My journey to become half of a person: July 2023

Saturday, July 29, 2023

#26 - Lymphatic Drainage.....that's a thing????

How have I been?

Well the past few weeks have been okay so I have not had much to post.

Compression Garment Use

Still using the abdominal binders and the Lipoelastic Compression Garment so swapping out between those. I have noticed that as I washed my Binder the velcro is starting to not be as sticky so sometimes will release on its own which is a pain but it's still working relatively well.

As mentioned before, I am still using the Lipoelsatic garment when I go out under clothes as well as sometimes at home....but when at home I do find the basic Binder much easier to use.

I ordered a different one off of Amazon and that seems to be my favourite and most used now. See the Compression Garments post for most info on these.

I am also sleeping with the Binder as the compression garment is TOO compressing when I sleep.

Returning to Work

I was originally taking June 7 (surgery day) to June 23 off work and was set to go back on Monday, June 26.

I have a desk job and realized that sitting upright in a desk chair for 7.5 hours a day was not sounding all that lovely. It would have been doable, albeit a bit uncomfortable, but doable.

Because I have leave available and could make it work I ended up taking off an extra week and went back to work full time on Tuesday, July 4th after the long weekend. I felt so much better even just getting that extra week.

Stay Puft Marshmallow Tummy

My tummy does feel a bit puffy.....I know it's not compared to what it was before the skin was cut off but trust me you will notice and you might even feel stupid for noticing and almost feel a bit shameful for wondering why it's puffy and when it will go down.

Keep in mind I think we all have this idea that as soon as that skin is gone we're going to have a super flat Brittany Spears tummy and the simple fact of the matter is we won't. It may come with time or it may never be that flat but don't beat yourself up if you look down and holy shit even though you can see your cooch for the first time in years which makes you ecstatic....you also see a little bulge in your tummy which makes you a bit sad.

From what I have read online.....and don't quote me yet as I am learning as I go so I will let you know if this is right in a few months.......we will ALL Have this puffiness and bulge in the beginning.

Our stomach is healing from major surgery so there is still a lot of inflammation and this inflammation usually subsides around 3 months but in some cases you can be puffy'ish for even 6 months....or a year.
If your abs were fixed up - so pulled back together and sewn up, these are now a bit puffier and stick out a bit more so this will add to that puffiness.
We're retaining some water from not moving as much as we normally do which adds to the puffiness.
Things may still be moving more slowly in the digestion department so you may have some poop stuck in your intestines that is attributing to some of it.

This is one of the main and biggest reasons they push you wearing the compression garments or binder for upwards of 3 months and some people wear them even longer than that. The compression garment is supposed to help with the healing and help keep the internal fluids compressed and "moving around" redistributing so you don't get seromas or hematomas. Trust them to do their work and keep wearing them.......I'm trying to do this....again I will keep you posted in a few months lol.

Lymphatic Drainage Massage

So now, something I have been reading about.....and this is super odd to me that I never heard of it......is that there is something called Lymphatic Drainage Massage that we should (potentially) be getting done.

In all my research I am seeing this is HUGGGGGE in the States. Like they literally include it with surgery packages or even if they don't they have you start seeing someone for this like 2 days following surgery.

Okay.....so NOBODY at my surgeon's office even mentioned it and surprisingly most of the Canadian sites I am looking at do not mention it at all....again seems to be big in the States. But it made me wonder if it's so big in the States, what is it and should I be doing it too?

Keep in mind I was SORE for the first little while so when I read about this I was like what in the actual fuck is wrong with people?....these people go get the area right around their scars "massaged"???? I can't imagine how much that hurts......

Now having done some more research I have found the following - and keep in mind this was taken from just one of the bajillion websites I found that discuss the topic but they all seemingly indicate the same type of info:

As the body’s sole source of natural cleansing, the lymphatic system gets rid of toxic fluids that cause us to experience swelling and pain. A combination of swelling and pain following surgery can cause recovery to be difficult for some patients, leaving them tired, disoriented, or both. Did you know a medical process is available that reduces pain and swelling after surgery and promote a smoother recovery?

What is lymphatic massage?

Lymphatic massage, also known as manual lymphatic drainage, is the gentle manipulation of specific areas to relieve swelling after surgery. Initially developed for treating lymphedema, or tissue swelling caused by fluid accumulation, lymphatic massage involves a lymphatic therapist gently massaging affected areas to boost the movement of lymph fluids around the body. Although it is not required, lymphatic massage is incredibly beneficial to post-surgery recovery and highly recommended after some procedures.

Why is lymphatic massage so important?

The lymphatic system is part of the immune system, which protects the body from any changes that could lead to illness and is how your body can stay healthy. The lymphatic system creates and releases white blood cells and other cells in the immune system that find and destroy invaders like viruses or bacteria that may enter the body and cause illness. Lymphatic drainage aims to help the body maintain proper fluid balance, immunity, and blood circulation.

