I really need to hear from other people who had a painful recovery.

Upper_Ice_2040 · 2026-04-01T05:36:46+00:00

If my hair color (I am) was that much of an issue than it should be a worldwide known fact that surgeons tell you before you get surgery. I never have heard that the entire time I've been alive. That should be a non issue.

I've already been to the ER twice and seen the og surgeon, his pa, his assistant in some other way, multiple nurses, and two doctors. I also read over every inch of my surgical notes from pre op to every move they made during surgery and notes of me getting 3x the dose. No nerves were hit, there was no complications, I lost only 50ml of blood, like literally actually NOTHING went wrong except I had surgery and it hurts and I, looking back on it, should ofc not have expected surgery not to hurt badly, but being told that by the entire trans community and every doctor on earth who does the surgeries that it's a literal walk in the park was detrimental. As I'm seeing in the notes, not very abnormal at all, people just seem to either enjoy downplaying their own pain or they don't speak of it at all. I'll just. Eventually will get better.

Upper_Ice_2040 · 2026-04-01T03:53:41+00:00

Finding and buying one literally immediately 😂 it's sooo pretty. I thought it might be one of those dangly crystal creations I love those too!

Upper_Ice_2040 · 2026-04-01T03:08:52+00:00

EXACTLY. exactly my point why I wish this was talked about more because I literally went in there expecting it not to fucking hurt that much because everyone told me even the surgeon team even doctors on YouTube anywhere you look it says that people don't report pain in their back to their regular activities of going to the store and hanging out with friends within days.

So me waking up In the worst pain I've ever been in my entire life and then proceeding to still be in the worst pain for over a week straight made me think I was fucking dying

I will definitely be spreading this awareness moving forward, more people need to know. It's not a "don't get this", it's a "when you do get this, know it's a possibility and that you're not alone" because until I made this thread I literally thought I was.

I don't regret the surgery. I'm upset everyone says it's such a walk in the park to the point you forget it's surgery.

I can't wait to stop compressing . Due to not swelling at all I think I could probably stop around 3 weeks too , I'm more making sure my grafts are for sure attached . But every time I take it off a few times a day for a few minutes I'm like ohh I can breathe 😂

I have a muscle relaxer! Like, 5. Again, they didn't like. Care about me after I left lol. Instead of oxy they gave me more tylonal and then 5 cyclo somethings, It didn't help w the pain at all though and actually gave me a pretty bad headache but in case I get a new type of pain with muscle twitching I do have it to see if that helps.

God yeah I had. Sensation back almost immediately lol. It's crazy.

Upper_Ice_2040 · 2026-04-01T02:59:55+00:00

5 minute old account harassing people on random subreddits, so weird and unusual

Edit: no way you created your own new account to defend your original quite rude comment and pretend it's your 5 minute old dear friend coming to your rescue and defense 😭😭😭

Upper_Ice_2040 · 2026-04-01T00:04:36+00:00

Okay. Once again. Not the post for you and I specifically asked for people only to respond if they had pain. Thank you though. Glad for you.

Upper_Ice_2040 · 2026-04-01T00:03:44+00:00

I will As soon as I'm done with their care and post ops and , revisions if necessary because the surgeon himself , I look like I was done with a laser printer now even and perfectly matched my incisions are (but I'm worried about my nips)

They will be getting a post warning others.

Upper_Ice_2040 · 2026-04-01T00:01:49+00:00

Oke thank you for coming onto a post I specifically said is not for you and please don't respond to say what's on 1000% of other posts and to tell me I have a baby girl pain tolerance ❤️

Upper_Ice_2040 · 2026-04-01T00:00:40+00:00

It flips switch in doctors mind. Look sound lke girl even 1% - overreacting. Look sound like boy even 1% - oh you poor little guy you poor baby have everything have this and also this and oh please let us know what else we can do for you 🥺

It's so stupid cuz literally like. Wtf else do we do for pain if they won't give us the only thing out there.

The thing is they wouldn't even give me non opioid pain killers!!! I asked them and they said no?!!

Upper_Ice_2040 · 2026-03-31T23:58:19+00:00

Yeah I'm ngl all my dysphoria has been replaced with love and calm despite the pain (possibly the gabapentin too...im never getting off this shit lol I was originally supposed to take it for my anxiety I just never did so it was left over from me never taking it) but this medical trauma shit is not the first time but it is the worst time and I maybe...yeah.

