December 27, 2017, Jason and I woke up and headed to Dr. Kreul’s office. I remember there being a sense of calm that came over me. Any nerves I had were gone and I was so ready to get this procedure! We checked in and waited in the waiting room for about 5 minutes when I was called back to start the pre-op procedures. They checked my pulse, my heart rate, and they did a urine pregnancy test. All of which came back in the normal ranges or negative. I changed into a hospital gown, removing any article of clothing or jewelry I had on from my waist up. From the waist down I was able to keep everything on. Then we waited…. waited for what seemed like hours (but was probably only 30min) for Dr. Kreul to come in. Dr. Kreul came in and explained the surgery one more time, he drew marks over my breasts for where the incisions would be, went over the recovery and asked if we had any questions before the surgery. Neither of us did. (Not having any questions made things a little quicker.) The surgery nurse came in and took me back to the operating room. I was told to lay down on the table, the room was VERY bright and VERY cold, the last thing I recall is the iodine being wiped over my chest and the nurses talking to me.

When I woke up, everything was black and dark. I could hear the nurses talking to me and asking me if I wanted any water, I did. I was dying of thirst and even though I couldn’t see anything I reached for the water. The nurses guided the water to my mouth and then I blacked out. The next time I “woke up” I was walking out of the side door of the office with my husband and being guided to the car, the images are hit and miss with this walk and the ride home. Once we were home Jason laid me on the couch, propped up and I slept. I slept until I woke up with the worst nausea I’ve ever had and that’s when the vomiting began. I was so sick, I couldn’t keep anything down, not even water. We called the doctor and he prescribed new nausea medication, thankfully my grandmother was able to get that and bring it to me in a timely manner but even this didn’t work. I was completely miserable from the vomiting and my chest was on fire. I attempted to take the pain meds to try and calm my muscles down but I would just vomit them back up. My fear of anesthesia came true. I was given too much and now I am paying for it. The vomiting lasted for almost 24 hours, these were the worst 24 hours of my life thus far.

When we went in for the post-op appointment the next day Dr. Kreul gave me a card that listed that I had “Natrelle” implants and I received 470cc in one side and 445cc in the other side. Dr. Kreul also confirmed that I was given a little too much anesthesia and the side effects from it should be gone. This was a relief that I wouldn’t be vomiting anymore. Dr. Kreul took a look at my breasts and said they looked great, the incisions looked good and I was free to shower and move my arms as much as I could without it causing too much pain. I had already been moving my arms above my head without any pain. Once the appointment was over we headed home and I jumped in the shower. I quickly learned that taking the scolding hot showers I loved were not helpful in the recovery, they made my breasts irritated and swell. I imagined it feeling how women’s breasts feel when they are engorged from breastfeeding. (Once I did breastfeed, I found out this is exactly how it felt) By day 3 of the recovery, I went to Costco (I’m crazy, I know.). I had cabin fever and had to get out of the house and this was Jason’s favorite place to go. We got some lunch at the food court and then.. it hit me as we were walking through the front door to shop… I had the WORST anxiety.I hadn’t been taking the pain meds, only the muscle relaxers to help my muscle stay relaxed so that the implants could settle and I didn’t want to risk someone bumping into me and causing pain or damage to my implants, so we decided to leave.

A week went by and I was feeling a lot better. Jason and I took a trip to Portland (this is a 4.5 -5-hour drive), we stayed with a friend and spent Saturday exploring the town. The pain was minimal throughout the day but at night I got swollen but it was still nothing unbearable. On our way back home on Sunday I started getting a pain in my left side, there was pressure and it was hard to breathe and take a deep breath. I ignored the pain and thought it was just from overdoing it with our weekend in Portland.  I let the pain go on for two more days; on Tuesday I finally decided to call Dr. Kreul’s office, they told me I needed to go in immediately.

I immediately left work and went to Dr. Kreul’s office, my pulse was elevated, and the Surgery Nurse was concerned that I had a blood clot. I was sent to get lab work and a CT Scan. Before I could get the CT Scan I had to do a urine pregnancy test, where I found out I was indeed pregnant and the pain was from my body adjusting to getting the implants and being pregnant. ( you can read more about finding out I was pregnant in the Boy Mom article). Luckily, I did not have a blood clot.