Bouncing Back After Surgery: Why Burpees, Bowling, and Your BBL Floatie Can Wait

Dr. G (00:00):
All right. Your three weeks post-op, you feel great.

Bri (00:04):
Don't do it. Whatever you are thinking about doing, Just Don't do it.

Dr. G (00:09):
You're watching your LaGree studio's Instagram stories. You're seeing your friends check into the gym and your surgeon says, "Take it easy. But what the hell does that mean?" So you start Googling and now you're spiraling. Okay. So this is common for our patient, San Diego. Everyone's pretty active and we're about to answer every question you have about post-op surgery and going to the gym.

Bri (00:31):
Yep. The only difference is patients don't ask on week three. They ask on day three.

Dr. G (00:37):
Facts.

Bri (00:38):
Yeah. We get a lot of asks. All the things they want to do on day three is wild.

Dr. G (00:43):
Yeah. Not only are our patients active, but they become super active like adventurers as soon as they're post-surgery, which I guess is great if you feel good. I feel like maybe one in 30 or 40 patients are like, "Nope, I hurt. This is some bullshit. This is way worse than I thought it was. " But most people are like, "Can I? " And then insert-

Bri (01:07):
Go to another country.

Dr. G (01:10):
Insert crazy response. Go to another country. Go bowling, go paragliding.

Bri (01:15):
Skiing.

Dr. G (01:16):
Scuba diving. Tap dancing.

Bri (01:20):
So many things ride a bull. I'm a skydive. I'm a paraglide. I'm a snowboard.

Dr. G (01:25):
Glad people are motivated, but just take it easy for at least the first couple weeks. You're listening to another episode of All the Bs with me, Dr. G and my scrub tech, Bri. So research shows that patients who prepare for surgery ahead of time through education and planning usually report less pain and a smoother recovery. Of course.

Bri (01:48):
I feel like that should just be common sense.

Dr. G (01:51):
Right. But people spend the majority of their time researching the surgery, right? They want to know what surgery are they're going to have. Think about the inordinate amount of time women spend deciding between a 295 and a 310cc implant, but spend almost no time thinking about what am I going to do after the surgery. So you wake up after surgery, you don't have the right pillows, you don't have a meal plan or any way of getting groceries. I mean, in today's age, you could Instacart everything and probably be fine, but it'd be nice to know that you at least thought it through and set some stuff up. So we're going to talk about essential recovery toolkits today. So things that we wish you knew before surgery, nobody does it better than Cardi B.

Bri (02:38):
I love the fact that she put her recovery above money. Amen sister. Amen.

Dr. G (02:43):
Right. I mean, a lot of times people are like, "Oh, I'm just going to maybe go back to work right away and it's too soon after surgery." So this is back in 2019 and she went on her social media platforms and said, "I do whatever I want to do. I don't have time of day like you do. And if I want to cancel some performances, I can because I'm not fully recovered." Bravo.

Bri (03:10):
Slay.

Dr. G (03:10):
Period, queen.

Bri (03:12):
What she said? Six, seven. I think that's great though because people take the recovery to do all the things and then it messes up your healing.

Dr. G (03:27):
So I recently trained on the Preserve breast augmentation, which is a minimally invasive breast augmentation. So the idea is to kind of create the space for a smallish implant without using a knife. So you make a little incision and then you're creating the pocket for the implant using a balloon and then putting the implant in. And one of the perks is that you could maybe do it under sedation, maybe under local. You can go back to living your life next day.

Bri (03:59):
I think that's just crazy. Even if you can, you should take at least a couple days off.

Dr. G (04:05):
Yeah. Put your feet up.

Bri (04:06):
Yeah. That's their stick. You're working out the next day, you're doing things.

Dr. G (04:11):
Well, I mean, I am intrigued. However, I guess there has been one case of someone getting a hematoma, which is a blood collection at post-op day 10 and it was somebody who went back to living their life and was doing a HIT class at day 10. So that's exactly the kind of move I would do. So when you tell me you can live your life, just like with Avalee where they're like, "Take 24 hours off and then go for it. " You're like, "Okay, yeah, I can, but then the amount of bruising I'm going to have is going to be way more than if I just taken a week off and not a week off, just do something low impact." So again, going back to the Preserve breast augmentation thing, although this is an early recovery og where you can do stuff, the recommendation is that you don't go do burpees, which I-

Bri (05:08):
I just can't getting a whole breast aug and then you're going to go use your upper body. Take care of the boobies.

Dr. G (05:16):
I know. Protect the investment. They'll be texting us, "Can I go bowling?" It's a small bowling ball. No.

Bri (05:23):
Don't do it.

