Tummy Tuck Reviews
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“2 months and its been an emotional rollercoaster. Definately glad I did it!! - Davenport, IA”
kissblueheaven
Worth It
Spent: $9,600 in Davenport, IA
Spent: $9,600 in Davenport, IA
I am 5'9 215lbs and I have had 4 children ages 14, 12, 8, and 10months. I have been wanting a TT for ages and I am finally done having kids :) so it is time for me to get this body of mine back in shape. I know I am not a small woman, but I personally like my curves.
I love my hips, butt, thighs and boobs....even after having 4 kids. What I hate in my stomach and my back fat at the bra-line. I am having an extended TT w/lipo of the abs and flanks with muscle repair and lipo of the back. I cannot wait. I cant lie and say I am not nervous, but I gave it to God and I trust my surgeon.
This is hands down one the the best sites for getting a feel of what the process is like and seeing other womens stories. You women have inspired me to move forward with my journey. Thank you. Pray for me and I will pray for you. I will be posting before and after pics very soon.
Updated on 25 Apr 2011:
I am almost one week away from my big day, and today is my birthday!! Ya!! This TT is my birthday gift to myself. I cannot wait to become a part of the TT club. I am soooo looking forward to my surgery, but as most people I am scared. I know its all normal, but my emotion are all over the place I am soooo concerned about this surgery that I forgot it was my birthday today. My boyfriend had to remind me. I had my final appt. a few weeks ago, The dr. went over everything for me. Told me to keep on a multivitamin schedule and to get my scripts filled. I have done all of that. Now is just the countdown.
I am sooo excited!! I cant wait to get rid of this stomach I have been carrying around for 14 years. I have not worn a bikini since I was 18 years old and I just got the courage to wear a one piece for the first time last year! I feel like its time for me to get my life back. I am donr having children. I want to be able to enjoy the beach with my kids and not feel like the odd man out.
Pray for me and wish me luck!
I will post pics after the surgery.
Almost here!! :)
Updated on 29 Apr 2011:
I am 6 days out from my surgery and I am feeling better about doing it now. I was really nervous for a while, but I know that the odds of anything traumatic happening are pretty low. Anyway, I feel better. I am just waiting for my day.
I will update after my surgery.
Updated on 1 May 2011:
I am only a few days away from the big day. Everyday gets better and better. i am now feeling ultra excited, optimistic that everthing is gonna be alright.
I will pst after photos asap.
Keep praying :)
Updated on 3 May 2011:
I am really excited!! Its almost my big day. I am just tying up loose ends. Cleaning house, getting my food together for the next few days etc. I will post pics after the sugery.
I looked at myself in the mirror tonight and I realized I made the right decision. My belly and back fat have got to go. i dont have to do one more summer trying to fit into the clothes that I love with rolls hanging out andjeans not fitting. I am thanking the lord everyday for this opportunity. Cause as we all know, this surgery isnt cheap :)
Pray for me. Its almost here!!!
Updated on 6 May 2011:
I am very happy this morning. I can tell he really made my back and waistline smaller. I am having a hard time standing up straight. The drains are hell! I can't wait til those come out. I had. Ton of fluid pumped in me for the lipo so I am using the bathroom a lot.
My dr. said he took off 7 pounds of skin and four 16 ounce bags of fat! I still can't get over that. I was carrying around that much excess skin and fat on my back abs and waist. But thank the lord I am here.
I truly feel like crap on morning 2. Tons of fluid coming out of me. I can't mustar up the strenght to take a pic yet. I will have my boyfriend take one later this afternoon and post for you ladies. I haven't really looked in the mirror yet. Kinda scared to see. But I can't feel that I am alot smaller. I have a bit of a bulge in my tummy but I know that is from all the swelling. He didn't give me a compress to wear so maybe that's why. He said he doesn't recommend them unless truly necessary. So we will see.
All in all I'm taking percocet,vallium and celebrex. I am also taking iron pills and multi vitamin. I am supposed to be taking vitamedica but I think they forgot to give it to me when I went home yesterday. So I called about it this morning and am waiting to hear word on what to do.
Any questions feel free to ask.
Updated on 7 May 2011:
Sorry about all the upside down photos. Its just the way they are coming off my phone :-)
Updated on 8 May 2011:
Here I am on day 4 and I cannot poop. I know I know TMI but its killing me. I have taken prune juice hot and cold, exlax and milk of magnesia. I'm about to lose my mind! I feel it but it won't move on out.
I have a dr. Appt tomorrow. Hopefully it will happen by then. My stomache is so swollen and tight from this.
