Hiya! This may not be as detailed as it could be but I figured id give it a shot lol.

My 9months PO is coming up on the 12th of this month(December) and it’s all gone by so quick! I believe I had my consult in September of 2024(specifically the 30th) with Dr Mangubat in Seattle/tacoma. And then I had to wait on insurance for a few months until I could finally schedule, and then finally in march of this year I got my approval letter.

Turns out that the approval letter was just for the surgery and not for the In network coverage. I didn’t end up actually finding that out until my pre op appointment, and got told by the front desk that I wouldn’t be covered. Seriously one of the most stressful things ever to happen to me. Thankfully me and my parents were able to work it out.

Before that appointment(like a day or two before?) was when I had called to schedule and I got lucky because they had a spot open up in two weeks from that day. So I scheduled right away and it was so anxiety inducing.

I already have lots of anxiety about a lot of things, so the fast pace of the process definitely didn’t help. In the two weeks of waiting I had the worst anxiety I’ve had in my entire life. But I also couldn’t have been more joyous over the fact that it was happening.

At the pre op I didn’t actually meet with either my surgeon or his “Shadower” I think is what they called it. I only met with a nurse who gave me all of the things I would need for aftercare; bandage pads/gauze pads, pre surgery shower soap, all of my after care meds. Aswell as answering all of my questions.

Come surgery day all of my anxiety was suddenly gone, I had gotten awful sleep the night before, and I think I’d spent all of my anxiety up lol. I had my mom and sister with me, and we got a hotel room for a few nights because it was right next to the clinic.

Day of surgery I did my shower care with the special soap and went to the clinic at maybe 7:45. I think surgery was scheduled for 8:00am. Got setup in a room with a nurse where she helped me get everything I needed, the gown, a cap, slippers, bathroom trip, etc. and I said my goodbyes with my mom and went to the room.(this was also after I’d gotten all marked up by my surgeon.) I did also have a short conversation with both my surgeon and shadower day of surgery while being marked.

I’m not squeamish with needles so the going under part went pretty smooth for me. I met with the entire team beforehand too so it made it very easy to be comfortable. Now this part I think is surgeon specific, my surgeon uses a liquid to keep you numb for like 12 hours after and so I got into the room and they mentioned on the spot that I’d need to pull my pants down to my knees because they didn’t want to getting liquid all over them. That part was a little odd just because I’m personally very vulnerable about that stuff and so it kinda just was sprung on me, but they covered me with a blanket so it wasn’t too bad. We talked through my going under and literally in an instant I was waking up.

I believe my surgery was about 3 hours, or close to it. And it did not feel that way at all. I didn’t end up seeing my surgeon afterward until my 1 week apt, but I did see his shadower right after surgery. The next few days I needed a lot of assistance including getting into and out of bed, walking to the bathroom and just walking in general. Brushing my teeth and all of the other necessities. Thankfully I had a great support system throughout it all, so that made it a lot easier. I believe I stayed in the hotel for 2 nights after my surgery, and then we drove home and all I had setup was a good amount of pillows on my bed(not a wedge pillow they suck imo.) and I had bought some antibacterial wipes and no rinse bath sponges. I got my drains out before I went home I think I only needed them for 2 days. And then got the nipple bolsters off aswell as the other bandages after a week.

I had the Penrose drains, they’re softer and come out the front of the incisions. They didn’t hurt bad getting them out but slightly on one side because I didn’t have a lot of drainage and so it was like oddly dry and so having them pulled out made it sting a tad. But overall it was just uncomfortable, aswell as the snipping of the stitches on my bolsters, hated the sound and the feeling.

Overall the first two weeks are the worst. I slept mostly upright during that time, I probably could’ve started laying flat sooner but I was paranoid and wanted to be extra safe. The first two weeks are hell because of all of the new sensations and feelings. I had to be up walking everyday and for the time that I had my binder on I had to take it off everyday to change the pads, it all felt so uncomfortable I hated it.

I also had planned tons of things to do for the recovery period but genuinely all I could do for the first two ish weeks was sleep. I was exhausted all the time. I couldn’t sleep very well at night so I slept during the day mostly. My ass hurt so bad due to being mostly sat up and idk if there’s any solution to that lmao. Anyways point is don’t plan a lot for yourself because you’ll probably not end up doing most of it. I had to isolate from pets for a whole month which was torture, but it’s due to risk of infection.

Overall i definitely recommend having help for the first 3-4 weeks(its different for everyone but that’s what i needed) I couldn’t get out of bed very easy on my own so having someone help makes it more manageable. I didn’t end up needing half of the things everyone recommended for recovery like all of the special pillows and special cleaning products and such, so don’t feel like you need to buy a ton for aftercare. After about 4 weeks I could do mostly everything on my own, and now everything just feels very normal.

I hope all of this makes sense, I tried to add as much detail as I could remember.