“Booked my Mini for May 19th - Missouri”

Well, I'm 9 days away from my surgery, and I have to say, I'm not nervous at all yet. I have a pretty significant amount of loose skin from my two 9 and 10lb babies. I lost all of the baby weight within a year of having them. (They were 16 months apart.) And ever since then, I'm just left with what I call "the bag they came in"!

My skin stretched terribly, and despite my slender figure, I've been wearing loose clothing for 11 years to cover it. (I just turned 30.) Aside from the obvious vanity issue, it's been a major annoyance to have the extra skin always sticking to me, and always trying to tuck it into pants. It's something that bothers me every day of my life. I've finally decided to do something about it as other health issues arise in my life.

I have pretty advanced endometriosis, a condition I'm stuck with until I decide to have a hysterectomy, which is something I won't be considering before 40. I also had to have my gallbladder out because it was being strangled by endo, and unfortunately the doctor made a mistake which almost killed me. I luckily made it through, but it's left me with a low/no fat diet for life. I'm at a point where to improve my quality of life, I need to fix the things that ARE fixable, and this is my final hurdle.

Aside from being able to comfortably dressed without worrying about the skin, I'm most excited to go for a run. Even with the most supportive clothing, having this skin bouncing around makes it impossible to run comfortably for more than a minute. I work out over an hour a day, strictly on the eliptical/weight training/pilates. I really can't wait to change it up.

I'm not out to look like a swimsuit model, I just want to feel good, and learn to love my body again after it's done me wrong.

My doctor is awesome, and really understands the simple results I'm looking for. No lipo or shaping of any kind, just the loose skin snipped. He didn't try to sell me on anything beyond what I'm looking for, and it was easy for me to book with him immediatly after my consult at the end of March.

Well, I've been a bit wordy here, and I know how important photos are, and I will be adding them soon. Updates to follow!

Updated on 11 May 2011:
Added photos of my "before". That was HARD to do.

Updated on 18 May 2011:
Well, tomorrow is coming fast! I'm pretty nervous, and I'm just in this house cleaning frenzy right now. Trying to make sure the kids have everything they need to survive a week of minimal mommy-care. Laundry and all of that. They finish school next week, so this was a crazy time to schedule this, but the only time that worked. I have a 90mile drive to and from my surgeon (anyone else go that far?)so I'm worried about the long ride home. Hopefully my next update will be a good one. I'll take photos as soon as I'm able. My follow up appt is May 25th, so I'm hoping any drains I have will come out then. We'll see.

Updated on 19 May 2011:
Well, I'm about 6 hours post-op, and feeling SO releived. I'm uncomfortable, but the worst part was the nausea when I got out. Went on for hours and I could't get out of recovery for hours. Pretty sore now, but managable. Hard to walk, hopefully in a few days I can pick up my pace. Binder is super tight, and I have one drain. I won't see what anything looks like for a few days, but just knowing that huge fold isn't there anymore is enough to get by on until then. Thanks for all of the well wishes, I will post pics in a few days and keep up to date with progress. Luckily I came home to a mailbox full of magazines!

Updated on 20 May 2011:
One Day Post-Op, so far so good. Pain is managable. Itchy under my binder. Hard o get up and down, and sleeping was difficult last night since we don't have a recliner (I slept propped up in bed, which is not a position that is easy to get into or out of!) I keep a little bag of all of my things with me wherever I am, pills; celphone with alarm (to wake me to take the pills)and a little notepad and pen to keep track of when I'm supposed to take my pills and record dranage. I'm trying not to sit for too-long periods to prevent clots, but I may be doing a little too much getting up and down and shuffling around the house. I havn't found the right balance of rest and moving yet. Other than that, still not too bad. I'm just so glad it's done!

Updated on 22 May 2011:
3 Days Post-Op:
Pretty bloated and swollen. I was expecting that though. It's really uncomfortable with the binder being so tight. (After I swelled, I loosened it up about an inch, which is still tight, but now it's not hurting my back and ribs as much. I am still very much walking like an old lady! I don't see that improving for a while. I get up and walk every 1-2 hours. (Which means pacing around my living room and kitchen.) The drain annoys me, as I'm sure it would anyone. I keep checking to make sure it's not slipping out (which is just bored paranoia I think!) I never miss a pain pill, I set my blackberry alarm to my pills schedule. (I actually have a high pain tolerance and was sure I wouldn't need much as far as heavy painkillers, but boy was I wrong! When they start to wear off, I can really feel it. Other than that, so far, so good. Washed my hair over the tub, and made one call to the doc on call to let them know my legs and ankles were very swollen. (I hadn't expected that. She said that's pretty normal and would last a few days.) So tommorow I'm hoping to have a more normal day, maybe a little less sitting in the recliner and a little more keeping busy. I go back to the doc on Wednesday, which will probably be when I get my drain out. All discomfort aside, I can't believe I really finally did this. It's pretty surreal. Still feel like I am going to wake up from a dream. I know I still have a bunch of recovering to do, but it's such a relief already.

Updated on 24 May 2011:
As of now, I'm inclined to say that this wasn't worth it. It kind of feel like a bad dream I can't wake up from. The pain has been off the charts, and the pain pills started making me sick yesterday so I had to stop taking them. I wound up hyperventilating last night through all the crying and yelling for help, which made my draining blood red again. It's been really awful. Meanwhile, having screwed up my healing last night with my little jag, I don't know if this awful drain will be coming out tomorrow or not. I can hardly fathom the 90 mile drive and coming home with it still in. I'm really questioning why I did this. So I had loose skin, who cared? People have flaws. It's not like this makes me perfect anyway. I had the binder off to adjust things this morning, and I was just completely underwhelmed by my flat belly. I just didn't care. I wasn't excited. It just made me want to cry. It wasn't worth this, not for what I've been through or what I've put my family through the past few days. I feel like I'm never going to feel better. For the few minutes at a time I can stand to move, I'm just pacing the living room like the hunchback of Notre Shame. If there is a light at the tunnel, I feel like seeing this flat belly is just going to remind me of a really bad experience in my life. I hope that feeling goes away. Right now, I just wish I never did this.

Updated on 27 May 2011:
Had my drain out today. (Holy SH*T.) Feeling somewhat human again. Saw my incision for the first time (8 days later! It's been covered.) and it's pretty hideous. It's completely uneven, very high, and my belly button is unnaturally low. (like, REALLY low.) Plus it still hangs above the scar! I'm hoping it doesn't stay that way, but I really have minimal swelling today, and I can't imagine it firming up any more. I compared my 8 day out incision to everyone elses on here and mine still looks like a bad before. What gives? I'm pretty worried. There's definatly no hope of a two piece suit in my future, which wasn't the goal anyway, but still. Did anyone else have a major lip over their incision over a week later?

Updated on 7 Jun 2011:
Okay, FINALLY added some after pics. I'm still pretty swollen. I'll be 3 weeks PO tomorrow. The arc of the scar and the new REALLY low belly button (not a fan) do give the illusion of a "gut" from the front, so that's not my fave. Under clothes it's fine though. Flat. The scar is really high on the sides, wasn't expecting that. I was expecting hip to hip, and got low waist to low waist. We'll see how it fades over time. I will never put myself through unnecessary surgery again, so whatever is, will be. I can't wait to start working out again, it's hard not doing that.