Tummy Tuck: Stories

Hi Miami, I'm getting you and Nana mixed up! Going to say it is because of all the kids in my house this weekend - not my age LOL. Hope you are having a wonderful Mother's Day weekend!

Happy Mothers Day to all the great beautiful ladies on real self!! Hope you have a great day with you new hot bods :)

God Bless all of you!!

Going to go get waxed on Tuesday - 5th week post-op. Wish me luck. Scars are doing well. Boobs still hurt - especially going from a horizontal position to a vertical one. They look nice but still too big to me. Sorry I haven't posted in a while. Celebrating Mother's Day tonight at Maggiano's Italian restaurant (great gluten-free menu) so I will probably spend some time on realself tomorrow to catch up. Made an appt. w/my sx for Thursday just to make sure all was going well. I wasn't supposed to see him until June 22. Just seemed to long to me.

NanaMakeover - I had forgotten I even had the lavender massage oil in my bathroom until you mentioned it! Am bringing it out to use. Yesterday my PS said I could use whatever I normally use on the rest of me. He also demonstrated massaging from middle along scar line in soft strokes, using his thumb, working to end of scar. Probably beats the deep gouging 'massage' I was doing on myself LOL. Hope you have a wonderful weekend and Happy Mother's Day!

Hi NanaMakeover, That's a great suggestion. I love the lavendar idea. I wonder if they sell it at GNC? I'll look it up online. Thanks! Glad to hear your scar is healing well!! Like Cheryl in Walla said, our emotions are all over the place with this sx LOL

Cheryl & Miami, My doc said it didn't matter what I put on my scars cuz it's mostly the massage that helps anyways. So I bought Mederma with & w/o sunscreen, Palmers Cocoa Butter w/Vit E, full strength Vit. E oil (the kind you can actually drink as a supplement), & some lavendar oil. My massage therapist told me that the lavendar works really good & to add a couple of drops of it to my other lotions/oils. She said to make sure it was a quality lavendar oil. I got mine at a local wellness store -- a itty bitty bottle for $15 -- which isn't too bad since I only use a few drops at a time. My skin on my breasts & areolas is really dry since the surgery & it is really loving all the oils. I'm really happy with the way my scars are healing.

Hi Cheryl in Walla, Yikes! That must've hurt OUCH!! I actually haven't put anything on the scar yet. Before my sx, I bought Maderma but on my last PS appt, he told me he doesn't like that (so $$ down the drain, I lost receipt at CVS-though I haven't tried exchanging it for something else). Anyway, he recommended ScarGuard instead and he told me they sell it for $75!! That's a lot of $, so I looked it up online and found that they sell it at Walmart for $27.88!! I bought it but haven't put it on yet because the lady that does my lymphatic massages told me that next week when i go she will pull some more of that white "fish line looking" thread that they sew into the scar before she applies ScarGuard. It's a small bottle and it looks like clear finger nail polish with the same kinda small brush and you're supposed to brush it on twice a day. Why don't you ask your PS if he thinks that's better for the scar. I'll update you once I put it on for the first time. Hope that helps :)

Miami, have you had any problem with lotion on scar and then it sticking/gluing to the compression garment? I put on Mederma yesterday for 1st time and today nearly yanked scar off LOL when I went to remove the garment. Nasty surprise that! Thought I had rubbed it all in, maybe not..Nothing like emotions bouncing all over the place - happy and excited, then scared, then back up again LOL.

Hi Cheyl in Walla, I'm 4 1/2 weeks po and believe me I was VERY weepy the 2nd and 3rd week as well. This sx is hard, you know you look better but the swelling and discomfort plays games with your head! I completely relate! I'm still wearing m compression garment and it also goes from under breasts down to mid thigh. I hate it but know it's necessary for a few more weeks. The only thing I dont have to wear anymore is the binder. But just keep remembering you've already been through the worst and with all that ab MR (5-6 inches!! Wow!!), once you take off that garment, YOU'RE GOING TO FEEL AND LOOK FABULOUS!! Enjoy your Sunday!