Dr. G (05:24):
I feel great. No, you're 10 days out. Okay. So it's not number one, but it is a close number one to have the people around you prepared for you to have surgery and also prepared to have some designated caregiver. If you don't have anyone, that's fine. We have lovely nurses that will stay with you for the first day or two or however long you want them to and can provide you kind of round the clock care. They're really good at it. They'll bring you to your appointments. The one we use is super nice, goes above and beyond. She just recently took care of a patient and then the patient's sister flew into town after a couple of days to take over and the nurse stayed a little later just to be like, "Okay, well now she can finally take a shower so I'm going to show you how to best do that. " Just really helpful.

Bri (06:19):
Yeah. No, you absolutely need somebody to help you the first couple days. I mean, honestly, the first week, depending on what it is. But you need someone to stay with you the first night at least at bare minimum.

Dr. G (06:31):
So I know doctors are the worst patients, but nurses are a hot close second. And so there was a nurse I've operated on before and one time she had surgery and just went home by herself and didn't tell us. I didn't realize it until after. And then she had a second surgery later and so I gave her a really hard time about it and made sure that she knew that she needed to have people with her. And so I used to call, now I just text, but anyway, I called to see how she was doing that first evening right after surgery and all the other ICU nurses that I had worked with when I was a general surgery resident were over at her place because she made them all come over and they were all on speakerphone. We're all here. I love her. And I was like, "You guys are crazy." And then now you're supposed to be looking after her and not having to party.

Bri (07:22):
If you have a big dog and you have no help, get help with your dog.

Dr. G (07:26):
Yeah. I usually ask about that honestly at this point. Because that's where the people with no kids mislead you. Nope, got no kids. Work from home.

Bri (07:33):
I got three great danes though.

Dr. G (07:35):
I know. I'm like, fuck.

Bri (07:37):
Yeah.

Dr. G (07:38):
No kids, work from home, couldn't be easier. And then you're like, oh, but you also have, you breed horses or something on the side. You're like, "Oh, no, no, no." So we have people who have own horses too, so they have to get somebody to help with the horses.

Bri (07:54):
Yeah. It's nice. That way you're not feeling like you're constantly bending over or picking up poop or having to go to the dog park or going on a walk where he could pull you or something could happen and you're maybe not in a great space to try and get your dog back or something. I don't know.

Dr. G (08:08):
I had a patient who one week post-op, got up in the middle of the night to let her dog out, tripped over her dog, broke her ankle, called me from the hospital. She's like, "I'm fine. My incisions are okay." I was like, "Ugh." Yeah. It's nice to have to maximize the help. We all think we're strong, independent women, but this is a time to get the support you need. And if you take yourself out of the equation by staying somewhere else, then people will figure it out. I'm looking at you husbands because the second you're there, they're bugging you every two minutes about how to do things. I mean, the number of times where my husband's been home and then someone's texted or called me to ask a question while I'm still at work and I'm like, "Isn't

Bri (08:56):
Is Dad home?

Dr. G (08:57):
Isn't your dad there?

Bri (08:59):
Yeah.

Dr. G (08:59):
Yeah.

Bri (09:01):
That's about right.

Dr. G (09:02):
So Dad could be downstairs, but yeah, your kids are still going to roll upstairs and bother you.

Bri (09:10):
Nutrition is so important after surgery and a lot of patients feel like once they have surgery, it's like their time to starve themselves and lose weight of some sorts. If you are having surgery, you need to maintain your nutrition if you're getting a fat transfer. I always say you got to feed your fat. We need to optimize survival. Do not start starving yourself after surgery. I feel like it's the most common thing that I hear. You're just not eating. I'm not eating.

Dr. G (09:42):
Yeah. They're not hungry for maybe the medications. You're tired. Wounds need nutrition to heal and that's protein, that's hydration, basic vitamins that you can get from eating whole foods. So the two things can be not eating or eating garbage. Please don't eat processed foods and-

Bri (10:01):
Cheeseburger and milkshake.

Dr. G (10:03):
Yeah. Peanut M&Ms.

Bri (10:06):
Yeah. Please don't.

Dr. G (10:08):
I once had a patient who had a tummy tuck or some sort of surgery. It might've been a tummy tuck, but this was back when I was at the Navy hospital. We went to go see her the first morning after surgery because everyone stayed overnight there and she had Krispy Kreme delivered. And I thought, really? What are we doing here?

Bri (10:25):
Maybe if you're having a baby. There is no other acceptable food delivery, Krispy Kreme, cheeseburger, unless you're having a baby. Okay.

Dr. G (10:35):
But yeah, right after having liposuction or some body contouring surgery, crispy cream's not going to help you heal. Make sure you're not eating garbage before surgery.

Bri (10:44):
Don't start your GLP-1s right after surgery for the love of God. I know. Just wait.

