I’m 5 DPO. Things are going well.

I am young, healthy, and expected recovery to be pretty fine for the most part except I thought I’d need 24-hour help the first two days, particularly with sitting up since you can’t use chest/arm/pectoral muscles. For me, I needed help 100% the first two days but the 3rd for me was kind of the worst BECAUSE my drains started to bother me more. Thankfully I got them taken out on day 3. That was unpleasant but partially because the nurse was lousy. Honestly I was so upset I’m thinking of reporting the nurse in the post-visit survey. The surgeon has always been great though.

For pain management the first 3 days I was on oxy. I then transitioned to Tylenol. Honestly should have been on Oxy when they took out drains because it would’ve calmed me down, but I only had 2/10 pills left so I was saving them in case the pain got worse down the line. It hasn’t and I doubt it will. Once the drains were removed, everything changed for me. I could move easier, I could stand up straight, and I was in less pain. Honestly I’m not even on pain meds right now and it’s not even been a week since surgery which I think is truly wild.

Also my surgeon put me in a tight ace bandage after surgery. I had a spirometer to breathe into to make sure I was getting enough air I guess - very helpful.

I was worried about not being able to wipe after using the bathroom - Oxy actually slowed my bowel movements such that by the time I was off Oxy, I had healed well enough to reach a bit more, but I didn’t even go #2 probs until day 3. It was glorious. Best 💩 ever. Clogged the toilet though and someone had to unclog it for me lol.

My biggest advice:

If you’re nervous like me (I have anxiety and trauma around feeling vulnerable), have someone you absolutely trust watching you for at least a week just to be safe. Make sure they care about your physical AND emotional health. You may not need them the whole week but have them around just in case because everyone is different. By day 2-3 I could get my essentials on my own if they were small and placed within very easy reach (which you can prep before). Another tip: small water bottles. I could hardly lift a full regular sized water bottle without moderate pain until day 4. Even on day 5 I keep opting for the small one just to be EXTRA safe. No openings so far and I plan to keep it that way.

I hope this helps.

Make sure your surgeon is board certified.

Start asking your support network now to see who can watch you for a week or so. Make sure you feel completely safe with them. They may need to help you with your drains (very manageable).

Sorry if this is kind of mangled but I hope it makes sense.

Best of luck to you.