Change My Life - Massachusetts, MA

I am a 40 year old married mom of 2 kids (12 & 8) and have been in remission from Crohn's Disease for almost 3 years now. When I was very sick, my weight went as low as 109. Currently I cannot get the scale lower than 170 lbs on my 5' 5" frame. I believe it is partly due to my less active lifestyle from chronic illness but also the medications I am on. My self-confidence has suffered tremendously to the point that I almost wish I was sick again at times.


I think that I would be able to love this larger curvier me if I didn't have such a flabby middle. My abdominal muscles have separated from pregnancy and I have never had a flat stomach my entire life - this is where fat wants to go on my body. I want to feel good in clothing and sexy when naked. I want to be inspired to be healthy - not just thin.


A tummy tuck appeals to me to accomplish my goals. Cost is a major issue for me as I am unable to work and parent small children at the same time. We are a one income family but I might be able to finance a procedure if it was around $5,000.


I am overwhelmed with emotion after finding this site and seeing the before and after pictures. I cried before writing this part of my profile. This is the just the beginning.
Here's to all of us women struggling to improve yet accept ourselves at the same time!

6/14/16 - bilateral breast reduction. Post op was going very well until sutures came out last Monday. Today is 3 weeks post op to date and I'm very disappointed though I read people go through this all the time. I have some suture separation on both sides and what looks like pus might just be fat or under layer of skin (I don't know because it's 4th of July and I can't get seen until tomorrow.
Here's my beef: I was healing great. Why this change since sutures removed? I wasn't given any special instructions at my last visit. PA did say I no longer had to wear the surgical bra which I was thrilled about! My stitches came out (super painful and some ares had healed over) & taped me back up and told me to massage on the weekends when the tape is off. Which I did yesterday and that's when I saw the separation. Freaked me out after seeing some of complex wound care on here! Let me mention I found suture material in 2 places (not where separation exists). Was I cavalier or not fully informed? I haven't done any major exercise since stitches came out - in fact Wednesday-Friday I was in bed with a killer migraine.
I'll see my PS Tuesday but what should I be asking him? Obviously I'll ask if there's more material in the wound. I don't want to be down with a wound vac & I want this to continue to go well. I guess it's another one of those female moments - self care vs. Life!

Amazing how you stop paying attention to your body when it looks like this. Feels awful.