“Can't Believe Its Gonna Happen!! Tummy Tuck/Breast Lift - Dec. 28th!!! - Greensboro, NC”

It'S actually going to happen... that's what I keep telling myself. In 36 days I will have a tummy tuck, breast lift and lipo in my hips and flanks. I am a 40 year old mother of 2 boys (5 and 8). My story sounds like most others... After getting married and having children, I put on the pounds and weighed in at 175 (maybe a few pounds over at some point). I am 5'4' and and I now weigh about 140. I was in a size 14 at my largest and now I wear an 8 and sometimes a 6. My weight was always in my belly, even when I was skinny, before marriage. The "pooch" was always my problem but that is very easy to cover up with big shirts and tight pants. I became very skilled at covering it all up!

Well, after the kids, my "girls" started to droop and now they rest somewhere mid-belly (without my size 34DD bra). I finally feel good about how I look in my clothes and I am ready to feel good about how I look out of my clothes. I want to wear a nightgown without a bra... actually I want to wear those really cute and sexy nighties with out a bra. I also want to wear strapless tops but haven't found a strapless bra that can hold my babies up. Long story short, I have always wanted to do this and never thought it would actually happen.

I have read so many other reviews and I am inspired by the stories and bravery of all the other women out there. I almost backed out of the surgery after watching a few videos on YouTube... you know, the one where they show the actual procedure. It was so frightening to me that I almost backed out. Then I discovered this website. All the women seemed so brave and I thought that if everyone else could do it, so can I. I do not handle pain very well and I have also been told that I can be a little "dramatic" at times. Well, I admit that I am a little drama queen but I this could set me into a whole new realm of drama. My poor husband is more worried about how I will react to the pain rather than will I actually wake up from the surgery. Needless to say he is ready for the worst.

I am a pharma sales rep during the day and I teach Zumba at night. My husband is a stay-at-home father (ie: unemployed at the moment) and I have no worries about him taking care of the boys and my house while I am laid up. I am just worried that I am going to go out of my mind with boredom and feeling worthless. I usually dont sit very long before I find something to do and I am rarely home before 7pm every day. On the other hand, I am so looking forward to just being to chill with a few books and spend some time with my boys. I will be taking 3 weeks off from work (so afraid that it is not going to be enough time). I hope to get back to teaching Zumba in about 3 months.

I wanted to get my review started and I will post some before and after weight loss pics as well as pics of the belly and the girls. I have to admit that I am so afraid that I will be "caught" by a co-worker or neighbor and that they will have pictures and evidence of my nasty belly. I have them all so fooled with my strategic attire and I just don't want my little secret to get out.

Thank you all for going on this journey with me and I look forward to following your journey as well.

Updated on 23 Nov 2010:
Added some before and after weight loss photos. Before surgery pictures of the tummy is on its way...

Updated on 24 Nov 2010:
Yucky belly pictures before TT...

Updated on 24 Nov 2010:
more pics...

Updated on 13 Dec 2010:
PRE-OP APPOINTMENT TODAY... and now I have a few questions for everyone. First, was anyone out there given Dilaudid for pain? I was expecting Percocet or Vicodin but I hear Dilaudid is a little stronger. I say bring it on but I was hoping to get some feedback. Also, my doc was a little hesitant in doing the lipo because of the increased risk of a blood clots so he is giving me a blood thinner the morning of the surgery and I will need to give myself a shot everyday for 5 days after the surgery. Anyone know anything about this?

Overall, I am still really excited about my surgery but my PS is so conservative and refuses to paint a pretty picture for me. He spent a lot of time answering my questions and I feel very safe in his hands... that is the most important thing.

Updated on 22 Dec 2010:
Only 6 days away and starting to freak a little. I have read that a calm comes about you prior to surgery but when exactly does that happen?

A FEW NEW QUESTIONS....
First, did any of ladies have those awful fatalistic thoughts prior to surgery? This morning I started thinking about the worst case scenario like what happens if I don't wake up? What will my friends and family think if something happens to me on the table? Will they think I was being selfish and risked my life over vanity? I know these are crazy thoughts but I just can't stop them!

Also, I was under the impression that most people are given a pain pump. My PS told me that he no longer uses the pump because of some issues with the med releasing too fast. How many of you ladies used a pain pump and if not, was the pain bearable?

Thanks so much for all your insight. I don't think I would be handling this so well if it weren't for all of you ladies! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!

Updated on 27 Dec 2010:
Well, its the night before surgery. Actually, my surgery is only 11 hours away - WOW! I would be lying if I said that I wasn't petrified because I am. I took a Xanax and now I;m starting to chill a little. Went out to dinner with the family tonight and now I am getting ready to talk with my husband about the possible outcomes. I hate to bring it up but what if, by the slightest chance, something did happen to me, I want him to know what my wishes are. Did anyone else do this? You just never know...

I am also so worried about this nasty cough and drainage I have right now. It's constant and I am so congested. We shall see... only the PS can tell me what to do.

Well, off to sleep and I will post as soon as I can. Of course, I will have my laptop with me in recovery because I just can;t go anywhere without it! I will post as soon as I can. Thanks again to all the wonderful ladies on this site for helping me get to this point. Night ya'all.....

