mommy make over recovery at 6 months

I'm 45 five two with two children. One is a newbie to the family, the other is 21. Love them all in my nest and my husband is pretty amazing as well. Life is, well let's just say the dog days are over. Stay home mom and everything I thought I would never have. So I thought, hey I need higher, smaller boobs and I would love to rid my self of that muffin top and pouch. Why not, I can. I love to work out (cardio bare, very cool way to tone EVERY part of you body) My tummy however is stubborn. So I'll ask the PS about that too. To be continued....

When I talked to my PS I found out I had a separation in my abdominal wall. Really? So that's why no matter how much I work out o how well I eat or how much abb work I do my pouch never went away? PS also added, you have little to no fat to remove. He would do the flanks to contour my figure. Ok, so I don't know much about a TT at this point. Actually I went out of the state I live in for this so my PS had seen a ton off pictures but not me in the flesh so to speak. My surgery was scheduled for the NEXT day. Hence I had no idea what I was getting into. I had done no research, only on breast lift with reduction and replacing old implants. I could tell you anything about that procedure. I am actually 13 days now PO. I've just now been able to do the blog so I will have some brief catching up to do here. I don't remember much of waking up from my TT. I do remember insisting I get to see my skin they removed. I was so curious what it looked liked. I wanted a visual so I could start processing what happened to me. In a good way. I don't get grossed out very easily. Nobody ever showed me :-( My husband and I stayed the night in a hotel then late the next day we started our drive home. I don't remember this either. Apparently I had a lot to say but non of it was I was in pain or even an ouch. So pain meds rock When we got home, well I don't remember much then either. I do know I was way skinny with a very very flat tummy. What's could be nicer? LOL getting that drain out two weeks latte was nicer.... freedom at last. My back hurt for a week or so. All the things you hear about, sleeping on your back is not fun. Don't drop your drain or you will almost pass out from the pain. Your first cough o sneeze., well let's say if you feel like your not in pain so far and things are going great, you will now feel vulnerable and a bit more serious about what your body just went though. This is what happened to me. Few more days go by and I swelled and swelled... Not pretty to look at. I looked under my bandage once and what I saw scared me. I didn't know if I was seeing things. from laying down it looked like I was sewn up by pulling the skin from above over the skin above my pubic area, but it didn't meet! like it was pulled and then pulled over the incision areas then laid down on the skin over my pubic bone. UH? I'm thinking is this what they do? Why didn't my PS have the skin meet? Like taping up a photo, you know... very carefully matching up both sides so you can barely tell the picture was ripped in the first place. Well he did just that but the swelling had left a big fat ridge above and below. Now I am 13 days post op and it's a teeny tiny bit better. PS says, you look perfect! You look exactly the way you supposed to. hmmm ok, is it going to look better. Yes, he says. When it heals you will barely notice a scar. Not sure I believed him at he time, but it's been 2 weeks since then and I'm starting to see it most likely will be a great looking scare. MOSTLY this is due to this site! Standing up straight now, stay in bed a lot and really don't leave my yard. Pain is an 8 here and there. Emotionally..well around the end of the second week, back a few days ago, I really was getting over it. I want to take my son to school I want to garden and go to the market and have play dates and make dinner, go to my exercise class in the morning... I thought I would be by now ( minus the work out) because last week I had stuck to my normal routine for the most part then sleep all afternoon then made dinner then went back to bed. I'm not doing that anymore. LOL I love that I had this procedure, I love the journey too, it's a way longer recover then I ever could have imagined or planed for but it's a wonderful thing. Just harder to remember that after 13 days! I gotta get out man or I'm going turn into a jello brain and my three year old is going to forget who I am and my husband is going fall asleep at the wheel so to speak. I hate to be not pulling my weight and taking care of how the house is un. So far though My 21 year old and my hubby have done such an incredible job. Hope they can hang on a little while longer! :-)

Day 17 PO

Yesterday and this morning were great! I decided as long as listened to my body, I could do my routine allowing for long naps and of course not going to to Cardio Barre.(www.cardiobarre.com I'm not a sales person for them or anything I just realize most people don't have one near them and might wonder what I am talking about! ) After doing not much all week it felt good to take my son to preschool on my own. See PEOPLE, chat a bit and be normal. I was starting to forget who I was other then a TT recovery person. LOL After that I stopped into my exercise class to say hello the the owner and my favorite employee there. That was the best! To explain this class has been my toughest accomplishments. It's been the one hour in the day I focus on me. It makes me feel so fortunate to have a healthy body and can even move the way you do in this class. It makes me feel long and beautiful. These woman have seen me go from ok shape to very strong. Not being there as sure added to my depression when present. It's got contribute to physical and mental lows. So if you are a very active person and in to fitness you might experience an additional loss serotonin after you get of your pain meds. This may be right around the time you actually can get out of the house and be a bit more productive anyway.So it all come out in the wash!

Oh and my PS did call me back and reassure me that I wont always have that ridge on my scare. He told me it will be barely visible. so the necessary higher location of my scar is not really an issue. There simply was not enough skin to go any lower. Removing the skin he did was necessary for the results to look good and the surgery needed to be done for the separation in my muscles. I choose him because I knew is was amazing and could do a scar you barely see, the same goes for BL scars. I mentioned I didn't know I would having a tummy tuck I thought a lil lipo and and a lift. Plus there were no pics on this site that looked like mine! Phots are hard to see really what kind of ridge is present. Don't over compare your recovery scar to others. Use the Q and A, it too makes you feel like your learning more and your getting educated answers. The PS here do get back to in a day or two and the answers keep comming for weeks. I love getting an email saying I have a new response. It's like someone else cares about me too!

So I feel terrific now. If my PS had called me back the day I called It would have prevented a lot of tears. So ask your PS what he's procedure is for answering your non emergency questions. How long should it take to return call. Also whom would you direct your concerns or questions to when he is not available for several hours or the same day you call. Also any literatur you receive before hand, try to read it a lot of times and think of other questions you need answers to that are not addressed in there little packet. You will find a lot of good ones on realself!

If you have a TT I really hope you research this site. There is nothing that is not addressed pertaining to the surgery or recovery. If I had, it would have reduced my fears 80%. That is a big shout out to this woman. What a cool group of ladies from all over the globe.