On the road to recovery!

I am 95% sure I want to have a TT. I am 5' 4", 125 lbs relatively active 47 yr old woman. I have been married to the same wonderful man for the last 24 yrs. We have 1 son who was born almost 3 wks early via CS and was 9 lbs 8 oz at birth. During my pregnancy I gained a lot of weight that until 5 years ago I was not able to lose.

Over the past 5 years I have lost a total of 100 lbs, I have kept 80 lbs off for 4 years and the last 20 lbs for a year. Between the my pregnancy and my weight loss I have a lot of loose skin and that infamous skin flap that seems to come with having a CS. Loosing the weight has changed my life, I am happier, more confident, I enjoy life more and I have been able to go back to my old job.

During the month of April I "interviewed" two PS's both came highly recommended by friends. I am at the point where I have decided which surgeon I would like to do the surgery but I haven't yet committed to doing the surgery.

To say I am nervous/scared would be an understatement. Honestly, I look good in my clothes even the PS's were surprised by the amount of loose skin under the clothes. One commented at how well I hide it. It is not about what I look like in my clothes it is more about what I look like in a bikini.

I am worried about how long the recovery time is. I am a Flight Attendant, it would be interesting to hear from other FA's. Things that would interest me are: how long they were off work for, how the swelling was when they were at work and that sort of thing. One of the PS I went to see said I would be back at work in 4 wks. I think that might be a little ambitious considering the type of physical work I do not to mention the fact that she I am at work my body is in a pressurized enviorment. I also have a high pain tolerance but I am worried about the pain level after surgery. I have had drains before and I have to say they probably worry me more than anything.

Booked my surgery for Oct 2nd. Feeling excited and very nervous! 18 wks till I'm on the flat side. :-)

Never ever thought I would post pictures of my tummy online. Feeling a little embarrassed by them. You would never guess I have all this skin when i'm in clothes. Roll on October!

I bought a couple of these Tummy Toning Cami's from Costco the other day. I was wondering if anyone else used these after surgery?

35 days till surgery day :-0

Just curious, am I the only one that can't sleep? I have 9 days till surgery and I am struggling to get a decent nights sleep. I stress about everything from work to what if something goes wrong… Is this normal? I could really use some sleep. Yawn!

Starting to feel the nerves, I swing from calm and ready to being scared of the recovery process.

I do have a couple of questions: What do I really need in hospital, in for 4 days? Do I need to take a house coat? Can I just use a hospital gown? Flip flops or slippers? My flip flops are easy to put on.

As per Dr's orders I have started the senokot and I am taking gravel with me to the hospital. As it is getting colder here and my surgery is in Banff (Rocky Mountains) I am taking a cosy comfort blanket for in the car on the way home. I am also going to pop a pillow in for the way home.

Any other suggestions are extremely welcome!

When I arrived at the hospital on Tuesday around 5 pm I was admitted and taken to my room to get settled. Shortly after my husband and I went out for dinner and I returned to the hospital at about 10 pm. I was tucked up in bed with a warm blanket and a sleeping pill.
At 6 am the nurse woke me up, I had a shower and by 7 am my husband was back in the room with me. At about 7:10 am PS and intern arrived to talk about the procedure and to mark me up for the surgery. By 7:30 am I was walked in to the OR, was settled on the operating table and by 7:45 i was being operated on.
The first thing they did to me was to inject a nerve block, this works much like a dentist injecting your mouth for dental work, essentially it freezes your surgery site.
I had MR, TT, Lipo and then a revision to my previous breast reduction. The revision included Lipo. All told they removed about 3 lbs of skin and fat.
At 11:45 my PS called my husband to tell him that I was in recovery and chatting up a storm. By the time he made it to my room I had already been in there for a few minutes.
I was pretty comfortable and by 1 pm I was able to get out of bed more or less unassisted to go to the washroom. I have learned that if I bring the top of the bed up to the most upright position I can scoot my butt to the edge of the bed, put my legs down and slowly stand. I am all hunched up but aim standing. I find it way easier to move myself than allow the nurses to move me. The first time they tried to help me it actually twisted my stomach, I learned very quickly that I can manage if I go slow.
I am on 2 Percocet's every 4 hrs and that seems to be working well for me. I haven't had any nausea and I am not sleepy… Weird!!
I actually got very little sleep last night :-(

Today has been a good day, I had eggs and fruit for breakfast, cottage cheese and fruit for lunch. Luckily for me I have been able to keep everything down. I do find that I get a bit pale and light headed after eating, it's almost like recovery and digesting food is too much to do all at once.
I have been up and about a bit in my room and I had the most marvellous shower and washed my hair.
I went too long last night in-between meds and I ended up being quiet sore.
Happy healing fellow TTers,

The last 12 days have been interesting, there are definitely some emotional highs and lows. The highs are small things that mark the milestones on the recovery road. I think that the lows are the things you were totally unprepared for.