Oh well. Ill update when the magic happens lol :)
Updated on 9 May 2011:
Hey everyone I had my first post op appt. Today and he said everything looks great! I even got all of my staples out so that made me feel good. I can now officially shower :) I am still very swollen but I tried on a form fitting summer dress and even with all of the swelling I almost cried. I haven't ben able to wear anything like that without spanx on since I was 19 yrs old. And I'm only 5 days out. Thank you Jesus!!! I still have my drains booooooo!! "LOL but oh well, whatever gets me to my goal faster.
Any questions feel free to ask.
New pics later today.
Updated on 10 May 2011:
Hey there today is day six and I'm feeling so so. I am hating my swelling. My tummy is big and tight. I know its all part of the process but aughhhhhhh!
Hopefully progress will come soon. Its just one of those days. Blahhhhhhhhhh :)
Updated on 17 May 2011:
Almost 2 weeks. It is amazing how time flies. I have had ups and downs. The ups are I tried on some bikinis in the store for the first time since I was 18 yrs old. I'm 34. That was life changing for me. Although I still have cellulite I hve learned to appreciate my body and thank god I don't have a huge bely and back rolls anymore. I don't care what anyone thinks about my thighs I'm gonna rock a two piece this year! Lol
The other plus is I got my last drain out yesterday and I feel soooooo much better. I will post pics very soon. My dr told me my incision looks amazing and I agree. Its so light for only 2 weeks. I'm happy.
I still have a lot of swelling above my navel. A LOT! When I'm standing my tummy looks great but when I sit it still is. Little pudgy. I guess I have to hit he gym hard once I'm cleared.
The dr did tell me I can start liht walking but no lifting for another month.
Now onto the worse part I think I pulled a muscle yesterday in my abdomen. Ouch! It hurts so bad I went back to square one with pain pills and vallium cause I started having stomach spasms and everything. So pray for me I'm hurting.
But all in all I'm happy.
I will update again soon.
Updated on 28 May 2011:
I am 3 weeks PO and kinda feeling better. Its truly a process. I have lost 20 lbs to date since surgery and for that I am thankful. I am having some issues with my tummy. Right about my navel I havea part that's sticking out... it won't flatten out and it kinda hurts. I thought I popped a stitch or something. I find my self holding my tummy right there when I walk sometimes cause it hurts. I need to mention it to my dr. Also now my hips and thighs appear huge due to the smaller waistline. Now I know I have to go to the gym LOL!
All in all I am down from a 16 to a 12 in the waist but my butt and hips are in need if some help.
Notice in the 3 week pic I appear bigger in the waist... right after my period I justlooked bigger for some reason. But my weight i s down. I don't get it. I feel swollen though.
I will update again soon.
Updated on 28 May 2011:
By the way I cut my hair off! And I just bought the swimsuit ij the photo and I just noticed I still had the tag on it...oops! Lol
Updated on 8 Jun 2011:
I went to the dr for my 1 month post op and it went better than I expected. I thought I might have had an umbilical hernia but I don't. Thank God. Its just swellin and irriatation from the stitches in my abs. He told me if the swelling doesn't go down he could do spot lipo or a mini tuck pulling upward under the breat to fix the protrusion. We wil see. Still in some pain but I'm looking and feeling better everyday. I will post new pics soon.
Updated on 10 Jun 2011:
Week 5 and feeling better, doing more. I'm still not aloud to lift much due to my pain an protrusion above my navel. I have been walking a few miles a day. Trying to drop some more weight. But feeling good about life.
My incision is healing very well. My dr ad his nurse were shocked and excited about how great it looks after a few weeks. I havent been doing anything accept neosporin and vitamin e oil occasionally.
I do feel buring and tightness on and around my incision. I am still very tender to touch. I can sleep on my sides but I do feel pain. This is truly a process but well worth it. I have new pics. Don't mind the tags in some pics I was so excited to take the pics I forgot to take the tags off lol!
Updated on 18 Jul 2011:
Its been a while since my last update. I'm sorry for that. I have had death knock at my familys door over the past few months. 1st my father passed away and now my grandfather all in the past 4 months. I mention this because my recovery was going good and then I started to swell and my stomach was huge. I don't know why. Maybe stress. But it was horrible. I looked like I was 6 months pregnant at one point in he past month. But once the stress subsided a little my stomach went down. So go figure. But that freaked me out.
Now I thinking I'm gonna need some more lipo maybe ever a mini tuck on my stomach....my dr said the same the last time I was in for a visit. I still have noticable loose skin above my incision and some protruding above the navel. I'm ready the get it fixed but I have to wait.
