Tummy Tuck: Stories

Hello everyone. I am a 28 year old mother of 3 children ages 9, 5, and 3. I have also lost a total of 90 lbs in just over a year after having Rny gastric bypass. I am 5'2 and currently 145lbs. I am thrilled with my new body and feel like a million bucks now I just want to look as good as I feel :) I have always carried most of my weight in my legs but after having children that changed and I carried my weight all over. I have considered having a tt since having my gastric bypass. I knew that I may be unhappy with my results after weight lose so I have kept this in the back of my mind since then. My personal goals are to just be more comfortable and confident in my own skin. I am already proud of my body this will just be the icing on the cake. I am excited to get back to my pre baby body. It will never be the same but I can at least go back to wearing normal shirts that don't have to be super long and hopefully low cut jeans!!! Yay! At this point I am really excited. Not nervous yet. I just wish that I didn't have to wait so long before surgery but, I have to do it between school semesters...when people are available to help take care of me and my 3 children. I have a wonderful husband who will take over for me when the time comes. So I am not too worried yet... Only thing that bothers me right now is that I want to talk about my surgery all of the time! I can already see my husbands eyes glaze over when I bring up the subject and my friends are nice but sick of it already too. I am excited to share with you all as I am sure that you guys feel the same way!!!!! Can't wait!. I will try to post pictures later

Got on the scale today and I am down from 145 to 142. This is great because it just pushed me past the 90 lbs lost mark...I have lost 92 lbs !!!!! I am so excited. The closer I can get to my goal before surgery the better my results will be. Hope everyone is doing great and getting in touch with what makes them truly happy!! We all deserve that. Have a great weekend everyone.

Hey everyone, I hope you are all feeling good and healing. Today is the first day of Dec and we are only 18 days away from surgery now. It is getting more and more real. I am super excited but, nervous too. I am not letting myself think about it a lot because I just don't think that worrying is going to do me any good. Monday is pre admission testing and Wednesday is my pre opt apt with the Dr. I haven't bought anything yet bc I am waiting to see what the Dr. wants me to get. I am going to start looking up scar treatments soon so that I will know what the top options are. Please let me know what you guys have heard. I will update about my pre admission experience on Monday. Enjoy your weekend :)

Forgot to add that the last time I checked my weight it was 136. I am really happy about that. I am waiting to check it again until Monday.

Monday was my pre admission testing. All that included was blood work, a urine sample, and talking about what they want me to do before surgery such as, how to wash with the special anti bacterial soap. That was about it for that.

On Wednesday night I had my pre opt apt with Dr. Lam. I agree with nomorespanxs about Dr. Lam. He was really nice. He made me feel comfortable and answered all of my questions. Some of which were....

how far does he think my incision will go on either side and how high? (He will follow my natural lowest crease, and it will go up slightly on the sides but not much) How much does he expect to remove? (Belly button down at least) What results can I expect? Is is reseasonable to expect to have a completely flat tummy? (He said that with my current shape I should definitely end up flat with really good results) Is Lipo part of his plan? (No) What does he recommend for scar therapy? (Mederma products are good and more cost effective, He does not recommend silicone sheets, He said they do more harm then good and tend to be very uncomfortable) What if I get my period which I am due for right at that time? (No problem at all, you can use a tampon)

I also have an extra long internal lip in my vagina. It protrudes out and I often have to tuck it back in. After surgery with everything pulled tight this will become even more of an issue, because of this Dr. Lam is going to remove it or shorten it during surgery. I figured that I would mention it so that it makes sense when I complain about my vagina hurting later lol.

I got a folder with papers about recovery care and do's and don't's. I still have to read them. I will post anything interesting I read after. That's pretty much it. It is getting closer and I am getting nervous. My classes will be over soon. As soon as I can, I will turn my attention to getting my house and life ready for me to be down and out for a few weeks. I am really trying not to think about the surgery much because my body doesn't react to stress well and the surgery is high stress. The only problem is that I MUST turn my attention to it now, it is time. I will update my post when I have something new to share. Happy healing or prepping everyone :)

Well, today is Saturday and my surgery is Tuesday. I don't know what time yet of course, they will call me with a time on Monday and let me know. I don't really care too much what time they give me as long as it isn't too late in the day because as we all know the waiting is really hard so the faster the better. Actually, It would be perfect if they wanted me at the hospital around 10:30 or right after, that way I could take my kids to school and have time to drive to the hospital. Otherwise a family member will do it but, it will just make things more of a pain if we can't just do it. So after all that, I guess I do care what time they give me heehee fingers crossed.

I just finished up my finials so school is over for a few short weeks, just long enough to recover. That is why I am doing this during Christmas. I hope that I am feeling good enough to enjoy Christmas morning with my 3 young children and husband. I will remember this Christmas for sure! My husband keeps teasing me about how "big" my gift is this year....he told me this gift counts for a few holidays at least...meaning don't expect much for birthday, mothers day, etc. That is just fine with me! I am pretty sure this will be one of the best gifts that I have ever given to myself at least thus far. It is a lot of money and I do feel a little bad for spending it all on myself but, if I keep it in perspective we just took our children on a vacation to Disney world and spent more on that then I am spending on this. It's not like I spend only on myself. I have one semester left before I get my assoc degree. I plan to get a job as soon as possible after graduation. I CAN"T wait actually. I have been a stay at home mom/ part time college student for years!!! My husband and I never wanted to put our children in day care when they were too young to talk because I was abused as a child and just simply couldn't trust anyone enough. Staying home was what was best for my children and family but, it was really lonely and I am looking forward to getting back to the world now that I am almost done school and my youngest is in preschool now :) So I am confident that I will be earning money and helping out with that soon. I think once I get my savings back to a place where my husband and I are more comfortable, I am going to plan on getting my breast done. I will wait and see what this process is really like first and make sure that I am really happy with the outcome, meaning, worth the scar and recovery. My breast are so much smaller then they used to be which, by itself doesn't bother me that much because they are not really tiny, just smaller. The thing that makes me want to have them done is the skin. I want them refilled!

