Tummy Tuck: Stories

Hi everyone,
I am new here and on 23rd i will be getting my tummy tuck and liposuction. I am so excited.I have 3 kids, oldest is 26. I am 44 years old. I put on a lot of weight due to emotional issues, divorce etc. I also ended with hypo thyroid, which made me gain a lot of weight. I am only 5'3. i have yo yo dieted for the longest time. I also did HCG lost the weight and then put it all back on because i cannot resist food and off course everything that i eat sticks to me. I have changed my eating habits a lot and will continue to do that. I am now 148 lbs. I have a goal to reach before my 45th birthday in Dec. I will make it happen. I want to be 125lbs

For me this will be a life changing thing. Now that i have realized that food is not an answer to everything. I plan to loose at least 15 lbs to 20 lbs after my tummy tuck and liposuction. I also have a very low Hemoglobin is also very low only 10.8. I have Thalassemia minor so that is one big issue. I may need blood transfusion but i will avoid it. I am juicing and also eating liver...
I will post my photos soon.

10/19/12
I cleaned up my room today. made space for my lift chair. Yep, i am getting a lift chair. My bed is too high. I will also start my arnica tablets from tomorrow.
I also ordered my arnica cream from amazon. I need it for my liposuction. I am really excited and nervous. My friend keep telling me to wake up from my surgery lol... I will take epson salt on Monday so as to clean my guts. I guess i will start freaking out on Monday. I am also taking Turmeric with warm milk and honey to help me with swollen and iron.
will keep you guys posted. I love reading everyone,s post here. Have learned a lot as well.

10/23/12
So today was my surgery and here i am all dressed up to be wheeled to surgery and then they check my HGB and the surgery was canceled. what a bummer. My HgB went from 10.8 to 9 in just 5 freaking days. So no surgery for me. I had to see hematologist today and he took 10 vials of blood. On 23rd, i have to get IV iron and then 3 times more. The doctor will see if i will be up for surgery anytime soon. My husband was traveling and i wanted to have it done before he came back. My friend was supposed to take care of me. what the fudge. let see how long that takes. I need to start working and soon and i wanted to do this before starting my real estate work.

VERY IMPORTANT LADIES
everyone who gets tummy tuck should get on Iron supplement. make your doc prescribe you one. One the major cause of tiredness is that we loose blood, almost 2 points. Iron helps fight it and bring your hemoglobin to normal levels.

so i had my first iron infusion today. My surgery is delayed for almost 2 to 3 weeks now. i hope to loose some weight before that. I will doing one to two smoothy a day. I have to be my optimal weight or at least try to loose 5 lbs before surgery. wish me luck.

hi guys I am back after a long wait. My surgery was cancelled twice due to low blood count. I had iron treatment and guess what it did not help. I have thalassemia B as such my Hemoglobin will not go up more that 10.3.
So my surgery is scheduled for the 10th of Dec. I really want to get over this. it has been a roller coaster ride. I will have to stay back in hospital and will be given blood on the day of the surgery. I have started started juicing vegetables. any advice anyone out there.
I hope all goes well. i am kind of little worked up about the whole blood issue. please pray for me that i come out of this ...
love you all and you guys are awesome i read all your reviews all the time.

well!! one week 9 days to my TT surgery. I am so nervous. I have this fear that i may not wake up or that my body runs out of blood etc. the thought of thalassemia is not comforting either. Anyone here who had thalassemia and had tummy tuck???

i have been feeling really tired lately. hope my Hemoglobin is not down. I have been juicing regularly to keep my blood level in check and taking the iron med. My periods started today so that will also affect my blood count. But i am glad it happened before my surgery. My nematologist said that it is okay for me to have surgery as my body has gotten used to the low blood count. He better be right. I want to wake up.
I have been reading all the post to get as much info as possible. you guys are great and it does help so much to share experiences.

so now i am trying to get my house work done. Did 4 load of laundry, i wonder where the hell the clothes came from and i still have tons of sheets to do. i hate laundry.
ladies who had the TT done already, eat lots of pineapple and apples as this helps with the swelling.

Hi ladies, i have to wait only one more day for the new me... i am kind of scared of only one thing and that is not waking up.
I have been trying to get all my ducks in a row before the surgery. got my waxing done, my hair, my eye brows, cooked for the family and laundry. tomorrow I will fix my clothes that i will be wearing during the surgery and cleaning the house.
I have already planned out things i will be doing my recuperation period. let see how successful i will be.
I also bought my itch cream as well. i read that after few days the stitches itch like crazy. My friend ended up with the worst rash ever after her TT. it spread to all her stomach. She had to go to a dermatologist. I want to be prepared as much as i can..
will keep you all posted and thanks for all your advice..
Happy healing............

