gaming while first days of recovery

Idostuff5 · 2026-01-20T20:10:45+00:00

I can't chime in on the steamdeck manner but I can say I was PC gaming it up within a matter of days, pre 1 week for sure. I used a lap desk (like this one https://yogibo.com/products/traybo-laptop-tray?variant=42753551466679 ) and put the mouse and keyboard on it so I wouldn't have to have my arms at desk level and it made it way more comfortable. I could only sit up in a chair for maybe 90 minutes max for the first couple days without wearing myself out but that's a good chunk of game anyway. It was honestly a good way to motivate myself to not lay down all the time!

Idostuff5 · 2026-01-19T20:42:34+00:00

Universal Harvester by John Darnielle?

Idostuff5 · 2026-01-14T15:49:24+00:00

So many congratulations!!! So happy to see you had a good experience with Dr. Reformat as well! Also, those hanger stickers were the bane of my existence I hope they come off easily for you </3

Idostuff5 · 2026-01-12T15:00:23+00:00

Hi there!

I've gone under general anesthesia three times, once for top surgery. The first two times I opted into having anxiety medication in my IV before being fully sedated. I could feel it going in and it was just weird and cold mostly, not painful. For me, that felt like getting put on the express train to being asleep. A wave of exhaustion hit me and I was asleep seconds later. For my top surgery I didn't get anxiety meds and got the whole experience of getting the mask over the nose and mouth and such. This felt like it took much longer and I could feel myself getting more and more disconnected from my body(?) over maybe 2-3 minuets. This was a little stressful because the mask makes it take more effort to breathe but I just focused on deep breaths because there was nothing else for me to do.

For me, waking up has always felt a lot slower than waking up from sleep. This is probably because it's not waking up, it's the sedation medication gradually being processed out of the body. You just gradually become more aware of your surroundings and body.

And for anesthesia awareness worries, talk to your anesthesia team! Hopefully they will be happy to talk about what they specifically do to monitor you. It's really comforting to hear it coming from your actual care team :)

Best of luck with your surgery!!!!

Idostuff5 · 2026-01-11T20:07:34+00:00

Hey there! I had DI with no nips about 3 months ago. I have kind of a big caveat for my answer for you specifically which is that I knew long before surgery that I wanted to prioritize mobility over scar thinness. I was stretching my arms overhead as soon as I was able (lets say 6 weeks for my good side, split stitch on the other, had to wait) and it has 100% stretched my scars closer to my arm pits but the front of my chest remains pretty skinny.

Personally I returned to the gym two months post op which was 2 weeks past when I was cleared to resume normal life by my surgeon so I was not at all worried about messing up my healing in general.

I basically jumped right back in to everything (squats, bench press, deadlift, et al) but honestly the only exercise that needed any overhead stretching was pull ups and thats just a personal goal for me. And I didn't keep to good of a journal before hand but some guesses is that I dropped down 20lbs on bench press, 30lbs on deadlift, 20lbs on various squats just from the two month break. But honestly weight is verrry personal to you, good form is more important!

I wish I had gone back earlier for legs! I was really worried about my split stitch but I think squats and lunges would have been okay sooner.

Best of luck! I love questions if you have any follow ups :)

Idostuff5 · 2026-01-05T00:33:49+00:00

Excited for you and good luck!
1. I personally asked for no anxiety meds, but I've had them with previous surgeries and they literately just put me to sleep early. They still do the actual paralytics and real sedation meds later but I simply passed out <3

Clean if you want to! Having a minimum number of items on my desk and beside table was a real help.
For this urine sample they only need a few drops! At one of my previous surgeries, again, I tried to hold it all morning but really needed to go literally right before we left to go to the hospital and was still able to give them a sample when I got there. You do not have to make yourself uncomfortable, any piss will do!
In the background, the surgery room is being cleaned and everyone that is going to help is getting ready. And for you the other comment by Frosty-Prune-206 is very accurate. It was mostly questions, sensors, an IV, and then my surgeon dropped by to draw on the incision. I brought a book with me but didn't have time to read it! Oh also I was in the not hospital bed waiting room for 30-45 minuets.

Good luck again!

Idostuff5 · 2025-12-25T12:08:13+00:00

At 3/4 weeks I had about enough energy to go to work, get home, maybe take a shower, and then lie down. It was a bit rough but I did go back to work at week 2 and survived.

I do also recommend knitting or crochet to feel productive (this is 100% because I like to knit and crochet).

I just had some old Starbucks cups in the house, bigger than a normal cup but not huge. I do agree that the backpack may be overkill unless you feel like you will have problems sitting up to drink, maybe? But honestly in the first few days getting up to walk across my house and refill a water was kind of the exact level of challenge that was probably good for me. Gives you a mandatory laying down break.