Hi Miami, I'm 6 wk TT postop and was VERY weepy the 2nd week. Also, I'm wearing a compression garment that goes from under breasts down to mid-thigh. Was going to post pics of it, but it's too ugly LOL. My abs were pulled in about 5-6 inches, so I still have to wear mine. I'm kinda envious of those not wearing their binders/garments any longer! Hope your healing - and shopping- go wonderful! Cheryl

Thanks for the info. I'll definitely look at Target.

Nanamakeover,
Hi!! I just posted but also wanted to let you know that Target has the Spanx....although I think for Target they're called Assets, but when you look at the tag it says spanx.com so it must be a line especially made for Target..a lot cheaper than Dillards ($70? that's ridiculous!!). Let me know how that goes..and yes, please post pics...I'm working on doing the same :)

Laughing can make things a little difficult. My hubby got me laughing so hard the other day that I couldn't talk cuz I couldn't get enough air in my lungs to get any sound out.

If you peed a lot after your LDM then it must have worked. It is so different from the Swedish massages I'm used to getting. I can't get my 2nd one until Wednesday. Can't wait.

I was at Dillards yesterday (Soon2banewme suggested a bra there) & looked at the Spanx there but I'm not sure I want to spend $70 on something I may not wear very often. I will probably go to Walmart & Target & look at theirs again. One thing that the Spanx had though is some shaping in the butt. We'll see.

I took my daughter shopping last night at Penny's & I ended up getting myself a dress too. I haven't worn a dress in a very long time & this one was a knit one. When I tried it on & turned sideways, OMG! I couldn't believe how my profile looked. Boobs were up high & no stomach pooching out.

I'm going to try to post pics this weekend of me in my new dress & a bikini.

Glad you are doing better. Just imagine how we're going to feel this time next year!!!

Hi NanaMakeover,
Thanks so much for writing! You made me laugh so hard (it hurt lol) when you said it felt like you had a baby inside..i can so relate!! I am feeling much better today. Yesterday PS told me theres no need for binder, yaaaay! and i went to Walmart and bought one of their shapewear brands that feels firm but not so tight that I can't breathe or eat (like the one I had on from Marena). I'm still swollen under BB but not too bad. I'm also getting the lymphatic massages by hand and the lady is great! I feel so much better after and it makes me pee a lot :) guess it moves the lymphatic system...actually, I have an appt tmrw and looking forward to it. My PS also told me to start putting on ScarGuard on my scar, also bought it at Walmart. You should look into the garments at Walmart, they're pretty good and cheap and I know Target has some good ones too (like Spanx). Hope all is going well with you, let me know.

I can imagine having surgery on both sides of your body is a little rough going.

My skin all the down the center of my abdomen is tight. That's one benefit of the cincher -- it helps me remember to sit up straight & therefore stretching out those muscles & skin a little. I don't feel labor-like pains though. A couple of days post-op it felt like I had a baby inside me kicking but that went away. I do, however, feel movement in some parts of my abdomen after eating. I think it's just my small & large intestines doing their jobs & since everything is so tight, there's just not as much room in there for things to expand.

As far as eating goes, I eat pretty much as I did prior to sx, EXCEPT less. I can always tell if I eat too much because as soon as I stand up from the table, my stomach immediately bloats & gets extremely tight. Usually it goes away in a little bit (20 mins. or so); if not a short, easy walk helps. I do try to stay away from gassy or fatty foods though. The 2nd week after sx, I went out to have a ribeye steak. Too much fat on the steak plus the cinnamon butter on my sweet potato. Oh the gas pains about killed me - and I had on the cincher. I stay away from brocolli too.

If you don't already do so, drink lots of water & empty your bladder frequently, even if you don't feel like you need to. I find by the time I really feel like I have to go, my stomach is already too tight. I even make myself get up at night; mornings when I don't aren't that comfortable.

