Bum Watch: Week 12!

So my goal of being back playing squash for Feburary 1st has been completely given up.  This body is just slow to heal!  But healing is happening and I have pushed my squash goal back a couple of months.  My new goal is a squash game on April 1st!

This last week was a doozey for me.  We went to Whitehorse for an overnight trip from Thursday to Friday and I think we stopped at every single store in town.  It was exhausting.  I also caught a wicked stomach bug that had me sitting on the throne all weekend.  The only bonus to that is that my weight dropped down to 167lbs and it had been hanging around 173lbs!  HA!  Nothing like the stomach bug diet.  Then, finally feeling better, I went for a 2km walk on Monday night and gave myself a huge blister on my big toe.  So not the best of weeks!

I got a new compression wrap for my core.  More of a corset/girdle type item and it took a team of trained monkeys (aka: Matthew and me) to get me into it.  It is pretty comfy (well, if you don't want to breathe that is) and I think it will help continue to keep the swelling down.

Yesterday and today I am feeling all squirrely and have been busy!  Sewing machine is running.  Projects are on the go.  House is being cleaned.  Laundry done.  Delicious homemade food being cooked.  Mentally, I feel awesome.  I have really had my ups and downs throughout this process and I am sure that will continue to happen.  But right now?  I feel fantastic all around.

Plans for the upcoming week?  Work on a huge sewing project I have been procrastinating from doing.  More walking and maybe start with some light arm weights or stretchy bands.  Continue with getting over 100g of protein during the day and getting in a couple of liters of water every day.  Nice, simple plans.

AND ON TO THE PHOTOS OF MY BUTT!

CAUTION!  

MY MOSTLY NAKED BODY COMES NEXT!  

HEARTS, BOOBIES, AND BUTTS- OH MY!

Okay, not naked here.  But this is my daily get-up under my clothing.  Compression suit, bra, compression wrap, and then undies.  I feel and look hilarious!  And I have months of this still ahead of me.

My thighs look bigger now, but my core is smaller and becoming more defined each week.

Again, you can really see the swelling in my thighs here.  But I am liking the bum change!  The surgeon has told me that it takes at least a year to see the swelling leave from the legs.

Notice the big difference in core swelling from the last 8 weeks!  Still pubic swelling happening and lower abdomen in the evenings.

HEALED!!  Just scars and a lot of dry skin now.  Hurray for a healed ass.  The scarring here is bad though.  It is rock hard and the area gets sore when I sit for long periods of time. 

Right hip (on the left) is about a third of the size it was and is healing very well.  Left hip (on the right) no longer leaks and the cavity is filling up so well that we are no long going to probe it each day with a q-tip to keep the hole open. We are going to let it close over and hope that it continues to heal inside as well.

The persistent left leg wound is making progress this week!

And my right leg is stellar!  Scar is getting lighter each week, but the scaring around my knee is very hard.  I hope with time and a lot of treatment (just pricey lotion right now) that it will get better.

Growing Up

It seems that in the last week both of my boys have just grown up so much.

I spend one morning a week watching my friend's two and a half year old son, and it feels like my own boys shouldn't be much older than that.  Yet here they are with Cavan approaching five this spring and Hunter seven this summer.

Hunter lost his seventh tooth this week and Cavan has two that are wiggly.  Didn't those baby teeth just grow in?

The boys used some of the hobo can gathering monies to buy some lego when we were in Whitehorse last week.  Hunter put together a 102 piece set with my assistance needed just once to help click a piece into place.

Cavan plays outside most afternoons with his buddies.  No real supervision needed.  I peek out once in a while to just make sure they are in sight, but then go back to my own thing.

This is such a fun time with them.  They are curious, creative, emotional, irritating, and hell bent on figuring out ways to make me bend the rules.  I love their curiosity; they were excited this week to see the heart from the chicken we were going to cook up for supper and we dissected it together.  Their creativity is fun to sit back and watch or just listen to.  Hunter this week told Cavan that dinosaurs were extinct.  According to Hunter it is when they all die, but not from pooping and peeing too much.  And the robots and castles they build out of lego?  Way better than the wall I could build at their age.

Hunter is starting to be a bit more conniving.   Early this evening I sent them downstairs to bring up a load of wood.  Cavan yelled from the garage that the wood bin was almost empty.  So I called back that we would head outside so we could fill it up.  Then I hear Hunter say to Cavan, "Cavan!!  Tell her you were just joking!"   So I had a good long talk with Hunter about getting his brother into trouble and about lying.  As punishment he got to haul extra wood!  HA!

