Karidis journey - from start to 12 months with lots of photos

[chopper]

LMAO same here! I pigged-out bigtime for a few days after the op and it made wearing the compression vest bloody murder.

Wish I had learnt the lesson the first time, but my school reports always said "he never pays attention" ha!.....i did it again this evening, had a good feast and then sat there and loosened up all the lower clips on the vest and was wishing i had eaten a smaller plate fulll, or asked for a bigger compression vest

I havent touched a pain killer today, been feeling really good all day. To be fair I wasnt in pain yesterday just a little uncomfortable down the right hand side of my rib cage whenever i tried to sit up...I think the muscles were a little tender, but today all seems right as rain and i can use my stomach muscles to get me up from lying down, also range of movement has improved in my arms...i havent pushed it yet to find out where the boundaries are...all in good time is what I'm thinking, there is a lot of healing going on under the skin and I need to leave it to do its stuff.

[chopper]

1 week post op today and very pleased with how everything is going.

My chest was pretty numb for the first 4 / 5 days and feeling gradually came back across it all, at day 7 I can feel everything across the main part of my chest. My left nipple has sensitivity and reacts to goose bumps & cold weather...the right nipple isnt back yet, but i can feel burning sensations and an itching feeling around the nipple which would indicate healing is happening.
I've got some swelling on my right side which is making it look like VERY VERY minor gyne which I'm sure will subside in the coming months...my left side has some swelling too and certain parts of both sides of my chest are a little tender to touch, but the left side is pretty much perfect to the eye, you wouldnt notice i've had an op or have swelling unless you were feeling my skin.

I've been going for hour walks since day 3 most days, can carry shopping in from the car, can change a 3 year olds nappy, bath her etc etc...so my daily life hasnt been affected by the op. I havent tried driving yet as I can imagine i will make only make swelling happen by agitating things that are healing...generally I'm keeping active but also restricting the movement in my chest and not pushing it at all.

I've found a good solution to the vest digging under my arms and that was cutting a pair of socks up and putting them between the vest and my body as a comfort barrier...no more rubbing and digging it

Bruising is also going very quickly now....must say I'm surprised just how good I feel 7 days post-op, i honestly thought i would be a lot more restricted in daily life, but I'm not...I would say 7 days is enough time off work to go back without raising too many suspicions from colleagues, but if you could take 2 weeks off then I can only imagine that will be even better still.

Will get "she who must be obeyed" to take some photos later and stick them up for you all

[chopper]

Left side....flatter then a pancake for now



Right side...small swelling, but very minor


I took them in the mirror which is why it looks like my left is my right etc...

I know I could be posting horrible swelling in a few weeks but this is the deal for 1st week post op

[emanresu]

Give it 6 months mate until you start freaking out about the swelling. I have it on both sides. I have to say that it's an absolute cnut when the swelling first occurs! You're left wondering if the m00bs are growing back lol.

[thetodd]

Hopefully the swelling wont get too much worse, your bodys reacted really well to the surgery i mean there isnt much bruising at all thats the benefit of not needing much lipo i suppose. Scar tissue ... probally wont be to servere. Looks like a top result to me especially one week on but i think your overall physique certainley helps that.

Do you know what BF% you are at the minute?

Good luck on the recovery and youre baby

[lightweightbaby]

Hey mate if my chest looks half as good as yours after a week i will be over the moon. Looks like you reacted pretty well to surgery and your wounds look pretty spot on. Did you skin feel a bit strange after you took the bandages off? My left side feels a bit wobbly when I walk sumtimes. Glad to see your results anyway mate. Keep up the good healing process

[chopper]

2 weeks Post-op

Im chuffed to bits with the results guys. Some swelling as I mentioned last week still exists but a lot has already come down. What I first thought was a mix of swelling and hard scar tissue appears to mostly be swelling. The swelling has been as hard as stone or bone to touch, it didnt feel like tissue at all, but a lot of it has just vanished over the last week. There is still a load and some definite scar tissue but as of last week If i take the vest off I can wear a t-shirt and there is nothing to see...I.E I'm 100% flat.