My biggest low this week was the shock that I had nothing to wear, I assumed that when the surgeon takes 3 + lbs of skin and fat I would easily fit in my pre surgery clothes. What a surprise it was for me to try on my jeans and not be able to do them up. This was a hard knock for me, I had worked so hard to loose/keep off 100 lbs and to have a 29" waist that, to measure my waist and find out it was 33" sent me into an emotional breakdown. I was not thinking rationally! Thankfully I had a few people I could turn to who talked me off the ledge. You see, prior to surgery, I had viewed many reviews on realself. I had look at many pictures of ladies trying on their old jeans and having them fit perfectly shortly after surgery that I just expected I would be the same.

I have been really swollen and feel really wide. However this morning I think I have turned a bit of a corner, I seem flatter, less swollen than I have been since day 2.

Realself is a wonderful resource! Several weeks prior to my surgery I started chatting with a lady that had surgery scheduled on the same day with the same Dr as me. Because we were hosptialized for 4 nights, we were fortunate enough to be able to meet. It was nice to know that she was just down the hall, it gave me a reason to take a walk and have a visit. Even today we text each other to checkin and see how we are doing.

Physically I haven't changed much so pictures didn't seem necessary, emotionally I am feeling much better. I wake up pretty flat and as the day goes on I start to swell. I do find I get sore towards the end of the day but it is nothing that I can not manage. I am an energizer bunny but since having surgery I find that, I tire easily. I listen to my body and take a nap as I need to. In the morning I can stand straight and by late in the afternoon I am hunched over. At this point I am still not able to walk very fast.

As of this morning I have lost 4 lbs since the day of surgery, pretty happy as I had popped up a little after the surgery.

I am happy I did this surgery, I wouldn't think twice about doing it again. Happy Healing to you all!

Not too much to change this week. I am still slow (compared to normal me) and still have a fair bit of swelling in the evening. When you look at the pictures you can see that I am more swollen above the hip on the right side of the photo (left hip). I think that the swelling there is due to the lipo and that area is still quite hard. I also seem to have upper abdominal swelling, maybe due to MR?

My BB looks good, still has some residual surgical clue in it. BB is way better than before :-). I am looking forward to seeing my butt again at sometime in the future….. It seems to have disappeared.

I do have what feel like mini contractions every so often and it is still very painful to cough or sneeze. On the whole my new tummy is so much better than my old one and I still wouldn't think twice about doing this again.
Happy healing!!!!

I truly believe that my PS is an artist! The differences in before and after are outstanding!!

For a little fun… This is the only song I could think of after surgery!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXW1u_1ksJA

Most of us have pets that watch over us during our recovery, I think it is time to recognize my furry family members that watch over me when my human family can't be here.

Not a much change this week. I think the swelling over my left may have gone down a little. My lipo sites, pubic area and under my arms from the breast lift are still quite sore. Like everyone else I am pretty flat in the morning and swell in the evening. I still feel hard and wide in my sides and below my BB. The tape over the incision came off this week. I do have a few puckers in the incision line and on both ends that I am hoping will settle over the next couple of months.

This week I can get my jeans on and done up but I couldn't wear them for any length of time as they are uncomfortable over the incision site. My waist has decrease from 33" (a few days PO) to 30", i'm hoping it returns to my normal 29" when the swelling has completely gone.

When look at my before pictures it makes me so happy I did this, my tummy looks way better!! Happy healing!!!

Pictures are taken first thing in the morning. I still think that I have some swelling, there is definitely some over the left hip area. Puckers in the incision seem about the same. I am really liking my BB, I think it looks very natural.

This week I am down to 29.5" waist in the morning… Getting there :-)

Where does the time go? It's really hard to believe that I am 12 ½ weeks PO. Everything is going well, recovery gone pretty well but, I'm still not back to my pre surgery physical condition. I have also been extremely fortunate in that I have not had to go back to work yet. Between Medical leave and vacation I have been able to give myself lots of time for recovery, I think that is very important for someone who works at 40,000 ft. That said January 1st 2014 is my first day back to flying.

I still have some swelling late in the day, sneezing is still not great and some twisting or stretching can cause sharp pain that doesn't last more that a couple of seconds.

The picture was taken at 11 wks I will post more pictures soon.
Happy New Year and Happy Healing TT friends!!!