All in all I wouldn't change anything. I definately look better than I did. I am 4 sizes smaller than I was Wooo Hoo! I started at a size 16 I'm down to a 12. Praise God. But I will say my butt and hips are like whoa!!! Lol.
Question: is anyone doing ab work 2 months out? Let me know if u are and how that's going.
Anyway, I will try to stay more current. I miss my tummy tuck family.
Sidenote: I'm now considering more surgery....nose job, lipo of the legs.....maybe :-) maybe not.
This review is the subjective opinion of a RealSelf member and not of RealSelf, Inc.
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My Doctor: Benjamin Van Raalte, MD
My rating:
My big day is here. I went in at 6 45 am and they got started around 7 50 am. The dr was funny. He made me feel very comfortable. The nurses are amazing! I cannot stress that enough. Next thing I know I'm in recovery. Once again the nurses were great! I have a lot of fluid coming out of me. They said I might have been the most they have ever seen. But that's fine with my that just means he was making sure I would be comfortable afterwards. He did tumescent lipo and extended tummy tuck with muscle repair and upper back lipo and my abs and flanks. He took off 7 pounds of skin and four 32 ounce bags of fat. That is amazing to me! Needless to say I am a bit weak. I almost passed out in recoery when I went to pee because I was trying to do to much too soon. I've slowed down. They aveme some more anti nausea meds and I went home around 3 30 pm. But I came out of the O R around 12 30pm. I'm home now and the first few times I had to get up to go to the bathroom it was difficult. But I am draining a lot out of my lipo incision and my drains. About 90 cc on number 2 and about 50 ccs out of number 1. They pumped me with a lot of fluid. My boyfriend an kids have been a God send. From changing my pads for drainage to emptying my drains. He has even went to the store to buy more maxi pads or my incision. Now that's love lol :) he told me my back looks great! I haven't looked but I can feel the difference. My tummy is very swollen. But its going down by the moment. So I have faith it will look great. All in all I am very happy with my decision. He stapled my which was a little shocking but he had too cause he pulled me so tight. Anyway praise the lord and good luck to everyone else getting ready to go through this journey. Ill post pics tomorrow. I'm too hunched over to post tonight.
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We are around the same proportions, I am imagining... I am 5'7" and 200 lbs. I have a 7 year old and twin 3.5 year old girls and really need to get these stomach muscles sewn back together! I'm also getting an umbilical hernia fixed with my full TT and lipo of the flanks.
I too was scheduled for May 5th but my babysitter just gave 2 weeks notice (day before surgery is last day) so I'm going to need to postpone.
You have such a great attitude going into it! My dentist, whose dad is a surgeon, told me that his father has always said that recovery time is up to the patient... it's all in the attitude. If you are stressed and nervous and negative, adrenaline goes into your system and slows the healing. So you are halfway there already with your positive nature!!! GOOD LUCK!
Lori
@ LoriMV I am soooo sorry that you had to postpone your surgery. I know it will all work out. Let me know how it yurns out. Thank you for your post as well about nervousness. I am trying so hard not to think about anything negative. Just positives. But I have my days. So I have been shoppig a bit, that helps a little :) I am very excited, my day is coming soon. I am not too worried about recovery because I have had a prior tubal surgery that was very painful. So if I can go through that kinda pain.... I believe this will be fine.
It's good to see other women around my size that are on here. As I said before, I like my size as a woman. i am in great health so as soon as i get this tummy and back of mines flat... wow! I will be a happy camper.
And I will have photos up of my before by friday. So stay tuned!
Good Luck everyone!
For now I am still waiting to save a few bucks to do it, and of course getting the courage to go through with it.
So you ladies are very inspiring. Good luck with your procedures, I will keep reading your posts and pray that everything turns to be better than you expected.
cheers, R.
I'm so glad this site is providing you with good information and support. I think our tummy tuck community is so wonderful and I'm extremely proud of you ladies. Keep keeping us posted on how you're feeling and I look forward to reading more and seeing your pics!
I have posted pics finally :)
Thanks again
Wishing you good luck and can't wait to see your results!!!!
You look great in your before photos. You are a beautiful woman, so get ready... you are gonna be killi" them when its all done!
Dont worry about family and friends not being supportive, Im dealing with the same thing. Unless they have gone through what you are about to go through or they has the body issues that you are about to get fixed, they will never understand. I have some so called friends that have been nothing but negative and it hurts, but oh well I have resigned myself to the fsct that they my be jealous because I finally getting rid of this stomach that has kept my self esteem down and gonna be a new me. My mom has even been a little negative but I love her anyway. I just ask for prayers and move on.
The only one that needs to be happy with the new you is YOU!!! :) ANd you will be.
Good luck! post pics when you are done with surgery.