125!

Well I had my second fill today. I was nervous but not as much as the last time! It went well! I was able to feel the needle on one side today, not the piercing of the skin but more of a popping pressure dragging feeling. She injected 50 more cc's into each expander. Most people have somewhere between 50-125 put in each time and with my skin issues they want to do it slowly. As she injects she is checking capillary refill in my skin to make sure we aren't causing any issues.

So I'm at 125 in each expander (goal is still 300). The reassuring thing today was that the 50 didn't cause them to get much bigger but to fill in more. Kind of like when you blow up a floaty inner tube and its full of air but you need to add more to get it to be firm So I think the 240-260 implants will be just right and make me around a full B.

It is nice to have some perkiness there seeing as I have never had anything! I went to the pool with my daughter and a friend with a 3 year old as well and I actually had a tiny bit of cleavage! In a swim suit the expanders looked completely normal! In real life, not so much! But I know that when I have the second surgery that the implants will look and feel much better than these! Seriously they are rock hard and don't move at all!

So as long as tonight goes well and I'm not too sore in the morning, then we will do another fill next week! I've got no pain or tightness now so here's hoping it goes well! I am very relieved not to be having issues with the fills and blessed to hopefully be over the hump!

One Fill Down

Well I feel just as great today and am actually excited to have my next fill! So no pain soreness or anything! YAY! Finally things are looking up!

So next fill will be on Tuesday!!!!

I survived!

I did it! I survived my first fill with minimal issues! My appointment went well. My incisions are fully healed. I was told to keep eating the cheeseburgers (seriously, I've eaten more cheeseburgers in the past month than I have in the last 5 years!).

So they put in 50cc's which brings me to a whopping 75 cc's. Basically they refilled me back to where I was after surgery before they sucked it out! My goal is 300cc's so I've still got a ways to go but at least its going!

I really didn't feel much. I am assuming the fuller they get, the more stretching/pain you feel but for now it went amazing. Definitely is working on decreasing my procedural anxiety since it went so well!

The expanders are still hard. I thought maybe once they had fluid in them they would be softer but apparently they will be like rocks until I have the exchange surgery done. I now am actually back to my natural pre-surgery size (although to everyone else I probably look smaller due to previous padded push up bra illusions!).

Since it went well and I got the ok to go swimming, we are planning a weekend family vacation! YAY!

So the plan from here is to see if I am sore tomorrow. If not, then we will do another fill next week, if I am sore then we will do it in two weeks instead.

AHHHHH

Well, tomorrow I see plastics. Everything is all healed up so I am assuming that I will have my first fill or they will schedule it... Its great to be moving forward but my anticipatory procedural anxiety is kicking in! Lets hope it goes better than when they sucked the fluid out!

Anticipation...

Well, the scab at the end of the right incision has come off and is fairly healed underneath. There are no more blatantly open areas. That area isn't quite as healed as the rest but its not open!

I see Plastics in a week and a half and most likely will have my first fill. I honestly did not think that every thing would be even close to healed by then! After the debridement at my last appointment, I figured due to my insanely slow healing that it would take at least a couple of months for it all to heal up. So in less than one month both incisions are closed! So yay!

Knowing that my first fill is on the horizon leaves me with anticipation both good and bad. I have a lot of procedural anxiety. Most people at this point are fully filled or close to it and I haven't even started. So for most people the skin is fairly numb since it takes a while for the sensation to come back but for me, I had hypersensitive skin and no numbness in the area of the expander port. So the needle is not going to feel good! If it doesnt go well, then I will be requesting emla next time! The first fill most likely will be a low volume and then I will be able to see how my muscle reacts. Right now, I have nearly no pain and can do pretty much anything I want (even went on a log chute ride with my daughter today!). And with the expansion, the pain will come back, movement will be restricted some, and I could have more issues.

But the fill also means forward progression, one more step closer to the next surgery, one step closer to being me again.

nine days, no post

Well nine days of non-posting! I think I am in a good place right now with healing and don't see plastics for 2 more weeks! The incision is almost healed just about one centimeter left of a scabbed area. Its not draining any more or anything so is healing well!

We ordered a new mattress which came today! Hooray Tempur Pedic! I SO wish we would have gotten it before surgery! We had a Select Comfort which was great until about a year ago when it went on a slow decline to deflation and brokenness! So my side of the bed was a big dent so I have been sleeping on Jareds side. So tonight... REAL SLEEP!