While they are beating each other up nearly ever waking minute, I am seeing a different side of them too.  They were eating together at the table this weekend and Cavan was lamenting to Hunter that his friends call him little and say he is a baby.  Hunter told him to bring those kids here so he could give them a "punch in the butt they would never forget."   I just let the conversation keep going, sitting quietly on the sofa just listening.  Cavan told Hunter that punching probably wouldn't work and Hunter then decided he would just have a stern talking to these friends. 

They entertain me daily and drive me insane daily.  I am glad I have them around.

Four little monkey playing in the snow!  Picnic table jumping was the game of choice from what I could see.

My lego builder!

Hard at work putting together new lego kits.

Mom gets roped into helping this little rat.

Chicken hear dissection!

Dad's turn.

Dimple and Toothless showing off their Ninja Turtle cross-stitch gift from their awesome friend, Erica.

Bum Watch: Week 11

Not much new again this week.  Still just healing up slowly, but surely.   My core swelling continues to just move down my body.  I am even seeing less swelling in my lower abdomen finally, but I still have a lot pubic swelling and my legs feel like tree trunks.

After a concerned email from a regular reader of the blog letting us know that it looked like I may be having circulation issues, we talked to my surgeon and it looks like I may have been doing my compression wrap too tight.  The reader wrote and had said my lower body was looking a little blue as compared to my upper half.  I took the wrap off for a couple of days, but the swelling then started up again around my core.  So back on it went, but loosened off a few inches and that seemed to make all the difference.  Hurray for awesome readers!  

We are still treating all my wounds with antibiotic ointment and gauze.  The only one not showing much for signs of improvement is the one on my inner thigh.  It is frustrating!  Especially when I have had giant holes that have healed in that same amount of time.  We have talked to a couple different doctors that have come to Faro and also to my surgeon, but no real ideas as to how to help it along.  Hopefully just more time does the trick.

My weight has been sitting at 170lbs with very little change.  Pre surgery I was 190lbs and then after the surgery when I could barely eat or drink I was down right to 163lbs.  I am happy being at 170 right now.  Once I am healed and can start more intense exercise, I am aiming to get to 160 since that would be exactly half of my original size.

Exercise has just been walking, but this compression suit has been giving me some grief causing some chaffing in some tender lady bit areas.  I cannot wait to burn these suits one day when I am finally done with them.

Lots of photos to share again this week!

CAUTION!  YOU ARE ABOUT TO SEE MY BUM!  AND BOOBY HEARTS!  TURN AWAY NOW BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE!

I cannot wait until I can just wear a bra and underwear under my clothes instead of the compression suit and wrap.  I love that all my body lift scars are covered by the underwear!

I have no bum.  None.  I went from giant shelf butt to this.  Still hoping for some lower back and upper thigh swelling to leave so it looks like I have more of a bum.

Pre-surgery bum and new bum.    Way better!

I have a flat tummy.  I still cannot believe I have a flat tummy.

Left thigh pre-surgery and now 11 weeks.  Last thigh wound left to heal up!  It is quite small at least.

Right thigh looks awesome!

The core swelling is really down this week!  But pubic swelling is still there.

I know I say it every week, but I sure do like my new shape!!

Left hip wound (cavity in behind that hole) is still improving!

About half the size and depth it was when it opened up!

Now just a scab!!  I thought I would have a giant hole here forever.  So glad this wound is done!

Science and Math Fun

The boys received a number of science type gifts for Christmas and we have been working our way through them with glee!

Hunter and I built a robotic hand!

Testing its capabilities and limits.

Just right for getting a kitten tail!

You can even write with it!

Cavan is building a robot from paper, copious amounts of glue, and about 16 meters of scotch tape.  Shh... please don't tell him his robot went into the garbage today!

Cavan and I built Cosmic Jet Racers!

Pumpkin is coerced into learning about the physics of balloon powered cars.  He looks less than impressed.

Happy his car goes fast, but pissed off that it doesn't fly through the air like he thought it should.

We grew popcorn rocks!

Popcorn rocks:  not for consumption.  A little lick is okay though.

Cavan's rock.

Hunter's rock.

Math boy decided he wanted to measure our coffee table with lego.  Our coffee table is exactly 104 square bricks long.

Model dino building mainly courtesy of Dad.  Boys sorted pieces while dad built.  I took one look at the promise of "Build a dino in 5 simple steps" instructs and then at the 49 pieces and then declared it to be a dad project!  HA!