Dr. G (10:51):
Yeah. So there's more and more studies coming out now because there just wasn't a lot of literature to support it, but we know at least two weeks of no GLPs before surgery because we're trying to support wound healing and have your body ready for the stress of surgery. So you being in a semi-starvation mode, even if you're on maintenance dose does not track with that. Also, from an anesthesia standpoint, it delays gastric emptying, so we don't want you having that onboard when we're going to put you under for general anesthesia. So very important. And I think we were all very good about educating people about GLP-1 pre-surgery and then we're like, yeah, and then you can start a couple weeks afterwards. But the couple weeks afterwards varies for patient to patient. So some people it's a couple weeks, some people it's a couple months. It depends on how fast you heal, how much surgery you had.

Bri (11:42):
You're getting a tummy tuck. Don't restart it.

Dr. G (11:44):
Yeah. You have to wait until you're healed.

Bri (11:46):
Big incision.

Dr. G (11:48):
Yeah. I've learned that the hard way now.

Bri (11:50):
Yeah. I feel like we had a patient not too long ago.

Dr. G (11:53):
We've had a couple.

Bri (11:54):
Restarted GLPs after two weeks and then it was like all of a sudden stopped healing.

Dr. G (11:59):
Yeah. Just slow it down.

Bri (12:01):
I do have to say, I have had a patient ask me, they're like, I can just eat whatever after surgery. They're like, I just had a snickers. And it's like, that is not what your body needs. You cannot just eat whatever after surgery.

Dr. G (12:15):
No.

Bri (12:16):
Yeah.

Dr. G (12:17):
No.

Bri (12:17):
Don't do it.

Dr. G (12:18):
Well, think about it. If you're going to have a high sugar diet right after you're just ... We know higher levels of glucose in your system also negatively impact wound healing and increase inflammation. So don't do that. Please don't eat snickers and peanut M&Ms.

Bri (12:36):
Yeah. You see it also on social media a lot actually. I don't know why. And it's like these people are eating like McDonald's and Taco Bell right after surgery and they're just sitting in bed all wrapped up eating this like crap garbage food, obviously because DoorDash easy, but you can make better choices.

Dr. G (12:51):
Make better choices. You've already invested in the surgery, so make better choices in supporting your nutrition.

Bri (12:58):
Post-op is just as important as having surgery itself.

Dr. G (13:04):
Nicotine inhibits wound healing. So your tissues aren't getting as oxygenated and the nicotine actually inhibits wound healing. So if I'm making an incision, I need it to heal. And if you're doing nicotine anything, whether it's inhalational or a nicotine patch or nicotine gum, all of those things are going to make the little blood vessels in your body kind of shrink down and then you can have wound healing problems. That means the incision can fall apart. You can get tissue necrosis, which is the tissue essentially dying. It's just gnarly, so don't do it.

Bri (13:47):
Don't smoke.

Dr. G (13:50):
Right. One of the worst procedures you can do is labioplasty, which we do a lot of with your smoking because-

Bri (13:55):
Can you just imagine that part of your body not healing well?

Dr. G (13:59):
Yeah, falling apart, it's no bueno. And then the other area we get super excited about is anytime I'm messing around with the nipple, so any kind of breast lift, breast augmentation, breast reduction, implant exchange, anytime we're breast implant removal, we're kind of doing something to the breast tissue and rearranging it, we're interrupting the blood supply to the nipple and the areolar complex. And so what I don't need is an additional interruption to the blood supply via smoking or nicotine quite drop just for that time. Well, you want to walk because it improves your circulation, right? You were laying on the OR table, presumably you don't want to be just laying around and have potential for a clot to develop. So it improves your circulation. It improves your respiration. So the ability to get up and take deep breaths is much better than when you are laying in bed all day in, what do they call it now?

Bri (14:59):
Comatose. I'm just kidding.

Dr. G (15:01):
Bedrot.

Bri (15:02):
Bedrotting. Oh yeah, my daughter uses it all the time or brain rotting. I don't know what it is.

Dr. G (15:06):
I think it's bedrotting. So yeah, when you're just laying in bed, you're not taking deep breaths, you just won't. And so your lungs will partially collapse and then you can start to get a fever. You're just going to feel shitty. So get up when you get up and walk around, you take deep breaths, improves your circulation, improves your respiration, just keeps things moving, drink water. And then so that's why we like walking-

Bri (15:34):
Unless you have a labioplasty.

Dr. G (15:35):
Yeah. Then you need to lay-

Bri (15:36):
Don't start walking.

Dr. G (15:37):
Lay flat. Yeah.

Bri (15:39):
Patients start to work out again and they're like, "Why am I more so I'm swelling up more?"