What factors make lymphatic massage a recommendation following cosmetic procedures?

More complex cosmetic procedures that focus on large, significant areas, such as the tummy tuck, Brazilian Butt Lift or liposuction may require a lengthy recovery. For many, recovery from these procedures is more painful and includes more swelling than less invasive procedures. These complicated procedures, however, lead to remarkable, truly life-changing results if you follow proper recovery guidelines given to you by your plastic surgeon. When surgery means more swelling post-op, plastic surgeons with genuine care for their patients recommend all possible solutions to alleviate pain and swelling throughout recovery. One of the first solutions that come to mind for cosmetic providers to stimulate a speedy, healthy recovery is lymphatic massage.

Is lymphatic massage necessary after a tummy tuck?

Lymphatic massage can aid in the healing process of your scars by reducing swelling and helping prevent excess scar tissue from developing during your recovery. Swelling, after any type of cosmetic surgery, is entirely normal and a necessary part of the healing process. Lymphatic massage simply ensures the swelling is healing appropriately and does not contain harmful fluids that may negatively impact your body’s healing response.

So now seeing this same type of info in a bunch of places I started thinking well what the hell, this seems like something EVERYONE having surgery should know about and do right??

So I reach out to my surgeon's booking chick (probably my first mistake as she sucks) and I asked about this and whether I should look into it.....she never even replied......but she is a jerk (well really she is the booking person so this isn't her area, I should have expected an answer, but come on she could have at least responded and said I dunno.....or call the surgical suite.........anyways. I could have and should have reached out to the actual surgical suite and asked to talk to a nurse but I didn't think of it at the time and that's on me.

So I reached out to two people I know who have had this surgery to ask them.

Person 1 had surgery here in Edmonton and said no that's an American thing, don't bother. Just make sure you're wearing your Binder religiously (she wore hers for SIX months) and you'll be fine.

Okay well case in point we don't hear about it from surgeons in Canada and so don't know about it and don't do it

Person 2 had her surgery through an American company in Mexico and said YES I started having mine the day after surgery and it helped with the swelling and the pain.....I would question your doctor if he DIDN'T tell you to do it.

Okay judge Judy.....let's get off our high horse there.....just kidding but I did ask myself, how does she know it reduced the swelling and pain as she cannot compare her swelling and pain to if she had NOT got it done. But anyways, even with the slight amount of judgement, her response did continue to prompt me to look into it more.

I then reached out to my own Massage Therapist to ask about it. She said she wouldn't feel comfortable doing without the surgeon saying it's good to do. She also isn't completely comfortable doing it so she said get the surgeon's consent and then reach out to Purity Health and they could refer me to a therapist who specializes in it.

I am pretty bad at not listening to anybody so I did not call my surgeon and just started looking for Massage Therapists that specialize in it and checking what their websites had to say about it.

While most did not mention all the detail above about Lymphatic Drainage Massage post tummy tuck specifically and all the amazing benefits of it, they did all have the same type of things to say about LDM assisting with removing toxins and reducing swelling and pain post injury or post surgery.

I was looking for a regular massage after so many weeks of laying on my ass doing nothing so I booked an initial 90 minutes massage (special deal for first time clients so it was cheaper) at Muscle Mechanics which is right up the street from me.

I emailed the owner to ask her a bunch of questions about it and she was so awesome and accommodating and recommended I see Erika who specializes in LDM and is the most comfortable with doing it.

The massage itself was amazing but that's another story......the Lymphatic Drainage part only took about 15-20 minutes and while I understand you can go for much longer amounts of time I wasn't sure what the right amount was or what to expect so I was fine with this amount of time initially.

She put some oil on my tummy and using circular motions she gently manipulated my belly (from just above my incision line to above the belly button) and moved in circles using my belly button and the kind of mid-point she worked around.

It did not hurt, felt nice and relaxing and that was that. Not sure if it helped or not and perhaps if I go again/more or for longer sessions maybe I will notice a difference. She is now away for 3 1/2 weeks so I can't get back in for a bit so hard for me to give you a follow up on this at the moment but I have booked an appointment elsewhere fo.

Second Lymphatic Drainage Massage

Being frustrated I couldn't see her again soon and the fact that my belly seems to be quite "poofy" (see below) I added on a lymphatic drainage massage to another service I was getting by a local nurse.