Bruising is almost gone, should be gone in the next 2 weeks. Right nipple is still on holiday...when the sensation will fully come back I dont know and dont really care if im honest. There is a burning sensation and i get pulses of sensations going through it, but if i touch it, it's dead, like touching someone elses nipple

Piccies:



They are 2 different photos - but they look similar - thought I would include them in case someone wants to study them closely at a later date



Left hand side:


Still very flat, a tiny amount of swelling at the lower pec.

Right Hand side:



You can probably see the little swelling at the bottom of the pec and also just slightly above the nipple. I would happily walk t-shirt free if the bruising was away as you really couldnt tell unless you were studying my chest



Thats all for now folks. I'm going to wear my compression vest for another 2 weeks 24/7 which will be a total of 4 weeks with it on 24/7.
I can sleep a solid 8 hours with it on which I couldnt do in the first week and im comfortable with it on now as long as I dont go balls out at dinner time otherwise it gets a little uncomfortable then

[chopper]

Hopefully the swelling wont get too much worse, your bodys reacted really well to the surgery i mean there isnt much bruising at all thats the benefit of not needing much lipo i suppose. Scar tissue ... probally wont be to servere. Looks like a top result to me especially one week on but i think your overall physique certainley helps that.

Do you know what BF% you are at the minute?

Good luck on the recovery and youre baby

Im about 18 - 19% body fat at the moment. No 12% e-stats here...I've used calipers and machines which get me around 18% at the moment. I went from 25.1 % to 18 in just over 7 weeks before the OP.
right now in recovery I couldnt give 2 fucks about a strict diet though...the gym is the furthest thing from my mind. I cant wait to get back, dont get me wrong, but it can wait, just like my diet can...once I'm all healed I'll hit the diet to get myself down to 15% BF, then ramp my diet back up to 3.5K calories and lift heavy and maintain a steady growth but this time without the boobies which always killed my motivation...for now, it's all about healing and taking it easy and eating what I want (within reason) 

[lightweightbaby]

Cracking results mate, think your coming on well, i cant imagine you will get much more swelling that what you already have, it seems that your body has reacted really well to the surgery! I think 24/7 for a month with the vest looks like its the way to go, im tempted to do 3 weeks 24hrs and then just do 1 week at night and see how that goes. When did you start sleeping on your side? I feel as though i can but i dont wanna do any damage. Do you feel 100% back to normal now or do you sometimes get a bit of pain now and then?

[chopper]

I'm still mostly on my back when sleeping, but the last 3 nights i've switched to my left hand side for a couple of hours (usually not long before waking). The pain is 95% gone, there is just a couple of tender spots that arent really painful, just uncomfortable when i touch them, and a reminder that it's still healing.
I havent tried putting my arms straight up above my head just yet, im 3/4 there, but not all the way.
BTW: the jiggle on my left side is not as noticeable today, i was thinking it earlier when at a friends.

[Choda]

Great results Chopper.

[chopper]

Had a couple of hours sleep on my right side (the more swollen side) and it's told me it's not happy by swelling up more...My left side is OK if i sleep on it, but it appears my right side isn't quite ready.

I'll be sleeping on my back for the next few weeks then lol

[somedude999]

Sleeping on your back is a bitch isn't it mate, think I'm finally getting used to it now after 8 days but still have to stop myself from wanting to roll onto my side sometimes.

[somedude999]

awesome results btw, flat as a pancake.
Are you still taking arnica now ? did you bother with pineapple ?

[chopper]

Yep, sleeping on my back the first week was a nightmare, was only able to sleep 3 - 4 hours MAX at anyone time before my lower back was dead and I would wake up uncomfortable and aching..I would have to sit up for 10 - 20 minutes before I could lie back down on it again...but that all seems to have passed and I'm getting the full 8 hrs now without any problems...but I cant wait to be sleeping on my front and both sides totally unrestricted 

I was militant about the arnica tablets in the first week but have been a bit slack during week 2 and started using arnica cream on it towards the end of week 2 and probably having roughly 3 arnica tablets a day. Bought 1 pineapple and half of it is still in the kitchen...so not really done much on the pineapple front.

It's such a great feeling being gyne free that all this healing business is really no bother at all...it's such a kick every day when im stood in front of the mirror after showering, i keep staring at my chest whilst brushing my teeth or shaving...i swear i've never brushed my teeth or shaved so much before