breast reduction surgery...a few questions about recovery

So I see that this forum isn't super busy but I really hope someone can help me out...I'm going sometime in the next 2 months for a breast reduction (hoping to go down from a 36EE/EEE to a 36D/DD) which my insurance is covering for medical necessity.....My question is..I have two small children and my husband hasn't accrued enough sick/vacation time to be able to be home with me more than a few days...I can schedule the surgery for a wednesday afternoon and have him home with me thursday, friday, saturday and sunday...am I going to need more than that? How long is the recovery? I have a good friend who is an army-trained field medic who has agreed to come daily or every-other-day to change the bandages, so I'll have good help as far as wound care goes, but I just need to know how longI can expect to be "down" and what sort of pain management they offer you for after the surgery....did anyone find the pain care to be insufficient after their surgery? I'm afraid of being in too much pain to care for my kids...

Any insight, experience, tips would be helpful...I'm so excited about improving my qualify of life. I'm only 5'2" and having 36EE/EEE's has pulled my back and neck out of alignment (for example, every time I sneeze I pop all the vertebrae in my neck and it freaks me out), so this surgery is going to be an awesome start for me, and a boost to my self-image...but I'm worried about the recovery time!

thanks :-)

[johannaviles]

Ashleen, I had a breast lift and I was told by my Dr that I could lift anything more than 10 lbs for a month!  Did you tell your Dr you have 2 small children?  You will need help !
As far as pain: it only hurt the first 2 days, after that it was mild...
My stitches were removed 10 days after, and I had to wear a special bra for 1 mont wich was super super comfortable....
Hope all goes well!, message me if you have any other concerns!

HUGS!!!

[trying43]

I had a lift with augmentation, I had 2 lttle boys at the time almost 2 and 4, my husband went on a hunting trip 3 days after i had it done.  If I had to do it again, that wouldnt have happened!  I usually have a high tollerence for pain but I was in a lot of pain and needed strong pain meds for a good solid week.  I was very sore for 3-4 weeks after.  It gradually got better and by 3 months i was totally well.  I would get some of the silicone scar patches for after the scabs are gone from your incisions. You can buy the big ones and cut them to fit and some are reuseable, I used those 12 hrs at a time, usually while sleeping, for a while but well worth it, and when the silicone patches werent on there I used mederma, my scars are practially invisible now. Good luck.

[Ashelen]

thank you guys so much that's some awesome information!! So I will need help for what would you guess...at least a week? I can have my husband home with me for about 4-5 days and then I can stay with my MIL or my dad for the next few days. how long were you both in the hospital after the procedure?

[trying43]

I think a week would be good, but after that you need to be careful about lifting heavy stuff.  Luckily my kids were able to understand mom cant pick up so I would sit down and they would get in my lap.  I went in early am and was out that evening.  Good luck.

[sweetpea03]

Breast augmentation is usually an outpatient procedure, no hospital stay, leave the same day you have it done, unless there are bad complications. They'll give you pain medication to deal with recovery, which shouldn't be too bad, but I'd look into getting help with the kids. Do not lift heavy things, including children, or you risk reopening your incisions or stretching them, making them look worse.