Most of my swelling is between my navel & incision which is what I kind of expected. My 20-30 walks seem to help the swelling. Also, I started getting Lymphatic Drainage Massages & that is supposed to help. Hopefully, I can go on Friday to get another one & my MT can start breaking up some of the scar tissue that has formed.

Stay positive -- i.e. "I'm positive I won't have to wear this damn garment for very much longer!"

Enjoy the Florida sunshine.

Hi NanaMakeove,
thanks so much for writing back! I don't know what I would do without real self friends that know EXACTLY what we're going through. You are so lucky that your PS doesn't make you wear the hideous compression garment that I have on. It's from under the breasts down to mid thigh. I had a FTT, MR, Lipo and Brazilian Butt Lift. He also makes me wear a binder on top of compression garment. I wore a large when I got out of sx and 2 weeks later he told me to get the medium, which I did.Well, that has been a horror. It is way too tight but he says that's the way it should be to control swelling. I've been wearing it for more than a week now but I can barely breathe, eat, even my lower back hurts! I'm miserable. Today I put on the large. I'm swollen especially under my belly button, around the scar and feel a lot of pulling (kind of like a contraction from labor pains). Do you get that too? It's hard to tell what's normal. Also, what do you usually eat? I feel like I'm so tight with garments that I'm not eating very well. I need to take some pics to post soon. I know I look better than before for sure, but I still feel bad and I truly think its because of the tight garments. I go back to my PS on Fri for a 4 week (Wed) post op visit. Lets see what he says.

Hi Miami. We're in the same age bracket so thought I'd say hi. I hope you are having better days than your last few posts. Like Kimmers, I only had to wear a binder (and mine was just a waist cincher) from days 7-14, and now whenever I work out. I'm in a soft, comfortable sports bra 21-22 hours a day. At 4 weeks I can wear whatever bra I want. My swelling is just above my TT incision -- still looks like I have a muffin top albeit smaller. I'm only 3 weeks out today so I shouldn't complain too much. Period this week so I'm using that excuse too. Emotions tend to run high after any surgery. Just do your best to look for the positives no matter how little they may be. I was comparing my before & after sideways pics & was discouraged how my tummy still stuck so much all the way from my braline to my underwear line but then I noticed how much better my skin tone was. Little victories go a long way. Keep in touch. Are you going to post some pics? I bet you look great.

hi everyone! Hope you're recovering well Happy135. I have a question for you or Kimmers25 regarding compression garment. I'm 2 1/2 weeks po today. I feel a lot better, thank God! :)
I was told by my PS that I need to move from a Large Merena full body mid thigh garment to a Medium. I thought it would be best to order the one without the arms/bra so I ordered the one from under the breast bone down to upper thigh in a Medium. Apparently, I am at the end of the "medium" due to my measurements (waist 30", hips 40", thigh 21.5") and that's where the "large" measurements start. Therefore, the medium is SOOOO tight that I can barely breathe/eat, especially on the are above my belly button. I have a doc appt tmrw morning and I can bet that he's going to tell me to suck it up and wear it that tight. But it's almost impossible for me to keep it on all day/night. Are any of you experiencing this? Also, how about Spanx or Flexees? Do those work well at this stage also. I do have swelling but it's mainly under the belly and on my midback due to lipo. I could really use your advice.

Thanks so much ladies!!!

much love and prayers for your quick recoveries Happy135 going your way!!
Please write back!

Thank you :)
Have a beautiful Sunday!!!

Hi Happy135. Yea I dont believe i'm eating much either. I will try to add fruit to the mix. Thanks so much!! :)

Just make sure you're eating enough because your body is trying to recover. Doesnt really sound like much. Don't "worry" too much about the not working out part because your body needs this time off and if you're not eating alot of fattening food then you should be fine! You have that new flat belly and while you recover it's gonna stay right there. ( hidden under all the swelling lol) SMILE .. This too shall pass