Friendly reminder that content is NSFW.
Today, I’m officially four weeks post op and as promised, I wanted to share my three week post op photos. Things are looking very good. It’s amazing how fast the bruising has gone away and I attribute at least part of that to starting oral Arnica a few days after surgery. After Stage 1 of my DIEP flap surgeries, I didn’t start it for a week and I think starting it earlier made a huge difference this time.
Wait until you see my first week post op pics (coming soon, but I know you can’t wait). Ow. I wouldn’t have thought I’d be looking so much better this soon.
I’ve been feeling pretty good, too. I’ve now been able to stop all pain medication and no longer need to sleep with my legs elevated, so that’s helped a bit with sleeping. I’ve also been making it a point to get outside and walk at least 8k steps four times a week. My first week back from NOLA, I was huffing and puffing with the 9k altitude and the hills around the house so I needed to stop frequently. I was thrilled last week when I realized I did my whole walk and didn’t have to stop once AND I kept my heart rate up. That felt good. I’m still getting some occasional muscle spasms and overall, my core is still very tight, but I’m hoping to start P/T for that, and range of motion, soon. Still “get to wear” my
“corset” for a few more weeks.
I even felt up to making and decorating some sugar cookies! In celebration, of my first post op (Stage 2) social gathering—friends’ annual wine tasting party (none for me, thanks), I decided to take my chances with the high altitude and pulled out my decorating gear with my heavy stand mixer from storage and got to work on some festive fall cookies. (I thought about doing some wine bottle/glass decorated ones, but ultimately found them a little boring. Maybe for next year’s party, I can design something fun, though.)
The cookies bubbled a little bit and I made a few high altitude adjustments, but overall I didn’t have too much trouble. The dry air on the other hand…my royal icing was drying as I was mixing the consistencies, which is to say crazy fast! After living in more humid VA, though, I will never complain about the dry air in CO. The high altitude on the other hand with most baked goods? Oye.
Decorating cookies is increasingly turning into one of my favorite hobbies. I often post them on Instagram, but tell me…are you interested in seeing more cookies on here with information on how I made them, etc., when I’m procrastinating writing? ;-D