A Most Canadian Way to Lose a Tooth

According to the Tooth Fairy, the number one way a Canadian loses a tooth is from our national pastime:  hockey.

And the number two way a Canadian loses a tooth, again according directly to the Tooth Fairy, is a direct hit to the face with a snowball.  Hunter got to experience this Canadian rite of passage just this afternoon.

Snowball fight!  Dads versus the kids.  Hunter experience a direct hit seconds after this was taken.

A little blood, a wee tear, and a missing tooth!

He spit blood into the snow and then noticed the tooth was missing!  But this super mama was able find it in the bloody snow after a little bit of digging and snow melting in my hands.

Bum Watch Week 10

I had thought by this point in my healing I would be back up and running.  Really running.  I remember my first consultation on the phone with the surgeon and he said by the three month mark post surgery I would be back to all my normal activities like squash, running, and snowshoeing.  But, I am a slow healer.

I have been walking on the treadmill and on Monday I felt amazing while walking.  I kept upping the pace bit by bit and then I was jogging.  It was exhilarating.  My total workout was 30 minutes, covered 3km, and spent about 5 minutes of it jogging.  I must have been on an extreme endorphin high all day because I felt on top of the world.  But then that night I only got 4 hours of sleep (drank a diet coke late in the day- gaaahhhh- shouldn't even be drinking pop, much less pop with caffeine and then a wee terror woke up the entire house at 5:30am) and when I attempted to get out of bed I nearly cried.  The jogging must have jarred my body so much that I could barely walk.  I had to go up and down the stairs sideways, getting up and down from the sofa was excruciating.  It was a miserable day.  So taking it easy and will stick to just walking for now.

This week was a nice change on the drug front.  I was off of the narcotics for four nights straight; I switched to a muscle relaxant and tylenol and was doing okay on it.  But then after the day of pain yesterday, I had to take a percocet and valium to get the pain down to manageable level so I could sleep.  I will keep it that way from here on out.  Save the heavy duty drugs for the extreme days and make it through the other days with the basic drugs.

My swelling is still heading south and my thighs are growing.  Compared to right after surgery, they look huge.  I am sure over the next year they should go down a couple of inches.  The right side is definitely bigger and jiggly with fluid, but not painful in any way.

The wounds are all doing so well!  Butt wound is now really just a scab, right hip is filling in fast, left side hole is small and cavity in behind is filling in (Matt checks its depth with a q-tip), and inner thigh is finally looking better, but still one wound that we are treating, but it is finally getting smaller.

I am also finally allowed to do scar treatment, so the $160 bottle of special silicone scar cream is being used sparingly along the lines.  While I don't really care if I have scars, some of the scars are rock hard and called keloid scars.  The silicone cream should help soften them up a bit.

And on to the best part!

WARNING!  NUDITY FROM A CRAZY LADY!   HEARTS!  BUTTS!  WOUNDS!  BEWARE!

Okay, starting with the bum here.  And thighs.  As I wrote above, the swelling is heading south and I think these next three photos really show it. 

Less than a week post op.  Thighs look small(ish), but core is like a tree trunk.

About 10 days out.  Thighs here still look small(ish) to me.  I see the swell here in my lower back and core.

And today.  My thighs look bigger now than those first couple of weeks post surgery.  All the swell is heading south.  But the bigger thighs are giving me some really nice curves!  HA!   Right side is bigger and left check still looking lopsided.

Swelling just heading south.  The pubic swelling was looking a bit better until my run.  Then puffy.

Right hip wound filling in!  I will have to remember to get my hand in this photo next time for a size reference.

Here is that same hip wound from a few weeks ago when it was at its worst.  Definite improvement!! 

Very small hole on the left side, very little leaking out now, and the cavity in behind is filling in.  Still zero pain here now that the seroma was relieved there just before Christmas.

THE BUM IS NEARLY DONE!  It is really just a scab now and I am so damn happy.  However, it itches like a mother fucker so I look I am scratching my ass all the time!  ahahhahah  All of my incision lines itch and I have been taking Benedryl for relief. 

Here was the bum about 7 weeks ago!  So for those of you dealing with wounds.... HOPE!  They do close up and get better.  Honest!

Left inner thigh finally nearing healing!  That lower wound is still open, but finally showing positive signs of closing up.

Week 10!  I feel like my core looks a bit funny.  It goes in, out and in on the sides.  Do you see what I mean?  I wonder if my sides will come in any more than that.  Just don't know!  But thighs are definitely puffier.  I am really enjoying the shape of my new body now though.

And sometimes I even wear clothes!  :)