These photos were taken a few days before that appointment with my tape off the stitches and I am wondering whether I am overthinking this as I know (in my brain) that now that all the extra skin is gone I WILL see bloating and puffiness more than I would have before and that bloating like this comes and goes and maybe all I need is to take a good poop......😂

I also know the swelling hasn't all subsided so it could be a combo of the two and the poofiness seems to get better one day and worse the next so LIKELY it is just bloating and shit (literally) but still I look at this and wonder what the hell is going on. I am going to be asking my doc at my 8 week follow up

She spent a lot more time working on my tummy than the First Lady did and she used a fancy little wooden tool to move my tummy around and massage out some knots in my sewn up abs.

She also had a red light on the hole time which apparently will help with some of the stretch marks I have so time will tell on that one.

There was/is a knot in my lower abdomen in one spot she could not work out and it has continued to be sore. I am following up with the surgeon at my appt to ensure this is nothing to be concerned about.

Before and after pics are below. With the side one you can see that pooch under my belly button did flatten out and the front facing one looks interesting because I do appear to have more "shape" and my nice shiny new belly button even seems "perkier".

Now as a side note.......AFTER I posted this, when I went for my 8 week follow up the surgeon pretty much said, not needed, don't bother. See #27 - 8 Week Follow Up Post for details......but having said that I didn't like how I felt after so I will continue to go once a month for a while and see what I think.

I have another appointment at the end of August and end of September so I will keep updating on how this is going......and whether the knot in my belly goes away.

Stay tuned.......

Tuesday, July 11, 2023

#25 - Compression Garments

Sigh.......so let's talk compression garments.......

Abdominal Binder

As previously mentioned, they provided me with an Abdominal Binder that I was to wear 24/7 and it was already on me when I awoke from surgery.

This one is a three panel doohickey and each panel is labelled and when you do them up they go in that order - A, B, C.

I wore it OVER my clothes (unless I was going out) as the corners and the velcro would irritate my skin and make me even itchier.

So putting it on, A goes over your abdomen just under your belly button and is done up snugly to hold the lower abdomen in.

A panels wrapped around and done up

B goes a bit lower down over the hips/butt/upper thighs and is done up snugly compressing everything where you main incision line is along your lower pubic area.

Hold out the panels of B

Panels for B wrapped around and done up snugly

C gets done up late and goes up highest over the middle and upper Abs snugly compressing your Abs in.

Hold out the panels of C

Panels for c wrapped around and done up snugly

Compression Garments - Amazon

Now as I mentioned before the doc said that most people switch out to a different compression garment (Spanx he said.....or similar say people on the net).

As I get further out I see why. The binder is good for a certain amount of time. But......

You will notice when you are sitting upright for longer periods again (really noticed it when I went back to my desk job) the whole things starts to shift upwards so all of a sudden the bottom of it is up at my belly button completely defeating the purpose so I have to open it up and redo it multiple time a night.
Once you re out and about in public the binder can be a bit bulky and awkward so having something a bit more shapely under your clothes is nice.

In doing some searching I found that most people indicated Spanx are not compressive "enough" for the compression we need after surgery, they are more just "smoothing".

I searched allllllllll over the internet for suggestions and of course very single person is different and their bodies are different and so what one person loves another will rag on so it is a difficult choice.

As I showed you in the previous post I found some with great reviews on Amazon. Here was the $55 one that I ended up ordering to try first:

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0BMP534HL?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

So the tough thing is my measurements put me into THREE different size categories. According to weight (155) I am a Large. According to waist (35") I am an XL and according to Hips (42") I am a Medium......sigh

I ordered the Medium, which was ridiculously small and there was NO way I was getting it on......so that one went back.

Then like Goldilocks I tried the next one, Large and while I was actually able to get that one on, it was VERY compressive. I laid on the bed for a while with it on and in that position I was cool, but if I had to wear it sitting upright for any length of time I think it would have been quite touch to breath.

I thought I would keep that one and in a couple of weeks when the swelling went down it would be okay to wear.

Compression Garments - Lipoelasticshop

In the meantime I started getting targeted ads on Facebook (of course) for all kinds of Shapewear, Spanx, this, that and the other thing.

Along the way I was directed to www.lipoelasticshop.ca and started looking at their compression garments.

It's a company that operates worldwide and the compression garments are apparently made with input from cosmetic surgeons. The info provided and the garments themselves all looked really good.

What I didn't like is there are NO reviews on the Canadian website and you have to pay for shipping (cheapest was $18.95) and there are no returns just because it doesn't fit.

Having said that I did my research, a lot of it and found it IS a legit site and was able to find some reviews online from some of the other sites across the world.

I chose the VH Variant as it is adjustable - it has 3 rows of hook and eye closures on both sides so you can continue to compress more as your swelling goes down and you get smaller.

It has hook and eye closures on the crotch area so you can open it to go to the washroom without having to take off the entire getup and it has convertible straps so you can wear it straight up over your shoulders or you can cross it in the front to strap in front of your boobs.