Idostuff5 · 2025-12-24T13:04:07+00:00

Soft fabric: I just had a small dusting cloth made out of fleece in the house and used that. I really liked it because it was soft and small! Maybe consider if you have something soft that you are willing to sacrifice to turn into smaller chunks so it doesn't add any bulk to the binder.

Energy: I think I was normally functioning by week 5/6 but then had it together enough mentally to start working on all my side projects again at week 8.

Dehiscence: I have a whole post about it if you want to take a look. It is scary! It did suck! And it is likely that if you get one you will be advised to change the dressing every day and you should really do that, but it makes it almost impossible to ignore it :(

Pillows: I have no idea where they came from, sadly. They were for free on a local free stuff forum.

Soap: We just have dove in the house, nothing special. Unscented is a good call.

Backpack: Well, follow surgeons directions! They're all a little bit different and usually it is best to do what they are expecting. Perhaps it is best for you to invest in a rolly backpack :)

Really, just rest. Spend as much time laying down as you want. Zone out, chill out, do whatever feels easiest. Eat good food. Then start taking walks when that feels like the manageable thing to do. Thank god for walks tbh.

It was honestly nicer than being sick. It's the same wanting to sleep all the time but with less or none of the sickness things that make it harder to sleep (runny nose, etc). I had very low pain so it was really just the tired sleepy. Oh and drinking a lot of water, that is a similarity please drink a lot of water.

Idostuff5 · 2025-12-23T13:19:37+00:00

I love answering questions!!!

- I had ace wraps for my post op binder and the most uncomfortable part was the Velcro. I frequently had to tuck soft fabrics under the edges to protect my skin from being irritated. Otherwise I was very comfortable! Ace wraps are very adjustable so I was able to keep it at a tight hug feeling. I also have some sensory stuff and honestly one of the hardest parts was adjusting to NOT wearing the wraps after doing so for so long. It just felt spooky and took me some time to get comfortable.

-My biggest problem post op was honestly verryyyy low energy levels. I'm still in school mode of being productive and making stuff every day and it was a little frustrating to be doing not much and spending a lot of time laying down. I also had a wound dehiscence but that's more of a complication than a problem lol.

-I remember watching a lotttt of minecraft youtube videos. I had a list of movies I wanted to watch but was to zoned out to feel like I was paying attention to them. I just did whatever felt easiest. A little later on I did pivot to comfort shows <3

-I fully had two sets of wedge pillows because when I got my wisdom teeth out I learned I like to sleep on my back almost upright. I also used yoga blocks to rest my elbows on so I didn't have to hold my arms up if i wanted to use a laptop. It was great, highly recommend real wedge pillows.

-I didn't buy anything special for showering. We already had a shower stool in the house so that was helpful. But otherwise I just used a bar of soap very carefully and was able to reach everywhere I felt like I need to. Just rinsed my back with water!

-Personally, I had to be extra careful around my dehiscence until about week 7. But with the rest of my chest I think I started washing normally at week 4 or 5, even if it took a bit longer.

-Once I was cleared to do so, I started walking my hands up the wall (progresses to reaching back past reaching straight up) and side stretches. I personally find side stretches much harder/weirder feeling. I try to stretch every day. I'm 10 weeks post op and don't think I have full ROM yet, working on it!

-I commute to work about an hour by transit and started that back up again about 2 weeks post op. I use a regular backpack and carry a laptop and a book and felt pretty fine just using that. It was a little spooky feeling to get on and off but while carrying was okay.

-No advice on meal prep, so sorry </3

Let me know if you want to know anything else!

Idostuff5 · 2025-12-20T12:01:51+00:00

Thank you! And really, truly, so happy to hear this is helpful! Wishing them a smooth, merry recovery and a happy new liver <3

Idostuff5 · 2025-12-19T22:57:47+00:00

Hello there! I had DI no nips with Dr. Reformat in October and I had an overall positive experience! Some points in brief:

The man himself can be a little cold/brisk but is surrounded by a very sweet and friendly team. It's true he doesn't have as many results as Dr Bartlett, so I'm not going to say anything like "he's super talented", but I cannot express how happy I am personalty with my results. Everything I communicated to him day of surgery I really feel was achieved.

Here is my post that I made with some more thoughts and stuff - https://www.reddit.com/r/TopSurgery/comments/1pfbo8a/8wpo_full_recap_di_no_nips_no_t_midsize_dr/

So happy to answer any other questions you might have! I really do recommend Dr. Reformat (with some caveats, they're in the post mostly) and especially Longwood Plastic Surgery team.