Surgery is tomorrow. I have to be at the hospital at 6 for blood transfusion and then the surgery is at 1 o'clock. i think i will be starving by then and missing my coffee... will keep you ladies posted. I have to stay overnight which is good.
which me luck.
love you all happy healing... :)

okay i am drugged and soar as hell. forgot the number of medicine i need to take.. the worst part is the comprasion suit. it get wet every time i go to the bathroom. hate it. hopefully tomorrow will be better. i will post tomorrow. too tored to write

hi my beautiful ladies... 4th day sorry could not post earlier. have been so tired and droopy. I went for my first post-op check up. My On-Q pump is out and so are all the foam they had put on lipo area. they also changed my compression garment from 2XL to XL. How do i feel...
1- tired but no pain.
2- doctor said i should walk straight.
3- incision area looks great. no infection but a lot of swelling.
4- i had lipo of the thighs and knees but my doc also did my hips---- NO CHARGE. so i am happy about that. along with TT,
5-not so much bruising as i have seen in other photos. will ask husband to take pictures.
6- eating a lot of pineapple. which is good for swelling.
7- have not had the BM, not too much worried about it as yet.
8- gas is rolling in my tum tum. cannot help that.
9- also good for swelling is home made apple juice or apples.
10- oh by the way they allowed me to bring home the patient gown.. so now i have a patient gown to walk around in.
11- she said that my pump will come out next friday. i want to check with her if i can massage the area. where lipo was done. as for itchiness, well i have the cream and where the had cannot reach go for yoga philosophy... ignore and it does disappear.
12 THE most important thing... how to pee with the stupid compression garment... cup. at the hospital the stupid garment got wet and i hated it so when i got home i used the cup and i am clean and it feels great.
13- 1st shower will be after the pump gets out but will make my husband take me to a parlour to get my hair done.
this is all i can think of for now.
happing healing to all my friends here.

7th day... so today is almost a week since my tummy tuck. i have not posted the pictures, will do it today. very swollen still and the stomach feel like a mush... all wobbly and soft and times hard. i still have my drains in and they are not bothering me at all. i will have them out this friday. i guess it helps with all the fluid but i will be happy to see it go so i can take a shower. A hot nice one to that. My friends came yesterday with food and it was really nice to see them all. although my doctor said i could walk straight, i am taking it easy. do not want to push too hard. i just wish the swelling goes down so i can see my flat stomach ...
totally worth it. oH i am having issues sleeping so every night i take tylanol PM... Anyone have that issue??/

hi ladies i have added more photos. i will keep a weekly chronicle of my recovery in photos. I guess it really help to see where you were and where you are going...
last night was a bad move on my part. for some odd reason i decide that i wanted to sleep on the bed, bad move. i think at 3 in the morning i pushed the pillows from under my feet and that stretched my stomach too much and then i dreamt that my body was coming apart from my torso because i slept straight. i screamed at my husband to help me get up and he could not understand and he was pulling on my leg and i was screaming in pain.. and when i woke up, it was freaking real. Now i will sleep on my lift chair until i walk straight and swelling has gone down. but i am so tight.
happy healing to all.

It has been 10 days today. i am doing much better. i still have the drains and it is coming out this Friday. I am glad that the drains were in so long because it helps in avoiding Seroma. I have been feeling much better and walking almost 90% straight, which is great. Still get tired if i over do things. Ladies do not forget to take your iron pills. it helps.

Hi ladies
i have not posted for a while. i developed a severe allergic reaction to the compression garment 2 week of the surgery. my doctor
told me not to wear the garment. Nothing helped and i still have it but it is getting better. I took every kind of meds except steroids. did not want to go that way. My sleep has suffered a lot and the itch has been killing. My drains came out yesterday. i had them for more than 3 weeks.
yesterday i had my 4th week post op and she told me that i should try wearing my gym tights as i needed some kind of compression. Guess what the allergy flared up and it was bad. so now i cannot wear any kind of compression garment or anything made of lycra. I have developed allergic reaction to it. I am using crotozone 10 cream and taking benadryl every 6 hrs. i a, loopy and fed up with the itch. using ice also helps.

hope you all are doing much better..