I went with black but am showing beige as the details are easier to see.

3 rows of hooks and eyes allow you to wear it as you get smaller

So again, the tough thing is the measurements. And because this one costs for shipping and you cannot return it just because the size is wrong I reached out to them first.

The instructions for sizing mention doing your sizing BEFORE surgery (I am already POST surgery). The website says:

“If your hips fall into a higher size category than your waist, you should always choose the size that is applicable to your hips. If on the other hand, your hip measurements fall into a smaller size than your waist measurement (prior to a surgery), then you would go down a size in the waist to reflect the hip measurements”

I advised them that I have already had surgery but pre-surgery my hips were 42” and that is also what they are now post-surgery (still swollen). Under my breasts is 35.5" so that's XL, my waist is 35" so that's XL but then my hips are 42" which falls within L. So I asked them, according to what the website says I should go DOWN to the large then, and asked if this was correct.

I received an answer very quickly and they advised

"If your surgery was fairly recent, and you are still experiencing swelling, I would recommend the VH Variant, as it is more adjustable. (3 rows of hook and eye closures on both sides). Similarly, if your surgery was recent, I would recommend size L based on the measurements provided, as you would not get much wear out of the XL as your swelling goes down over the next few days/weeks."

I ordered it Monday morning and with the expedited Canada Post shipping it arrived on Friday.

The garment was $119 plus $18.95 for shipping plus taxes which of course is more than the ones on Amazon that I got.

I signed up for their newsletter and got a code WELCOME10 to get 10% off which in turn covered part of the shipping. So all in I paid $132.29 for it.

So when it came, it was wrapped in pink tissue and include a pink tape measure.....guess they know that we're going to want to keep measuring to see if we're shrinking lol.

So first off, this one was much easier to get on. Still super compressive but I don't feel like a giant sweating heifer trying to even pull it up past my thighs.

The one thing that was a bit rough was figuring out the best way to get it on and do it up initially. So there is three rows of eye and hook closures on each side. I left one side completely done up from bottom to top....on the loosest of the three closures and then other side I undid all closures except for maybe the bottom 4 or so. This allowed me to easily pull it on over my hips and then slowly start to do up the hook and eye closures on the side I left open.

This did take some twisting to reach around to that side which was a bit uncomfortable but not painful. If you have someone to help you t could make it easier but all in all I was able to do it up myself.

I also had to play around with the bra type straps to get the right length but that was easy enough as well.

You can wear it two ways, with the straps like almost normal side bra straps or you can cross them in front of your boobs. Crossing them in front of and over your boobs I did not find comfortable at all.

So this one I was able to get into easier, it feels more comfortable and although it's extremely compressive I can breathe unlike the feeling of the other one so I did end up returning both of the Amazon ones.

As this one is super compressive on the loosest of the 3 hook and eye closures this means I have a lot of room to continue tightening it as I get smaller and can go down to the second row and then eventually the third and tightest row of hooks.

The one thing I do find aggravating is the hook and eye closures in the crotch. The entire thing pulls upwards so it feels tight in the crotch and after a bit feels uncomfortable. So what I did was loosened the straps at the top on my shoulders and pulled the entire body suit down a bit more to provide some room in the crotch so it wasn't pulling so much and that has helped.

I've also started wearing short bike shorts underneath, almost like longer boy short underwear but that has helped a lot too and doesn't feel like it's pushing on my actual crotch so much.

In hindsight I don't know if the VH Variant with the legs might be better as maybe it wouldn't pull "up" into the crotch area so much?? But who knows......hindsight is 50/50 right?

So for me......I do love this and I usually wear it when I go out in public as it's nice and compressive and gives me a slim appearance (the binder can make you look a bit bulky). I did notice when I tried to sleep in it I woke up felling a bit like all of my innards were being smushed to death so I do sleep with the Binder and feel more comfortable.

Anyhoo......all of this to say this is going to be very subjective. You may not want anything at all besides the binder they give you, you may want only high waisted shorts or you may want a high waisted panty.......you may try Shapermint, Spanx, Liopelastic and a million other generic ones and not find anything at all that you like sadly.

I just know that if I have to wear "something" compressive for at least 3 months I don't want it to ALWAYS be the binder.

You do you......and in your compression wear journey......

FOLLOW UP JULY 29, 2023

I ended up ALSO ordering the following - Nebility 3in1 Postpartum Belly Wrap Waist/Pelvis Belt C-Section Support Tummy Control Girdle Postpartum Recovery Body Shaper - off of Amazon.

It has three separate pieces and while I only use 2 mostly I find I have been using this more than anything else. So while I do love my lipoelastic one that I purchased I almost wish I had this one first and then I likely would have just stuck with this.

Again......you do you, shop around and see what you like best.