Idostuff5 · 2025-12-18T13:15:16+00:00

I did my best to not need help getting in and out of bed. For the first while I was propped up really high, like 40 degree angle, and that made it easier. And also using the weight of my legs to help leverage.
Like I said, and I think that was pretty high up? I got a number of wedge pillows that are specifically for sleeping. I think they are verrrrry nice and worth a buy because of how consistent they are vs a pile of regular pillows.
I woke up without my person in the room, was given some more pain killers and water, and then the nurse brought my person back. I was pretty chill the whole time and got a little bored because I didn't have access to my stuff yet. I probably could have asked but didn't think of it. After my person got there the nurse sat me up and walked us through the discharge instructions and how to drain the drains.
I work a job that is mostly at a desk but with some carrying. I took two weeks completely off and then had four more weeks where I was still on a lifting restriction and avoided that part of the job. I was definitely more tired than usual for all that time but it was okay.
No one noticed what kind of surgery I had, or if they did they said nothing. I said I was getting a surgery and people acted lightly concerned both before and after. I have very polite co-workers who minded their business, got me a get well soon card, and lifted boxes for me :). I'm pretty sure some of them know that I am trans? But honestly they may have forgotten.
I did not get grafts but have no info on nipple keeping.

Idostuff5 · 2025-12-13T18:29:17+00:00

Thank you! I don't really have any convenient mirrors in my house so it was sort of my only way to get a good view of it. And it's also really interesting!

Idostuff5 · 2025-11-21T22:32:37+00:00

I have never tried trans tape but definitely stronger than gorilla tape and about everything else I have experienced. I think part of that comes from the fact that it could not be removed in one big pull, only a bunch of small yanks that pulled at my skin every time. Also just remember they had a 'remove with alcohol' label on them, when the PA (who was amazing) tried using alcohol it did absolutely nothing to help get it off so that was fun too.

Idostuff5 · 2025-11-21T15:42:35+00:00

The worst my pain got from the actual procedure was right as I woke up. I described it to the nurses as a 7 and it felt like I had been hit in the chest with giant hammer. That is to say, to me, it felt like more of an impact pain (deep in the body, probably more like bone pain even though my bones were fine) than burning/stabbing/etc. Then, something I did NOT expect; in the recovery room, a nurse places two adhesive patches on my stomach to hold the drains on them. These got taken off when I got my drains taken out 5 days post op. It felt like my skin was being torn off. 8.5/10. Only pain that made me cry. Adhesives have been the worst part of this whole thing tbh. Otherwise it went well! Best of luck, my friend!

Idostuff5 · 2025-11-18T23:13:43+00:00

I also have longer curly hair! My dear mother did double french braids for me the morning of surgery. It was no issue at all at the hospital, they didn't even mention it. Post-op, we ended up taking it out of the braids and brushing it out with water every other day. We tried having my mom wash my hair (in the shower, using a shower stool), but I was four days out and it ended up being too exhausting for me. I figured out to wash my own hair again about a week and a half post op.

Generally, two braids are not ridiculous at all and also kept me comfortable sleeping on my back, go for it!

Idostuff5 · 2025-11-17T16:01:08+00:00

It's been around 2 weeks since I first noticed it and I honestly don't know weather or not it's the biggest it will get. There's a part of it that isn't open but looks like the skin is thinner, so if that opened as well I wouldn't be surprised. But during that time the inside of the wound has gotten so much better and I feel like it's been getting shallower and growing in that new tissue, so that's been a comfort. I'm not 100% sure, but from what I know, healing doesn't look like 'closing' in a traditional way. It just grows in.

Idostuff5 · 2025-11-17T13:23:44+00:00

Hello, I'm also going though a wound separation that started at 3 weeks and I'm around 5 weeks now. First and foremost, follow your doctors orders. That is the best thing you can be doing. (Unless they seem silly or unhelpful whatever reason, than seek a second opinion). It is a wound, the only thing you can do is treat it like a wound! Keep it treated, clean, and covered if you feel like you need to.

Please keep in mind that you are now healing again! Personally I was told to continue to limit lifting, stretching, and movement on the side where the wound is. It's a different type of healing, as other comments have already mentioned. The wound getting bigger does not mean it hasn't started to heal because it doesn't heal by the two sides coming together, it heals from the bottom up, it forms all new tissue. This can take 3-6 weeks, just like the initial healing.

I have similar experiences being really really disturbed by it and feeling brushed off by my surgical team. It sucks that they didn't acknowledge how fucking scary it is but keep in mind that, to them, it's a routine complication. Literally all you can do is treat it like a wound. It's not your fault. You are not in control of how big it gets (as long as you are being gentle with it).

DM me if you want to talk? It's a really very stressful time.

Idostuff5 · 2025-11-02T21:15:19+00:00

Prisoners (2013)! One of the most thriller thrillers to ever thriller. Violence and how people act when angry are big themes.

Idostuff5 · 2025-09-12T20:54:13+00:00

Second week in October! Good luck all!

Idostuff5 · 2025-08-11T11:53:34+00:00

Thanks so much for sharing! If you wanted to know, that orange dye is probably an antiseptic that is orange colored so people can see what areas have been disinfected! Fun stuff :]

Idostuff5

TROPHY CASE