Dr. G (15:44):
Oh, right. So I always tell people it's like a sprained ankle because I probably sprain my ankle every five years for one reason or another, but if you haven't had it, your ankle's healed finally and your ankle will still be puffy. So maybe you've been cleared, your ankle's stable, it's been six weeks or whatever and now you can run around on it, but the minute you start doing it, it's going to get puffy. And if you have a long day or you take your kids to Disney or you're standing all day, that ankle is going to be puffy for six months. Maybe it doesn't look puffy, but when you compare it to your non-injured leg, it's going to still look puffy. So remember that your surgery immediately afterwards, everything's puffy, you hold onto fluid and then eventually it's kind of limited to wherever you had surgery, so what that surgical site is and that will go up and down depending on the amount of salt you ate, depending on how strenuous a day you've had all of those things will factor in.

(16:46):
So don't freak out, just get back in your compression or just know that's healing. It's normal healing. And then figure out your space. If you have a second floor, maybe move your bedroom to the first floor temporarily. People have recliners or beds that sit them up or get some pillows off at Amazon that are going to prop you up or wedge up your legs if you had a tummy tuck. The right pillows can make a difference too.

Bri (17:16):
Yeah. Pillows is a game changer. When I got the BBL the first time, I'll just tell you about my recovery really quickly. So initially I was suggested like this avocado pool floaty by somebody, which I sat in and I ended up having to prop it up with so many pillows and angle it. Then we have a cow king bed. It was literally bigger than a twin size mattress.

Dr. G (17:40):
Wait, I think we had that floaty at my house. Does a pit come out so there's a big hole in it?

Bri (17:44):
Yes. I used it for my first BBL and then I ended up buying an actual BBL canoe, which was massive. It was with just a hole where you put your butt and I propped myself up with like five pillows, a pillow underneath the pillow on the side. And then every time I wanted to get down, Eric took all the pillows out. He pulled the little canoe down. I just kind of stumbled out. But he like slept in this teeny, tiny corner of the bed just right next to the canoe, but it helped so much. It was so much better than just trying to like ...

Dr. G (18:15):
Sleep in the pool floaty?

Bri (18:17):
Sleep in the pool floaty.

Dr. G (18:18):
Which you can do.

Bri (18:20):
Was a good idea.

Dr. G (18:20):
It is a good idea. I mean, if you layer-

Bri (18:23):
The depth wasn't enough because my butt kept going down.

Dr. G (18:26):
Oh, blankets and stuff.

Bri (18:27):
But yeah, get all the pillows, get all the wedges, get comfy, get a blanket, get a cute outfit. We've had so many patients come in recently and they find these amazing. It's like just a gown. You just zip it up and it's like a floor length gown. Yeah,

Dr. G (18:43):
It's like a giant sweatshirt.

Bri (18:45):
Like a mumu.

Dr. G (18:46):
Yeah. Or a hoodie sweatshirt that's like a dress basically that's a zip up.

Bri (18:49):
Yeah. And then sit in that for washing it obviously, but sit in that for a couple weeks that way, when you come home from surgery, you're not staining some really nice PJs or something.

Dr. G (19:00):
True, True.

Bri (19:01):
Even invest in maybe some crappy sheets you don't like.

Dr. G (19:04):
Yeah. Or put some pee pads or what we call checks pads down or towels that you don't like. Because if you have any kind of liposuction, it usually drains for the first day or so and then looks like a crime scene. Some people go crazy on the garments and buy like 50 versions trying to find which one they want.

Bri (19:24):
It's comfortable. I mean, I guess you're going to be in it for a hot minute so I guess that's fine. I think it's also surgery specific. When I did my BBL, I did tons of research on this and I got the pillows, I got the canoe, I got specific garments, I got a sitting thing for my car. I got all the arnica and the swelling and what else did I get?

Dr. G (19:51):
I feel like those are ... I've seen people come in and they're like, "Which one do you think? " And they have like five garments they want me to look at.

Bri (19:58):
Oh yeah.

Dr. G (19:58):
I'm like, whichever one is comfortable and provide some compression and you can get on and off. The best compression garment is the one you're going to wear.

Bri (20:07):
Find something boring and basic. That should be the theme for after surgery is be boring and basic because you aren't most of the times of your life. Yeah.

Dr. G (20:17):
And it's such a short period of time.

Bri (20:19):
Yeah.

Dr. G (20:20):
Remember recovery after surgery is just as important as the surgery itself and factor that in when you plan and schedule surgery. Super important.

Bri (20:32):
Can I get an amen?

Dr. G (20:34):
Amen. All right. We're going to scrub in.

Bri (20:37):
And scrub out

Dr. G (20:40):
Later. If you're listening today and have questions, need info about scheduling, financing, reviews or photos, check out the show notes for links. Restore SD Plastic Surgery is located in La Jolla, California. To learn more about us, go to restoresdplasticsurgery.com or follow us on Instagram @RestoreSDPlasticSurgery. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it and subscribe to All the B's on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you like to listen to podcasts.