Today is day 5 after liposuction on the left thigh and, excuse my language here, but I fucking amaze myself. I actually had to count on the calendar a few times and pinch myself to make sure it really is day 5 because so far I have accomplished:
- Day 1 post op: several blocks of walking at a faster pace than I thought I could
- Day 2 post op: went and walked around the Sligro (a big Costco like store for food like businesses to buy their food and supplies) to pick up a few things for a birthday party on Day 3. Then because the right side of my body ached from doing all the heavy lifting for my left side (sitting on the toilet, getting up or sitting down, getting in and out of the car, getting on and off the bed, rolling over in bed, etc) I decided to go try the cross trainer at the gym to see if the movement hurt my thigh. It didn’t and I managed 10 minutes before exhaustion hit. The right side of my body thanked me. I also walked several blocks through the day.
- Day 3 post op: walked several blocks at a much faster speed, went to the city center to pick up some spanx like panties to support my butt, went to a friends birthday party in Breda which is near the Belgium border…roughly an hour and a half away. The bumps and turns in the car didn’t hurt at all, unlike day 1 post op on the way home where every jerk and bump hurt like hell. Sleeping has also become better, can roll over without completely waking myself up.
- Day 4 post op: walked double of what I had been walking the previous days, had friends over to play Cards Against Humanity.
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At the Gym Day 5 Post Op on Left Thigh Day 5 post op: walked loads, went to the gym for a full hour lifting session with my personal trainer (including a straight legged dead lift with just the 20kg bar so I could control it and not hit my thigh, dumb bell bench press where I only needed an aerobic step to put my foot on to maintain a 90 degree bend in my knee, and even a lat pull down where I could sit on the seat) and 15 minutes on the cross trainer. I also drove for the first time since the surgery, which once settled was ok…thankfully my current car is an automatic or I might not have been able to do the clutch.
The Lowdown of Where My Poor Thigh and Body Is on Day 5
The top part of my thigh and knee actually look pretty decent bruise wise, although my knee is actually rather swollen at the moment. There aren’t any nasty, wicked bruises like you see on other people (especially those that do dry lipo). The back of my leg and my left hip are another story, though compared to the pain, it looks pretty good. The most wicked red spots on the back of my knee is from a rather ill fitting night time compression garment that is bunching up behind my knee (this is on my agenda for Friday’s checkup, I’m not really pleased because it hurts like hell getting the stockings on and off in the morning now from the garment not properly fitting).
As I said in my first post for the liposuction on the left thigh surgery, the liposuction itself was a 5 or 6. The pain afterwards was a 8 or 9. I’ll downgrade it to a 7 if the back of my knee or thigh is being touched, a 4 or 5 when walking/getting up/going to the toilet, and a 0 when not moving at all (standing or sitting). It’s a 1 million when taking off or putting on the bloody thigh high compression garments though.
In fact, this morning the night time garment bunched up so badly in the back of the knee, trying to get the daytime garment on took almost 40 minutes between my husband and I. I am almost 100% certain since our window was open in our bedroom, if any of our neighbors were up and about, they probably thought either a murder was taking place or someone was getting the ever loving shit beat out of them. By the time I got that damned thing on (after my husband managing to dig his knuckles into that sore spot several times and bringing me to my knees, quite literally) I was covered in sweat, shaking, and
couldn’t stop crying.
It’s quite amazing when you consider the fact that only 6 hours later I was burning around 600 calories lifting and doing cardio in the gym. As I said, I fucking amaze myself.
Disclosure on My Activity Level if You’re Reading My Posts For the Very First Time
I’m a VERY active person. I’ve been weight lifting since 2010 and the past year have hired a trainer to help me reach my goals of gaining as much muscle mass and strength as I can without having to go on a gain (that’s weight lifting speak for eating surplus calories in order to grow muscles, which also will gain some fat which is lost during the cut part of the muscle building cycle). I also cycle and spin quite a bit since this is the only endurance/cardio sport easily left open to me (I do want to get into kayaking at some point with all these canals around here).
So don’t think I went from doing no or very little physical activity and then all of a sudden going gun ho after having liposuction on the left thigh. It may seem that way, but what I’m doing is actually extremely low key for my normal activity level. And of course, my surgeon has cleared me for this activity. I’m one of his few patients that he’s treated that is physically fit and has told me I know my body and how far I can push it. If it hurts and will cause damage, don’t do it.