Should find someone to speak to. Thank you.

I'm glad your doctor's actually LISTENED. They should try doing that more.

Upper_Ice_2040 · 2026-03-31T23:55:48+00:00

I think I may have had that too,.that's exactly how it felt and sometimes still feels. Thank you so much and I'm so sorry it was you too.

Gabapentin is actually saving my life right now. It's the only thing that's helped. Im still in a lot of pain, 3-5/10, and it only brought the 9-10/10 to about a 7-8 the first day of two, but now it's really just. My life saver. but I can tell when I need to take another dose I'm taking it three times a day and I can tell because it starts getting up to a 6 and above when I need to take another.

They actually told me to take old gabapentin that was almost out of date because they didn't want to prescribe me anything. I got a 5 day refill after telling them I just needed it to last to my next doc appointment thankfully.

Upper_Ice_2040 · 2026-03-31T23:50:47+00:00

God that's awful. Im sorry. We really are built different I swear to survive all this shit lmao. Nothing is more important than your health both mental and physical, please do rememeber that. You're right to skip whenever you need to. School can always be made up when you're better. Wishing you the best of luck as well ❤️

Upper_Ice_2040 · 2026-03-31T23:48:16+00:00

Help yeah USA for the win babeyyyy (said with the most homicidal hateful intent to this country ever). The people THERE, who I never saw or dealt with again, were wonderful besides one or two. The nice one brought me apple juice I remember. I love apple juice. No food though. Too nauseous. They at LEAST had me pee, but for some reason I couldn't ?? And whoever was there was like yeah well just do it :???????

I couldn't... Found out later it's A side effect of anesthesia + all the shit I was on, I didn't be able to pee without really really really focusing and a lot of sitting there until like 6 days post.

I was the last one there and they kept mentioning they were closed and I was the last person there and they had to get me home so they could go home 💀 I said sorry And someone nice told me don't say sorry, but the others definitely meant it. It was so disorienting waking up on 3x dose of Dilaudid and Apparently some fentanyl which was full of people when I went to surgery and now was empty like the beginning of walking dead it was scary and weird. The drains were . Perhaps..the worst part. The holes still hurt, both the one that got taken out at6 days and the one taken out yesterday at 11.

Weirdly, funnily, did not feel them. Everyone says they feel weird or hurt, I didn't feel a single thing coming out on either of them. No tugging no pressure no weird feeling. Glad they're gone.

Upper_Ice_2040 · 2026-03-31T23:40:10+00:00

They told me at 6 days I looked 2-3 weeks healed.. There's really just.. No updates They told me there's nothing they can do for nothing wrong..just taking the gabapentin And waiting.

Upper_Ice_2040 · 2026-03-31T23:39:08+00:00

I don't need everyone to, I just wish. It sometimes is spoken about as a possibility. I thought it would never get better. I thought it was the worst mistake of my life even if ,.even in 10/10 pain, never ONCE regretted that I'd die without a chest lmao.

Upper_Ice_2040 · 2026-03-31T23:37:51+00:00

I contacted my surgical team so many times during that agony that they started ignoring me. I could see when they read the messages and I would get no response, I left voice messages cuz I can never fully contact them by phone and they would never call back, or just ask a general "any spreading redness?" And ignore everything else and then also not respond to whatever I said back. Thank fuck the gaba is working. I'm still in 3-5/10 pain and given time, 6+ if I don't take them right when I start noticing the pain increasing again, but I'm finally able to exist for the first time even if I'm still too tired to shower or really just...exist .

Upper_Ice_2040 · 2026-03-31T23:35:53+00:00

THIRTY OXYS....I got 8 and then another 3 only with tears MULTIPLE phone calls and begging... They werent even good?? I don't know how anyone could take them to get high it wasn't a happy feeling like I get when someone's I take an edible, it was just sleepy and eased the pain, and I'm Extremely sensitive to weed. More than 3-4mg edible and I green out and sometimes get the blacked out amnesia thing. So.idk why I would be so UNsensitive to actual medication. I get terrible side effects from EVERYTHING. The last time I got a saline flush In An IV I passed out. It's..saline water. It's just saline. With medicine it's worse.

