Had surgery yesterday with Dr. Lista

[PeterBateman]

hey marx, are you saying YOUR swelling should be going up then subsiding, or mine?  I think you mean me.  I have started to see some puffiness to nips again, even though I can feel theres no gland behind there...it actually feels like I have a donut hole in the middle of my chest..but still the nips are coming out a bit...I am hoping my skin will just shrink in the area.  It feels weird rubbing the arnica on...I have hardly any feeling in the nip area, but yet I do...I'm sure you know what I mean...braveboy - soon you will too.  

Marx, how hard are you rubbing the arnica - I find it dries up too fast and I'm left looking like a pervert in a mirror...did Lista say THREE times a day massaging EACH side for 5 minutes..ie 30 minutes per day of standing there rubbing???

[PeterBateman]

bump

[braveboy]

pete your 1 week post op ,hows your progress as far as mobility,pain and results.i just bought my self a abdominal binner for back up just in case the vest doesn"t work for me and to give me an alternative.

[PeterBateman]

At about the 6th day (yesterday) I began to feel a slight bit more mobile - I walked on the treadmill for 40 minutes at a slow pace.  Today again I walked for an hour, and carefully vacuumed the house and cleaned bathrooms...I know...BUT, I still have bruising (yellow, and a bit of darker in some lower spots), and what I think is scar tissue just to the side and lower of both nips.  It hurts like hell to rub it a certain way.  The Arnica gel isn't gonna last 3 weeks, and you pay $30.00 for it at Lista's.  I called a health food place today and they have the same product for $18.00, so if you wanna find a place near you, the product is made by Boiron, its Arnica gel, and its 75 grams.  
Results - I can feel I have no gland now, but they've become a bit puffy again, and there's still some lower areas that I hope are just swelling and not the fat that I hope has been sucked out.  I know how it goes though, and I'm not overly concerned right now since it is only one week post op.  My swelling and bruising is only in the lower areas - I only ever got yellow bruising to begin with, and that remains across my entire chest and a bit lower down.  I am definately flatter chested, what the final outcome will be I can't obviously say.  Not sure what an abdominal binner is, but I lucked out and have 2 vests from Lista, as the first one was too small, so I got the Medium sized one on my 2nd post op visit, and I use the Small one while I'm washing the other.  

[braveboy]

thanks for the heads up about the gel.Can you conceal the vest under a bussines type shirt with know one being able to notice.An abdominal binner is a strip of stetchable frabic about 12 inches wide and 42 inches long wich you can adjust to fit you,it has a velcro type fastener used for lipo recovery like the vest just a different option.You bonus in getting a second vest for free i think i will ask for a back up.

[PeterBateman]

Ya I was wearing just a thin t-shirt today over the vest and no one could tell.  The extra vest isn't something he does, its just that they improperly sized me for when I woke up and already had it on.  I would imagine they would charge you for an extra, and I overheard a broad wanting to buy an extra bra after surgery she had and it was $110.00, so I'd just stick with the binner you got, that will do fine.  Get an UnderArmour shirt if you really want another backup, thats what I got.  I may start wearing that under the vest during the colder days.

[PeterBateman]

hey marx, are you saying YOUR swelling should be going up then subsiding, or mine?  I think you mean me.  I have started to see some puffiness to nips again, even though I can feel theres no gland behind there...it actually feels like I have a donut hole in the middle of my chest..but still the nips are coming out a bit...I am hoping my skin will just shrink in the area.  It feels weird rubbing the arnica on...I have hardly any feeling in the nip area, but yet I do...I'm sure you know what I mean...braveboy - soon you will too.  

Marx, how hard are you rubbing the arnica - I find it dries up too fast and I'm left looking like a pervert in a mirror...did Lista say THREE times a day massaging EACH side for 5 minutes..ie 30 minutes per day of standing there rubbing???

Marx, BUMP

[marx]

Lista told me to rub hard for 5 minutes 3 times a day, which is what I am doing.  I find it easier lying in bed doing the rubbing.  I am happy to say the hard swelling areas have really seem to break down this week.  I was worried about some lumpy areas but I think they are starting to disappear.  I just try to rub those lumpy  areas real hard to break them down.

I put a real thin layer of gel that dries up pretty quick.  I am close to finishing my tube.  I'll see what Lista says when I see him next week.  Hopefully I can ditch the vest and the rubbing.  The whole area is still sore to the touch but not painful.

[marx]

braveboy - no worries about anyone seeing your vest under a shirt.  it is flesh colour so doesn't really come through even with white shirts.  the only thing is there are velcro straps at the shoulders that may not be completely flat under a thin shirt.  with a heavier shirt, no concern.

pete - what kind of stores can you buy the arnica gel.  i thought Lista's office would be a rip off.  I'm surprised it is not free considering how expensive the procedure is.

so did you end up having incision through one nipple? for 3 incisions total?

[PeterBateman]

Hey Marx.  I got the boiron arnica gel at a health food supply place nearby.  Just look in yellow pages under health food.  I paid $17.99 for it (exact same product, and it came with a bottle of arnica pills like the 3 we got from Lista).  

Regarding the rubbing - just to clarify then - you only rub for 5 minutes TOTAL, three times daily?  I thought each SIDE was for 5 minutes, three times daily.  I've almost finished Lista's tube already and its only been a week using it.  I think chest hairs soak it up even faster.  I put on some vitamin E gel after the arnica dries to continue massaging the area, and I was given some pure vitamin E oil for the scars.

No, Lista only went through the 2 standard incisions...I must have been hallucinating about the nipple.  I thought I might have been...

My swelling is along the bottom of each chest, a llittle to the sides (as its still bruised), and I'm wondering about this:  when I raise my arm up, my nipples indent, yet I can see what I think is scar tissue and buildup around the nipple and underneath...do you or did you have that?  

[PeterBateman]

bump

[marx]

each side for 5 minutes yes, but i use two hands and massage both sides hard for at least 5 minutes 3 times a day.

i also have the hard swelling at the bottom of each chest.  still there after nearly a month yet it is breaking down.  i also had a couple of hard spots, that were worrying me, but they are also breaking down.

Today i took a nap without my vest since it was in the wash.  when i woke up i was surprised my chest was sore and actually swelled up a bit.  i have a feeling i'm going to need the vest for more weeks.

[PeterBateman]

Thanks for clarifying it for me marx...I feel like a knob calling the secretaries again for something so simple, but its easily confusing.  

Did you ever have like veins or something that had what I can only describe as tubes that felt like they were full (picture a tube shaped balloon, and squeeze it from both ends - the middle of the balloon is what it feels like in terms of shape). ?

I have this on left side beside nipple, and on right side more towards the armpit right now.  But they seem to move around a bit...

[braveboy]

Pete when are you back to work or are you,and what kind of work do you do?

[PeterBateman]

Next week I'm gonna go back...I do reno's and paint.