Gyno surgery scheduled on the 17th of Dec. What to do in downtime?

[SoHo]

honestly bro i would just take it easy and i would assume that recovery would be even faster if you don't do anything but rest. even if you train legs you still are flexing your upper body and putting stress on it, etc. cardio should be the only thing you should be doing. elliptical, some incline walking, and honestly i wouldn't even run in the beginning.

about a year ago i had a bad hand surgery and the surgeon recommended a minimum of 3 MONTHS out of the gym.. minimum. i tore my tendon right on the bend of my big knuckle, spent 2 weeks in the hospital due to a terrible infection that came along with it, and got sent home with 10 stitches and now i got a badass scar.

for the first 5 weeks or so my hand was wrapped up and in an air cast and i was even scared to go for a jog scared that i was gonna fall or something

 

[Ghost124]

Man I am only 3 weeks done with recovery and never been so bored in my life. Not going to gym sucks and not to mention my blood pressure has been all over the place which I am guessing is from 3 weeks of absolutely no exercise.

My doc "cleared" me to do cardio this week but within 2 days I got hematoma which is fluid build up in the empty cavities in my chest. Doc said I am more proned to it than others and suggested not to do cardio until 4 weeks done recovering. Really sucks everyone is different. My buddy was already hitting dumbbells 3 and a half weeks after surgery without any hematoma and I do a 20 min speed walk on the tredmill and get it.

Ahh just frustrating I cannot begin to hit my summer goals yet. I guess the only positive is maybe when I am back at the end of this month, the gym will already be cleared of half the new years resolution crowd.

 

[Havasu]

I have not had gyno surgery, but I had something similar. While I'm generally lean, I always carried around extra fat in my chest my whole life. Never really could get rid of it, so early last year I had it removed. Came out great. But, be forewarned DO NOT RUSH BACK INTO THE GYM as far as weight lifting. Too much moving around of the skin of the chest can cause fluid pockets to build, you'll have to get them drained and kind of be back to square one. The incisions should be small and near your arm pits. As soon as they aren't too tender, and completely closed up start massaging them to help with breaking up scar tissue that WILL form. Keep on massaging, it can take up to 2 years for that scar tissue to break up. Also, not sure in your case, but in mine they filled the chest with fluid to help separate the skin from the muscle.

That skin adhesing back to the skin is a big deal. Another reason to not rush back to upper body work. I would honestly go the full six weeks without upper body work, and what you do for your legs will even be limited at times. For the first week especially you won't be able to "push" very hard. Meaning if you were trying to squat, and when you squeezed to lift up you'll automatically flex your chest too.....Don't. My Dr. told me as little movement with your arms moving around as possible, as it stretches that skin from the chest as they extend farther out.

I did still clean my car which uses movement back and forth with my arms, but not much the first 3-4 days. During my healing I did do legs about 2-3 times per week, not full intensity still, and did plenty of cardio, watched diet. Not sure if you'll have to but I had to where adhesive foam stuck to my chest with a big ace bandage wrapped tightly around the chest to help the skin begin to adhese back and keep everything squeezed together. I think that was for two weeks. Then it was compression shirt 24 hours a day except for showering, then compression shirt at night only towards the end.

Don't judge how your chest looks too early/the first time you see it. It will be swollen. You won't really start getting an idea until 4-6 weeks. Then the swelling should be gone completely in a few months.