking.  You are sore and very exhausted.  It takes a lot of energy to walk.  Also your lower back will really hurt.  I was not really prepared for that.  My lower back was killing me.  Maybe the worst of the pain just from not being able to stand up straight.  You are so hunched over because your muscles are so tight and that bending over will kill your back.  I have heard you cannot stand up straight until about a month!  The morning were my least favorite having to take all of my dressings off to get pictures to send to the nurse.  I love that my doctor does this because I knew I was getting amazing care and they could stay on top of my healing, but it was hard to take everything off and put it back on.  

The 2nd day I was home I had to get more lab work done.  I found an amazing service that comes to your house!  The prices were very reasonable.  It only cost me an additional $50.  It was sooo worth it.  I cannot even imagine getting out of my house day 2 and walking to a lab.  That would have been so hard.  If you are local click here for the info.

MY POST OP CARE WAS INCREDIBLE:  

I am not sure how other doctors do it, but Dr. Venneymeyer has a post op nurse that you talk to every single day your first week home.  This really put my mind at ease.  Every day I sent in pictures so they could review and make sure everything was looking good.  The nurse would call me every day so I could talk about any concerns I have and get any questions answered.  This was so so helpful.  It really make you feel not alone.  I would write my questions down during the day and be able to go over everything.  This is amazing because things constantly change that first week.  Pain changes, swelling, meds, etc.  They were there to walk me through everything and tweak if we needed to.

WORST PART OF WEEK 1:

There were so many tasks.  You just want to relax, but there are so many things to do with walking all the time.  You are exhausted.  Not only sleepy tired, but you just feel weak.  The DRAINS.  I hated these.  They sting, are gross and are just so medical.  That kinda messes with my mind thinking they are up in my body.  Kind of like being hooked to an IV.  I couldn’t wait to get these removed.  Taking off my clothes in the morning and taking pictures is not fun and walking at night is not fun.  The night walking would hurt a little more because you had been sitting for longer than you do during the day so you are way more sore.  Geoff had to help me get out of my chair every time.  Lovenox injections.  Honestly, these weren’t that bad, but I hate needles so having to give them to myself was definitely not my favorite.  Day 3 is the worst because your nerve blockers from surgery start to wear off.  You start feeling a little more pain, but nothing terrible.  If you are in more pain, work with your doctor to tweak your meds.  My doctor was incredible with this.  Day 5 I took a shower and this was hard.  Don’t rush this.  It felt good to shower, but it was so much work.  I almost fainted when I showered for the first time.  Take it slow, have some one help you.  It wasn’t painful as much as it was exhausting.  I cannot stress this enough.  Just when you think you are getting better you will push yourself and exhaust yourself.  I only showered once this week.  It was very nice to get clean and get my garment clean.  I washed it while I was in the shower and as soon as it was dry I put everything back on.  Back pain. . .this is no fun.  You are not able to stand up straight which is annoying and puts a huge strain on your lower back.

BIGGEST ADVICE:

Do your research so you are prepared.  The hardest thing is mental toughness.  Just knowing this will past and keeping your eye on the prize.  It feels like a long recovery so set short term goals that help you get through.  That way you will feel like you are hitting and crossing milestones off your list.  Don’t rush yourself.  I didn’t even take my first shower until day 5.  

I will say day 7 I hit a turning point.  I felt much better and could get off a lot of the meds.  This makes you feel more mentally clear.  You just have to get through week 1, but I will say, it was so much easier than I expected it to be!!  There was pain, but it wasn’t terrible.  Just rest and have a great caretaker to help you with the things you need.  I will recap week 2 soon!  If you are considering this surgery, you can do it.  Week 1 goes by fast and is a blur.  

I also want to give a shoutout to my incredible husband who was and is the best caregiver ever.  I seriously couldn’t have done this without him.  He literally brought me everything I needed so I could focus on resting and healing.  I will say I did have horrible visions before the surgery of him having to do everything for me like gross bathroom things, etc and thank goodness none of that happened.  Like I said, while this week wasn’t fun it was so much better than expected!

see my videos from mommy makeover week 1 here and here

CHECK OUT ALL MY PLASTIC SURGERY POSTS HERE

**If you’ve had or are interested in Gastric Sleeve surgery or Mommy Makeover type of plastic surgery join the HOH Private Facebook Community where we can all share our stories, get questions answered and cheer each on during our individual journeys.  I am hoping this will be a very helpful resource for everyone considering/or have had these procedures.