The best run EVER...

It's been 46 days since my surgery, and 47 days since the last time I ran. That run had been my best run in years! (And, sadly, the farthest I had run in years). I ran just over a mile, and it felt smooth and...loose? The kind of feeling where your stride has a good cadence, you body carriage feels controlled yet you can make minute adjustments at ease... It just felt really good. I think I could have kept going that day.

Yesterday, I finally ran again. It was 32 degrees out. Cold. Like, humid cold. Oklahoma cold. Dean and I were walking the neighborhood, and I suggested running down the length of a long, straight street. We ran. I told him I had to keep it slow - VERY slow, so I wouldn't bounce anything that wouldn't react well to bouncing - like sutures, 6 weeks after surgery.

You know what? Those first few strides hurt. They really hurt. Things moved around a bit anyway. (Note to self - time to get a fitted sports bra in the new size. Not that I know what that size will be, because it changes on a daily basis.). But then after that...it kind of actually felt good. I held my upper body a little tighter than I should.. Maybe squeezed my arms inward a bit to protect what I could...but at the end of the street, I felt like I wanted more.

Dean was cold (silly man - only packed thin exercise shorts), so we swung by the house (the inlaws, where we are staying) and he stayed behind, and I grabbed my headphones. I walked for one song, and then my feet just started running. It was not a conscious decision. I ran, and ran, and ran. It. Felt. Awesome. I relaxed my upper body a bit..and then my arms. Hey!? This actually doesn't hurt! I don't feel bounce! Let me repeat that - I DIDN'T BOUNCE! For a person who is recovering from a breast reduction - this is huge. For the first time in 20+ years, it didn't hurt. It didn't look awkward, feel awkward...I was just your average runner, blending in.

I ran just over two miles. I ran two miles (in addition to the quarter mile Dean and I ran) and I daresay, I could have run more. I had a good pace (10 minute mile), I wasn't cold, the neighborhood streets were quiet, with almost no patches of ice. I got my bearings in this brand new neighborhood our inlaws moved to, and I ran in sort of a circle. I cried the last half mile - tears of happiness, not pain. I felt like I had triumphed over a nasty personal demon that has haunted me for years. I even picked up the pace at the end, for a strong finish.

Since the surgery, I have only seemed to manage three extended walks - each only slightly more energetic than the last. I've had excuses aplenty - pain, discomfort, being sick, too cold outside... So I have lost a bit of the conditioning I had built up since July. But it blows me away that out of the blue I could manage to run so well. I know that the change in altitude from Colorado to Oklahoma has everything to do with it. I plan to continue to take full advantage of it for the rest of our stay.

This also means that running a 5K on NYE is totally feasible - so I'm in!!!!!!

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One month post BR

It's been one month (almost 5 weeks) since my reduction surgery.  Healing is going well.  I still have a couple of open spots, but they are coming along.  I am very thankful that no complications have arisen yet.  I am on a BR forum, and there are several women who have not been so lucky.  I don't know exactly how things went wrong in their cases, but in several cases it is due to the patient being a smoker.  Wound recovery can be a huge deal in the case of a BR.  I mean, we're talking an average of 30 inches of incisions - and six different points of intense stress on the sutures.

After looking at hundreds of different outcomes, I can rest very assured that I came out smelling like roses.  Nothing is looking off in unwanted directions, things are even, proportionate and healing.  I feel very lucky.  I did research my PS, (but perhaps not as well as I could have/should have), and he did an excellent job - no complaints.   In hindsight, the best advice I can give to anyone thinking about getting a breast reduction is to arm yourself as much as you can with research about the procedure, the risks, the surgeon, the methodologies, the recovery and so forth.  Go armed with realistic expectations, a firm idea about what end result you expect, and a list of questions particular to your case.

I am feeling pretty good.  I guess I am experiencing less back pain - I just need to really work on my posture.  There has been no change in my shoulder indentations.  I wonder if they will ever go away?  Things are beginning to settle, there is less swelling - one side more than the other, and a little less discomfort.  I feel like I have an extremely tight underwire bra on, at all times.  Of course I am not wearing one (hope I never have to again), but the incisions feel that way.  I still have a rather painful opening on my left side, where my incision begins, right at band height.  It is about the size of a nickel.  It is so slow in healing - I am feeling a bit frustrated with that.

I went for my first all-out walk yesterday, and it felt...okay.  There is some 'bounce' now, and that doesn't feel so good...  But it certainly is not anything like it used to be.  It just feels so good to get out and moving again.

I didn't do a weigh-in post last week since there has been no activity on my part.  I am entering my third week of cold-nastiness.  I'm in the last stage of the frustrating crap that never seems to leave your lungs, but I have my energy back so I am moving again!  The great news is that even after five weeks of relative ZERO activity, I've moved down the scale 5 lbs.  Okay... 3.1 lbs of that was 'boob', but the other bit I'll take as a gift, because I certainly didn't earn it.

I went to my family doctor last Monday because I had come down with pink eye - yay!  :( - and the intake nurse did my usual height/weight/temp/BP.... I'm down 20 lbs...and my doctor makes no mention of this.  Surely you would think they would say something?  Even if just to make sure that you were losing weight intentionally (and in a safe way) and not because of some underlying condition?  Hmmm.  I have my actual annual physical next week, maybe she will say something about it then.