For example, the first few minutes after I stand up and start walking around, my thigh and lower buttocks HURTS. It can be up to a 4 on the pain scale easily. However, after a few minutes of walking it goes down to about a 1 or 2 (depending on how much bounce is in my step and how fast I’m trying to walk). So just because it HURTS initially, it’s not an excuse to not walk.
On the other hand, this morning I wanted to give it a go on my bicycle to see if cycling was an option for exercise. Since my knee is still quite swollen, the highest point of the peddle rotation hurt pretty badly. It also hurt the back of my thigh a bit, but I could have easily ignored that if my knee hadn’t been hurting the way it was. So that’s an activity I’m not ready for right now, it hurts, so don’t do it. Pretty simple.
But still, it’s only day 5 after having liposuction on the left thigh! Ok, granted, if that chest infection hadn’t taken me down a week and a half after the liposuction on my calves, I’d probably have performed the same amazing feats. Still, I’m kind of floored!
If You’re Thinking of Liposuction in the Future, Start Exercising NOW!
This is something I harp on a lot. There are very few instances that a person can’t be physically active in some way, shape, or form. My particular poison is weight lifting and cycling because I enjoy mastering my body, seeing my strength progression, and enjoy endurance sports. I also do a lot of geocaching, which involves a lot of walking and hiking.
However, there’s swimming, yoga, water aerobics, zumba for those that can take the higher impact activity, dancing, hell…chair aerobics and chair dancing for those that are immobile! It doesn’t matter WHAT you do, what matters is you do SOMETHING to get your circulation going and your heart rate up a bit.
Bottom line is the fitter you are before getting liposuction (or any surgery really), the better your recovery is going to be afterwards. In fact, one big benefit of my fitness in recovery is I’ve been able to remain fairly independent the day of my surgery and the days after. The day of my surgery when I got back to the hotel, my husband was mostly cleaning up after me as I walked a marathon in our room (the leaking was carnage).
I was able to get myself in and out of the car without his assistance, I was able to stand up and sit down in chairs, lay down and get up out of bed, go to the toilet (ok, I will admit until I figured out how to sit where I could get up myself, he did have to give me a hand up but the rest I could do myself), shower, etc. Since getting home I get my own drinks, I’ve cooked, loaded the dishwasher, etc. The only thing he’s had to do is the laundry, which he usually does anyways (he’s a well trained husband!), and help change the dressings I just can’t see myself.
I’m 100% certain if I weren’t in my current shape, there’s no way I’d have been this independent, and since I’m a pretty independent person this is good motivation to keep it up!
That’s it for today! I have my 1 week checkup this coming Friday, so I’ll report back if there’s anything interesting!
PetraAnn
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I’m going to have to agree on activity. I really credit my activity level for getting back in the saddle (so to speak) so quickly after each of my three c-sections, which were, after all, major abdominal surgery plus childbirth. I was talking long walks the day after being released from the hospital after the first two. The third one was a tougher recovery (probably because by then, I’d had three in less than three years AND my surgeon took out a lot of scar tissue), but I was still back to walking at least a couple miles a day within a week of release.
I’m not AS active now after my first lipo procedure, but that’s because I’m 10 years older and my disease degraded significantly over the past several years. Pain has been my constant companion. Still, I’m pushing to get my body moving and active. I walked a mile and a half the second day after surgery (while on pain meds) and only a quarter of a mile the third day (no pain meds). I’ll be working towards half a mile (no meds) today along with some biking. I firmly believe that being more active — within your body’s limits, of course — helps us heal faster. It’s good for circulation, it’s good for the muscles, it’s good for the mind. No downsides! So, I still have a good way to go to get back to where I was pre-stage-three, but I’m committed.
100% agree because it’s proven time and time again, not just with lippy patients. As you said, you recovered quicker from our c sections and I know many people who had to have different surgery that were also lifters, runners and cyclers who recovered much quicker.
And besides, anything is better than nothing. Even if it means getting up and pacing around the house between commercials, walking up your drive, or taking a spin around the block. It doesn’t have to be what I do, or another person does. It just needs to be something that slightly elevates the heart rate and challenges the body!
Keep it up!