My Tummy Tuck Journey - New Haven, CT

I am 55 yrs old, I am scheduled for a TT and lipo to the flank/back area as well on February 4th, possibly January 22nd if my physician's schedule allows.I love to travel to many islands and this is my gift to myself! I have several concerns... I am nervous and excited at the same time! I would like to hear from women who have had this procedure, or are scheduled to have this surgery. Really could use an additional support. team to help me get through this, :-) Tell me bout your scaring? any keloid formation? is kenalog injections used on African American women routinely or is this something I should request as a prevention for keloid formation to the scaring area? How long and bad was the discomfort on a scale of 1-10? When were you able to resume you normal daily activities, including being able to stand up straight and return to work? When were you pleased with your results of your TT? I have requested 2 weeks of work, is this long enough? How long did it take before you were able to see favorable results? Not sure if this will help but I have appointments for 8 deep message suction treatments to hopefully assist with less traumatic lipo removal of fat and am exercising daily to keep my heart strong? any knowledge or thoughts? are you still wearing compression garments? should I be using olive oil to my stomach or back pre op? I'm going to speak with my physician next week about my many questions but in addition I would like to obtain information from women who have gone through this procedure as well. Looking forward to hearing from you soon.

counting down...I think I will feel better once I go to my preoperative work up on Monday and I have a better ideal of what my ps instructions include, I feel as if I an all over the place.

I have posted photos before my TT Photo -but the photos were taken after my repositioning fat massages. I had a total of five treatments. I have asked my physician for a copy of the photos taken prior to any message treatments. I will post those photos once received. I was told by another nurse that the fat consistency in our body is like lard and that after the messages the fat consistency would become more like butter making it less traumatic removal on the. My ps said that’s great as it will make his job easier for him. Who knows… I will be sure to ask him at my first post-operative visit so that I could share the information.
Tuesday, January 21st at 6:30 a.m. I’m counting down now…:-) I’m prayed up and as I said before I included prayer for the hands that “HE” has trained and will guide. I think that I have done all that I could do…. Now, I am going to “RELAX” for the next couple of days.
I’m so grateful to my husband who has been my partner in every decision that I have made regarding this TT journey. His love and support even if I didn’t want to do this means the world to me. Now with that being said… he has taken a few weeks off to be my full time caregiver. I’m a nurse and we tend not to be the best patients, :-) but I promised myself that I will be on my best behavior and I am not going to sweat the small stuff. I have accepted that things around the house probably won’t’ be done the way I would do them, and that’s ok.
I’m not sure that I will be up to posting right away after surgery, but I will post as soon as I can to share my journey, including photos. For me it was wonderful seeing the posts and photos after surgery as it helped me to better prepare for what was to come. I plan to pay it forward. ? I thank you all for your words of wisdom, love and support displayed and received especially from the ladies on the “Age 50 plus Tummy Tuck Forum” Special shoot out to my TT buddy Stevie1 who is scheduled on Monday, January 20th @ 11:30 a.m. I’ll see you on the flat side.
Warmest Regards,
TBqueen

Hi everyone. I pray that all is well with you and that you are all enjoying the flat side! This website was so supportive, helpful and inspiring before and after my decision to move forward on my TT Journey. I have learned much from you all and have shared my experience as well. It was wonderful to make TT budies especially stevie1 we had our surgery 1 day apart. You post's provided encourage when I needed it the most. I have had so many other things going on in my life (dealing with my son who has Myashtenia Gravis) that I have not had the opportunity to join in as much as I would have liked to... I am hopeful that this post will be helpful to someone else. My surgery was January 21st @ 6:30 a.m. Post operatively I had nausea so bad secondary to the anesthesia that I was afraid that my abdominal sutures were going to open. I was provied medications which helped imensely! I was able to finally leave the recovery area close to 12 midnight. The first few days were the absolute worst for me. I was truly blessed to have my husband who did EVERYTHING for me! I truly felt like someone said in a post I read before surgery...why would I spend all of this money to have someone do this to my body and what kind of person would take my money and do this to my body! LOL. Week two was better as I learned to master tasks that needed to be done. I was not able to go up and down my stairs and I tried to get up and walk around from room to room with my walker and stand up straight at least every 1-2 hours even when I didn't feel like it. My best preperation for the surgery was to buy a gel topper for my bed and a recliner for my bedroom. I thought about getting the one that lifts you to a standing position but decided that my body needed the extra work and I would rather get a hughe soft electric recliner that I would be able to use once I returned home from work. Glad I did that as it is the first thing that I do when I get home!! I returned to work at week 5. I also was glad that I purchased the shower chair, i still use it. LOL. I have learned to take advantage of stiitng time now that I am back to work. Before surgery, I made sure that the house was clean, laundry done, and shopping was completed so my husband didn't have to leave me alone to get anything. I sneezed unexpectly around week 3 and I think I popped a stitch internally. My ps said not to worry. I was wearing a med CG at the time of the sneeze and I started wearing the small CG along with a abdominal board to provide additonal compression and support. I continue to gwear my small CG with the board during the day and go 2 x's per week for massages including butt lifting suctioning. I am still swollen in the afternoon (which is getting better with time) however, overall I feel good, have no regrets and am loving my new body . I know I still have a while to go before I finally get to the size where I could start purchasing new clothing!
I have dropped from a size 14 to a size 10 dress! Size10 pants are a too big for me - Size 8 are a little tight around my abdomen than I woul dlike...but I am able to get by with the few dresses and have switiched to wearing my scrubs at work. I purchased a new bathing suit last week, both top and bottom are a size medium!! Special thanks to my two Cosmetic Surgeons, Attending-Dr. John Pershing and Resident-Dr. Ajul Shah; Yale School of Medicine; Department of Surgery - Cosmetic Surgery Service. PO Box 208041 New Haven, Connecticut 06520-8041 Telephone: 203-785-2571 Fax: 203-785-5714

Here is a photo of the board that I wear daily. I wear my camisole f/b the board then my CG. It a great support device especially for unexpect sneezing and potholes in the road! It also provides definition...Hope the helps

I'm doing well. Some swelling by evening however it is getting better! I went to Florida last week and actually got to wear the new bathing suit bbc.co purchased. I did not expose my body to the sun as I am still healing and used sun screen I stopped using silicone strips and now use constricted gel on my TT scar. I enjoy my weekly lymphatic massage. No regrets! I love the flat side.

NO REGRETS!! :-) had to repost this. Im using my cell phone and to crop and messed up the photo I previously placed.