Things about top surgery that I wasn’t aware of going in:

• They’ll probably put a breathing tube down your throat after you’re knocked out. You’ll wake up and your throat will hurt (sort of like strep) for a few days after
• You need to wear compression tights for a week or two after surgery, they’ll provide them. This is to prevent blood clots since you won’t be moving around a lot
• The IV goes in your hand??? They’ll probably numb you first, which is good. But as someone who’s incredibly uncomfortable with medical needles, seeing a needle in my hand was weird
• The surgeon will come in before the operation to draw on your chest. They’ll also ask what size you want your nipples to be. You need to tell the surgeon what size you want your nipples to be, don’t be afraid to be specific. These are your nipples.
• Anesthesia/surgery will make you EXHAUSTED afterwards. Like “falling asleep if you’re sitting down for more than a few minutes” exhausted
• The tightness of the bandage will probably cause most of the pain. Don’t mess with it, the nurse will fix it during the post-op
• You will be PARCHED afterwards. You’re going to be IMMENSELY thirsty, drink LOTS of water. I found that sprite is good too, but you’ll want so much water

Part two, recovery edition:

• The pain is going to come in waves. You’ll feel fine for hours then as soon as you move you’ll feel like you’ve been stabbed. It’s important to remember that the pain is temporary, but the relief is forever
• Trying to sleep comfortably will be weird, because you have to sit propped up
• No showers until at least your first week post-op, washing your hair in the sink or having someone to help wash it for you is your best bet
• The pain medicine WILL make you sleepy, almost 24/7. Don’t fight the sleep, take naps. Fighting the sleep isn’t fun, taking naps is cozy
• You won’t be able to move around much due to pain, so find a favorite show/movie/channel/literally anything you can watch or listen to while stationary
• Laying down flat is BAD. Sitting up is GOOD. Sitting in some kind of couch or recliner or bed (while propped up) is BEST
• Pick cozy pants that are loose fitting and easy to take off and put on, as well as a button up shirt that’s at LEAST a size or two too big. You’ll thank yourself
• Changing dressings will look weird, you need to remember you’re healing. It’s not going to look perfect BECAUSE you are healing, let them heal and they’ll look nice once they’ve finished
• Water and herbs are your friend. You HAVE to have a low sodium diet for a long while after, so spicing things up with herbs instead of salt is your best bet. Also water will continue to save you because thirst.
• Keep everything you’ll need within like… half a foot away from you. You shouldn’t be reaching for anything

• The bandages and tape will itch. It’ll suck. Taking Benadryl is supposed to help, try not to scratch at your bandages or it’ll mess with the scars
• The doctors say this a lot but I’ll say it too, stool softeners. Not laxatives, stool softeners. Apparently surgery can cause difficulties with digestion and using the restroom, so better safe than sorry
• DO NOT take ibuprofen or anything with ibuprofen in it!!! It can cause bleeding/complications, the doctors WILL give you prescription pain meds and you should take those as instructed. Worse case scenario, Tylenol is your friend.
• There will be times when it will hurt even if you’re doing everything right. Your body just had giant stab wounds in it that are now held together by stitches. There’s gonna be pain, it’s gonna suck, but you need to remember that the pain is temporary.
• Find a back scratcher. You’ll need the back scratcher. You’ll thank yourself for having the back scratcher.
• Do you like blankets? Do you like stuffed animals? Do you like any kind of specific thing that makes you feel cozy? Use it. Let yourself feel cozy, it’s so much easier to feel like you’re recovering when you’re cozy

This is an awesome account of one person's experience and that's important for people to read, but different surgeons/hospitals have different rules and procedures. Don't assume that just because this is written in a generalized informative tone that it's what will happen to you!

For example, a lot of this wound care stuff just didn't apply to me because my surgeon uses waterproof surgical glue instead of bandages.

One advice I have to give that's informed by my experience is please please tell them if you're in pain. I woke up from anesthesia with a distracting but bearable amount of pain, but they gave me pain meds for it because it wasn't supposed to be so painful.

If you go home and the pain is bad enough that you are having trouble sleeping, are avoiding moving around more than what your surgeon has advised your limitations are, you feel yourself always tensing up to the pain, or you're having trouble focusing because of it, TELL THE SURGEON. That is information they want to know! They might change the instructions on your medication, or prescribe another one on top. When I was still having bad pain a week or so in, I was prescribed a special pain med targeted at nerve pain, because they thought the drains were poking into some nerve somewhere.

Like, if you're someone who gets or got really painful period cramps, and you get that level of pain during the recovery, please don't just bear it because it's temporary. Relaxed people heal better and u and ur surgeon can problem solve if something needs to happen to fix it together.

It's still awesome to hear a lot of different people's experiences. But if you want detailed rundowns of what top surgery might look like for you, try finding people local to you who have had surgery with the specific surgeons you're considering! Everyone's different so it won't be exact of course, but it'll be much closer than someone online who might not even be in your country.