“My tummy tuck & liposuction journey - painful but worth it!”

I am a 40 year mother of two children, aged nearly 5 and 8. I exercise regularly and keep fairly fit and healthy and although I'm in reasonable shape I realised that I would never lose my loose tummy skin from putting on over 25kgs with each pregnancy and that my only option would be surgery.

I had several consultations with my surgeon (the first over a year prior to surgery) before booking my surgery which was six weeks ago.

Immediately following surgery I honestly felt pretty dreadful ...

Here’s is an entry from my diary for Day Four:

“Sleeping is very uncomfortable … I am basically sleeping “propped up” with two-three pillows behind my head and two pillows under my legs as I can’t stretch out fully. Your muscles really feel like they want to “do something” and start to spasm from lack of use. The form-fitting body suit, although as comfortable as can be, has zips down the sides with dig in to my waist and having the band around the top feels very constricting. I guess as the swelling goes down it will get easier to live with. Speaking of swelling, I have some really significant bruising on my legs from the lipo … and to be honest this is actually sorer at this stage than my tummy tuck wound. My thighs are rock hard from the brusing and this makes sitting anywhere other than a very soft seat, unbearable! I’ve been using oral and external Arnica and hope the swelling goes down soon”

Things They Don’t Tell You …

It hurts to: Laugh, cry, sneeze, cough, go number twos! Anything that uses your stomach muscles hurts!

It’s hard to hide bruising and wounds from your kids. I’m in and out of the shower in a flash as my kids are used to talking to me while I’m in the shower and I don’t want them to see me like this. I also haven’t let them see me in the compression suit. I wonder if they will notice my tummy and what I will say to them.

Sleeping was really uncomfortable and I slept with propped up with a pillow under my legs for the first month.

If you haven’t told a lot of people (as I didn’t) it can be hard to explain your extended absence from your normal activities. Think of excuses before you need them. Time the surgery for a time when you might likely be out of circulation – e.g., school holidays. Make sure you have lots of help for when you get home and plan on having at least a month off normal activities. You may not need this long but if you plan for it then you know what you’re in for. Plan for at least two weeks of very light duties – I spent the first 10 days basically doing nothing except resting. You get tired really easy and that make you feel a bit down if you’re not careful.

I actually thought that I had a fairly high pain threshold until I had this done! It is now six weeks since my surgery and I have no regrets and the pain is definitely lessened drastically. I have been back exercising for a week now and am slowly increasing what I do and am monitoring myself so as not to cause any injury. My tummy and belly button area are numb and I believe they will stay this way for some time from what I have heard. I also sustained significant bruising from my liposuction on my thighs and this still looks and feels bruised and is sore when I run – some people might say that I shouldn’t be running but I have always run and the pain actually lessens as the run goes on. I’m not about to cause myself any injury but I also want to make the most of having had surgery and get myself fit again and in the best shape possible.

If you’re contemplating surgery, my advice would be to choose your surgeon wisely – this will make all the difference to your final result. I was lucky to have such a great surgeon available to me.

Updated on May 25, 2009:

Front view pre surgery

14 days post op

Pre surgery

14 days post op

Pre-op of thighs

6 weeks post op

6 weeks post op

6 weeks post op

6 weeks post op showing scar