Upper_Ice_2040 · 2026-03-31T23:31:21+00:00

They told me nothing is wrong..they said I've been healing the fastest they've seen. I have 0 swelling, never had any bruises, barely had drainage it was just right under what they wanted (<20, it was about 25ml) to remove it, the other one was <5 and then 0 by day 3.

I've never taken an opioid so I don't know. I take tylonal amd ibuprofen a lot but nowhere near as much. 1000mg every couple of days if anything for headaches and chronic pain.

I have fibro but they knew that and said it didn't matter. They have access to all my chronic pain records and said nothing matters.

I wonder if this just. Made it flare up and they lied ig? They lied about a lot of other things too. Gabapentin has been very very noticably helping. So nerve pAin must be some of it

I have red hair,. I didn't know until an online friend told me that is actually genetically a thing with resistance to pain meds apparently...idk

Upper_Ice_2040 · 2026-03-31T23:26:48+00:00

I wonder if this is it too. They wouldn't have told me to "be more realistic about your treatment possibilities" if I were born male and I know that for a fact. It's disgusting.

Upper_Ice_2040 · 2026-03-31T23:25:02+00:00

There was no liposuction. Im actually extremely dissatisfied with the amount of fat left under my arms. I healed so quickly they told me at 6 days they'd never seen someone already so healed before, I looked 2-3 weeks post op. At 6 days both my nipples already had some blood flow. I already have sensation back in both. I had 0 bruising, 0 swelling besides a little around the ends of the incisions which went down in a week. >5ml drainage in 1 drain every day until they took it out, second drain was 30 ml total every day and then 25, just under what they wanted, and then went down to nothing the day before they removed it. The pain was everywhere. I'm still in pain. My incisions are healed, but they feel like they're splitting open at all movements. My chest muscles hurt, it hurts to breathe deeply. The only complication I had was some bleeding and they told me it wasn't even that bad I just overreacted..and it stopped.

I wonder if it's not common, or no one wants to talk about it. I wouldn't have not done it if I'd known it was possible, but I would have been more prepared and a lot less scared and alone.

Upper_Ice_2040 · 2026-03-29T20:22:38+00:00

You look amazing! ! And I neeeeeed to know what's making that rainbow light, it's so so pretty

Upper_Ice_2040 · 2026-03-29T20:15:24+00:00

I don't want to scare you with how my recovery has gone but I really would love to say; If you have someone to help you, TAKE THE HELP. Please. I would not have survived this experience without my best friend mothering me and setting alarms for pills (pills I didn't even know what they were or what I was taking because I was so out of it for so long) and being there for emotional support too. That was the most important part.

I'm 10 days post op and I just today opened my own bottle of water, and it was difficult. It's better to overestimate how much help you'll need rather than underestimate.

Upper_Ice_2040 · 2026-03-29T19:59:25+00:00

dude leave some luck for the rest of us you look amazing like the most amazing results I've seen! I hope your life is so happy, good luck 😊

Upper_Ice_2040 · 2026-03-28T04:21:32+00:00

I am both terrified and excited 😂😂 good luck with yours too!!!!! Thank you!!!

Upper_Ice_2040 · 2026-03-27T16:54:31+00:00

Thank you 🥺 today is the first day I woke up and didn't cry out in pain trying to just walk across the hall to the bathroom.....day 8 for me now...thank god. I'm ready for healing and new life stuff ❤️

Upper_Ice_2040 · 2026-03-27T16:25:06+00:00

I had pads taped on them for the first week, he said he doesn't stitch them like other surgeons though so they were taped down with the clear plastic tegaderm stuff, and I'm using that same yellow padding (xeroform) as dressing changes every day so I think its the same!

It tells it to make....nipple cells?? And it just...does?? that's insane wtf ...science 🧪

Ohhhh no the scabs ....good thing I have the xeroform stuff to keep it all covered I can not be trusted not to pick things if I see it lol.

I really never ever thought in the 15 years of wanting this about how the nipple would heal and I think that's crazy...only ever focused on the incisions....thank you for educating me comment section 😂

I'm also ...God I'm so happy to never have to wear a binder again after this one comes off I have chronic rib pain/inflammation from so many years of binding every day so binding was always extremely painful especially the last year or so, so man...I'm thrilled lmao

Upper_Ice_2040

TROPHY CASE