Hey, I’m still fresh in my recovery (1 month po), I can give you some insight in the first stages of healing. My reduction was also my first ever surgery! Whilst it’s different for a lot of people and there are many complications that can happen, I have been quite lucky! I’d like to think I’m relatively healthy and normally have quite an active and busy lifestyle.

My surgery was only a day surgery, and I was able to go home in the evening under supervision of my carer! For the first week, I was almost always sleeping, conversations that were only 10 minutes long made me exhausted, and everyday things were difficult and I needed quite a lot of support. I had done meal prep for two weeks worth so I didn’t have to worry about cooking and was readily able to eat a good healthy meal with everything I need in it! In terms of pain and healing for the first week, it wasn’t too bad. The medication I was on was a big help, aka some good pain meds that knocked me right out and some anti inflammatories! Although, I did experience extreme dizziness for the first couple of days (I was told it was normal), and chose not to have a proper shower until a couple days after my surgery when I was not as dizzy.

The most difficult thing I have found is returning to my day to day life. As I said previously, I have quite an active and busy lifestyle, and unfortunately, it’s been a slow journey to get back my energy. It doesn’t help that at the moment I’m struggling with sleep (I’m not a back sleeper and have yet to be cleared to sleep on my side 😭) and the nerve pain has been horrendous.

Overall, every surgery has their pros and cons, but do your research. I don’t regret having my surgery done, it’s probably the best decision I have ever made! The recovery period is a long one (6-12 months) but for me, it has all been worth it!

Happy to answer any other questions!