Updated on 10 Jan 2011:
2 weeks PO - Feeling so much better at 2 weeks its incredible! So here's whats happened it the past week. On day 7 I went back to my PS and had my drains removed. Talk about relief!!! The pain of the drains was so much worse than any of the other pain that I was experiencing at the time. My skin was red and it burned like the dickens every time I moved. The drains made sleeping so much worse and I can't begin to tell you how much better you feel when they are out. I was so afraid of the pain I would experience when they removed the drains but it didn't hurt at all. My husband, on the the other hand, didn't handle things as well as I did. He couldn't believe how much drain was actually inside my body. His face turned white and he was reallly woozy at the sight of them being removed. Men....they are weak!! ha!

I had a major breakthrough this morning. I have been a little disappointed that my stomach is not completely flat. I have a lot of swelling above the incision line and it just looks like another fat roll. A smaller fat roll. I didn;t have any lipo so I have been really worried. Well, this morning I decided to "inspect" things a little before getting into the shower and I couldn't believe how good my belly looked for the first time. My binder was tight last night and I think that all the swelling was gone for a short time this morning. I actually had that really sexy vertical line running down my belly and everything was really really flat. I had tears in my eye and my husband was so so so so happy for me. Of course, I was back to my old swollen self by the time i got out of the shower but I at least had the opportunity to see what the end result is going to be!!!!!

My PS removed most of my steri strips today and my scar is really raised and funky looking. He tells me that it will all heal flat and straight. My PS is also very much against using any creams or oil at this point. He said maybe at 8 weeks. His reasoning was because while the scar is flattening the rubbing makes the scar wider. I am a little hesitant to follow his direction but I am gong to. His staff says he is very serious about his scars and he has a great success rate! I was told that I can drive now and most importantly, I can have ALCOHOL!! YEY! That Cosmo is calling my name!!!!

I have one more week before I need to go back to work and I hope that I can get my energy back. That is the one thing that get me down right now. I know I am only 13 days PO but I get sudden bouts of exhaustion throughout the day. I hope this subsides soon.

Updated on 22 Jan 2011:
25 Days PO - I have been MIA for a few days because I started back to work this week and boy was I ambitious. I was absolutely exhausted every night when I got home and didn't even open the computer. I can hardly keep up with the 97 posts that showed up when I finally looked. Going back to work was both wonderful and painful. First of all, it was great to get those brain cells moving again. I felt like my brain was mush but that's getting better each day. I laugh at myself when I thought my swelling was bad before going back to work because at the end of every day I looked AND felt like the Goodyear blimp!!!!!! One night my husband even said that I looked like my old self (pre-surgery) again (he has a way with words, huh?). My swelling around the belly button area and above the incision line is not getting any better and it actually looks even worse. I am starting to sorry so much that it's never going to go away. I normally need to workout very very hard to keep the weight off and I haven't worked out now in 4 weeks. I can't wait to get going again.

I am thinking about going to another PS just for another opinion. Worst case scenario I will probably need to get a little lipo around that area :-(

Updated on 28 Jan 2011:
Posted oOne Month PO pictures today. I am still extremely swollen, I think (hope actually). I took the pictures first thing out of bed because the swelling is usually at its lowest but today was exceptionally good. I have been drinking so much water in the hopes that it will go down. I've decided that if it will make the swelling go down faster than I don't mind getting up 5 times in the middle of the night to pee.

PS told me I still need to wait 2 more weeks to exercise and I just can't wait!! I'm not sure where the energy is going to come from but I will find a way. Exercise is what keeps me from blowing up so now I am just really watching what I eat. I find that high fiber foods make me bloat really bad in the upper stomach area. It's funny how after a TT you know EXACTLY where your stomach is because it wants to come on out and show you!! I realize that I have such a short mid-section that everything shows.

My scar is healing but I still have a lot of puckering. I can see an improvement since last week so it's all about patience now. Based on my doctor's recommendation, I am not using anything on the scar until he says so. He showed me pictures of a few scars of his patients and I swear they are very hard to see after just one year. He says it's because too much rubbing in the beginning can make the scar wider than it has to be so he waits for it to settle down before applying anything.

In contrast to my TT, I am very very happy with my "girls". I have had so much fun wearing tank tops and trying on shirts without a bra, just to see how good they look!! I have had to eliminate so many cute outfits in my previous life because there was never a strapless bra suitable to hold these babies up.

Overall, I am still happy that I did this and I would definitely do it all over again regardless of the pain and $$. I am a very non-patient person and this is truly a test in patience for me!!! The swelling is so bad at the end of the day that my pants are screaming to come off!! I start the day with about 1 inch of give in the waistline and end the day testing the strength of the button and fabric. I am also expecting my period to yesterday I seriously looked about 3 months pregnant when I got home from work. SOOOOOOOO frustrating!!
My energy level is getting much better as well and I look forward to seeing what the next month will bring to my new body!

I also want to apologize to all my cyber friends out there that I haven't been on here much! I spend most of my day driving and while it's easy to read the posts it is really dangerous for me to respond and make comments. By the time I get home, get dinner on the table, put the kids down and finish my work I am too tired to type anything. I am sure you can all relate!! Just know that I am reading everything and keeping up with all of you and thinking of you guys everyday!!!

Thanks for keeping up with my journey as well!!!!!!!!!!