PO Day 28: WOW - Love My Mommy Makeover Results! - Newport Beach, CA

Day 28 PO: Monday 4/23 - I had a post-op appointment today to have more fluid drained from my seroma. I didn't look down or ask how much fluid was removed, but I had 2 needle pricks (one on each side of my lower abdomen, above my scar line). This week I am going back tomorrow morning and Friday morning to have more fluid drained. Hopefully this week's aggressive aspiration schedule will help my abdomen layers stick together without fluid buildup. I am wearing Spanx and my binder this week to try to keep things as tight as I can to reduce fluid buildup. On the plus side, my breasts look amazing. There is hardly any scar line at all. I can't believe it. They look really natural and are even starting to soften up, which I just noticed today. Yay! As for my tummy scar, I started treating it with Biocorneum. This is a silicone gel that contains SPF 30. I put a thin layer on every morning and night. There are 3 little unhealed parts on my scar line: one right in front, one on my right hip and one at the right terminus of the scar line. I think these are the places where my Spanx and/or jeans rubbed against my skin and tore the scab away a bit. I put neosporin on those spots and a band-aid to get them to heal. Biocorneum cannot be used on open wounds, so we'll have to wait on those spots! I am feeling great - no pain, no swelling other than my seroma. Wednesday will be my first flight since the surgery, so hopefully nothing crazy happens while I am away! Be well, everyone!

Day 23 PO: I had a post-op appointment today and had all my stitches taken out. My doctor gave me the go ahead to start walking at the gym (yay!) and lifting biceps and triceps only. I was shocked to find out that I had a small SEROMA just below my bellybutton! He drained it easily with a needle, but still... eeeek! My tummy looked flat to me before, but once he drained the seroma, it looked even smaller - almost concave! So, now I'm going back again next week so that he can check the seroma to see if it fills up with fluid again. From what I've read, seromas can typically be managed by having your doctor use a needle to drain the fluid. This could take weeks of repeated aspiration, though! I keep wondering how long it was there. I just didn't know how to identify it. If you develop a seroma, you are supposed to go back to your doctor *immediately* to have it drained asap. If you don't, a sac could form around it and you could end up with a chronic seroma that must be removed by surgery. I am guessing I had it for about a week and just attributed it incorrectly to feeling bloated due to my eating pretzel M&M's and muffins. Oops. Well, now I know what to look for!

I just loaded a close-up before pic of my stomach. This one was taken with a real camera vs. my old crappy cell phone camera. I'd almost forgotten how many wrinkles and stretch marks I really had! Plus, the more weight I lost, the worse it'd get. And now, they're all gone. :) Yay.