Tummy Tuck: Stories

JANUARY 2013- 2 MONTHS TO GO- I have been wanting a TT since my first child. Before I had her very skinny and tall..5ft6 118 pounds with a flat tummy after I had her..My stomach resembled one that has been or should have been on an episode of CSI. I swore someone must have ran me over with a tractor and CSI could have compared the marks on my stomach to different types of tractor tires to figure out who done it.

Well now almost 6 years later and one more child I finally am having the surgery. Last year was a rough year for me. I had to have a hysterectomy after being told I had cervical caner. So knowing I can never have anymore children, I decided this is a perfect time. Anyways so my current feelings are scared- I am very worried that something will go wrong or it wont look any better, I am scared about the scar, I am scared I'll never be happy with the way my stomach looks. I am feeling excited because I am engaged and it would be amazing to go on a honeymoon and wear a bikini...We are holding off until Summer of 2014 to get married because of this Surgery and because I am going back to graduate school this year.. So I am hoping by then scar will have faded more and I will have some self confidence about my appearance.Ok I type too much..Shall update in February!

February 23- It is Less than 2 weeks till my surgery...Ugh it seems like its taking forever...My life has been a crazy hoping things will calm down by my surgery so I can focus just on recovery. Well my current feelings are SCARED. I just saw these super cute crop tops paired with like a maxi skirt for spring and I thought Ohh I should order this and then I thought wait..dont get your hopes up my stomach will probably still look jacked up after this surgery..I am depressed about being depressed with the results..maybe I should look into counseling rather then crop tops ha well next time I update will probably be after my surgery..Cant wait to get it over with and see my results.

EEK tomorrow is the big day...they changed my time from 6:30 until 8:30 which kinda sucks because I am a nervous wreck but hopefully I'll be able to sleep in a little more. Well ladies cross your fingers for me that everything goes well and that I don't vomit from seeing my scar :/
Also side not worried about the bird tattoo i have, I hope it all goes away and I am not left with some random feather or beak on my crotch.

OMG I did it...surgery was done yesterday. The pain is a lot worse then I had expected..havent seen my belly yet since they had it all wrapped up but I get to take a shower monday so I am excited to see it. currently though my entire body aches and hurts..I am staying on pain pills but that doesnt even to see to help much..I am getting worried I heard the 3rd day is the worse...I really cant imagine worse then this.

well its 3 days post op each day gets a little better. I was beyond tired all day. I have not slept through the night since before my surgery. But all I did this morning was nap and pee ha. I also took my first shower today it was exhausting and I couldnt even wash my hair :( my boyfriend had to do everything. He also took off the bandages while I laid in bed. I couldnt look at my scar I saw part of it and it totally grossed me out. I have to go in Thursday to have staples,drains, and pain pump removed So not looking forward to this. So scared about the pain.

Well its day 4 of post op. Still have staples,pain pump and drains in :( get them out Thursday though. Today I feel like my stitches are ripping hope this is normal. Walking a little more today, back totally beyond kills me. I am using a walker..cant imagine recovery without one. So get ready for some TMI I asked my sister today to bring me some Milk Of Magnesia in the pill form because its been 5 days since well you know..Well before I could even take one I could feel that feeling...and well it didnt hurt as bad as I expected but not much was accomplished if you get my drift so I am wondering if this could be part of the reason I hurt so bad..Well enough grossness... I did today also put a little foundation on. Havent had makeup on in 5 days I feel disgusting. Feel a little better but still sorta disgusting since I am draining, hunched over, havent fixed my hair in 5 days etc etc lol

6 days post op today and got my staples, pain pump, and drains removed.
Well I panicked so I took two of my pain pills one 2 hours before appt and one right before appt I was preparing for the worst.
Pain pump didnt hurt but it felt so freaking weird you could feel it coming out from inside you ahh it was weird.
Well then next step was staples, they had over 75 staples in me the only ones that hurt were the ones on the side. A lot better then i expected.
Then the dreaded drains...First my dr gave me a shot by each drain to numb the area. Then after a few minutes he took them out and sewed up the little hole while I was laying there with my eyes closed. No pain at all.
I feel a ton better without the drains and everything but still cant stand up straight which sucks. Worried about going back to work hunched over ugh :(
And today my dr prescribed me some muscle relaxers only 12 hopefully thats enough to get me through.

So its officially been a week. Still a lot of tightness,pressure and horrible back pain from being so bent over. Wondering if I will ever walk straight again.

10 days Post op and I am at home working..have to go to the office tomorrow looking like Quasimodo ick :(
So I have a question they had so much tape and crap all over my stomach and sides it left all that sticky residue and its stills on there... It hurts to like scrub on it but I want that crap off..any suggestions to getting it off?
Well other then that just practicing in my head on how to answer people when I have to go into office tomorrow..."i had surgery, its personal.' ' I had abdominal surgery for a female issue." ha I just know there will be questions and I dont want to answer any of them.

So 12 days not much is new...Started back to work on Monday. Taking it easy while I can. Been working from home some, taking it easy. I walk around every where looking like a hunchback which is not attractive but I am starting to feel happy about my decision. Granted the Scar is nasty looking which is normal but my stomach looks flat and there are no stretch marks. I actually feel positive about the future. I feel good that in the future maybe not this Summer depending on how scar behaves but by next year I will probably be wearing a bikini for the first time since I was a teenager. Even if my scar still shows a little I dont think I'll even care. My stomach looked like an old lady's saggy butt it was gross. I have not been happy with my appearance in 6 years to think that could start to change is uplifting for me!