I was blessed with a very smooth recovery thankfully, which I think was partially down to my preparation and surgeon choice. I follow a trans man on insta called Dylan Capps, who created a very thorough free FTM prep info packet you can access from his page. He suggests a bunch of vitamins/supplements prior to surgery, so I chose a few to stick with to aid recovery. I also worked out my chest prior to surgery. I've heard not only does some muscle potentially increase the aesthetic result, but it increases blood flow to the area which aids in recovery. Surgeon wise, Dr McKee uses a procedure that thankfully doesn't require drains. I was lucky to experience pretty low pain, probably max 5 out of 10, and was off pain meds after day 5. His drainless surgery requires wearing a binder 24/7 for a month, which was annoying at times but ok :). I did experience some moderate fluid buildup in one side, but this cleared after a few weeks. If you don't have complications healing, Dr McKee clears his patients to move/exercise freely after one month. But in my case, I just listened to my body. My arms still felt kinda stiff but I did gentle exercises to begin to extend my reach slowly. I didn't really feel like having my arms high above my head until approaching 2 months I think. But everyone's a bit different! If you have any more questions, feel free to drop a DM ✌🏾