Anyway, back on track here. I don't think that anyone should feel bad about doing something so good for themselves. I read the reviews on here and so many people feel so much better about themselves and we all deserve that!. I really feel like a million bucks since losing so much weight. I am so excited to look as good as I feel :)

I have a to do list that I am working on.... I have to finish wrapping for Christmas, Get my son's room ready for to me recover in ( His room is right next to the only bathroom in the house which, is on the second floor and my bedroom is on the 3rd floor with scary steps ), Clean house, take before pictures, measurements, and weight. All of which, I have to finally post on here. Then on Monday I have an appointment with school to make sure I will be able to graduate in May!!! Yay! So I will be busy enough.

I don't know what my weight is going to be when I check it on Monday. I want to wait to see until right before surgery. Last time I checked was Thursday December 6th and I was 135. That is a total of .....drum roll please........99 pounds lost! I am really happy about that. I was really hoping to get as close to my goal weight of 131 as possible before the surgery hitting 100 pounds lost would just be a bonus. I do not think that I will have lost much if anything at all though because I have been trying to really focus on getting enough protein in everyday for recovery and healing so I have been eating more but, that is what is best for my health.

I ended up getting my period late Wednesday night so I am hoping that it will be almost gone by surgery day. I was lucky to get it a bit early so it didn't start the day before surgery, that would have been worse.

I am getting really nervous of course. I have been trying not to think about the surgery much at all. At first (when I first got my surgery date) that is all I could think about and then I told myself time would only go slower if I focused on it....and now it is right there just days away and when I went to change the number of days counting for this post title and saw that it was ONLY 3 days....I had this rush of anxiety go through me and my chest got tight...oh boy (like I have read so many times before but, didn't get it until right now), this is getting real now!

I am going to try to push it from my mind again because I really can feel the stress on my body and I don't want to get sick or have any other stress related problems. I will say a few prayers and try not to feed into my fear. Happy healing everyone! I wish you all the BEST!

Good morning everyone. I am on the flat side now....as I have heard many people say on here. I didn't post anything sooner because I just didn't feel up to sitting at the desk to type. Recovery so far has been hard. My husband is amazing and takes great care of me but, the pain and discomfort is intense. The pain meds work thank god but, other then making you sleep they do little for the discomfort. It is just such a pain in the butt that you can't lay down and your SO tired. I am pretty sure that it will be worth everything in the end but, right now I am just hoping that the next few weeks fly by. I can't see my stomach until the post opt apt that is on Wednesday. I thought that it would bother me waiting to see..... like a kid on Christmas but, I am in no rush actually. It burns so much I am afraid that seeing it will make it hurt more. I am going to get off of here and post my before pictures and of course I won't have after ones until sometime next week. When I am not so tired I will also post about surgery day experience. I hope everyone is in good health and spirits.

Today is day 5 Post opt and I am feeling better. I feel less trapped by my condition and able to move around more then before....now that doesn't mean I am activity doing anything either...it just means that shifting positions on the couch is easier then it was. I go up and down the stairs to go to the bathroom every few hours so that is the movement that I am getting. Not being able to stand up makes it hard to do anything because my back hurts so much when I am standing. It feels weak. I cut back on my pain meds as of last night. I am going to try not to take it at all during the day and instead only take it at night before bed. We shall see how it goes I can feel the burning already....

Surgery day. I had to get up at 4:30 am and get showered...wash with special soap for 5 minutes and rinse for 3 minutes. My friend stayed over the night before so she dried my hair so that was nice. We left and dropped off my kids at their grandmothers house. We got to the hospital at 6:15 am... The women told me I needed a urine sample I told her that I didn't need to go and she gave me an attitude...They should send me with a cup for my morning urine if they want one I haven't had anything to drink...I don't need to go again I told her...so I gave her one back. They ended up taking my blood instead which was fine with me. They took me back went over a million questions that about 5 people repeatedly asked...again fine with me better safe then sorry. My husband and bf came back we took a picture, Dr. Lam came in talked to me and then marked me up....off I went. I woke up the nurse asked how I was feeling and I said in pain. She gave me something,...asked again in a little while I said in pain she gave me more. Then I got nausiated so they gave me meds for that....they put me to sleep. Once I was able to keep my eyes open they took me to the bathroom got me dressed, gave me a pain pill and off we went home. The ride home was ok. Getting into the house was hard. I would sleep for a while, wake up in pain, re-position myself and go back to sleep. At this point all I wanted to do was REALLY be able to lay down which still isn't possible but, I have come to accept that now.

Day 1 and 2...Really just uncomfortable in general. Pain meds help and so does great care givers. My husband has been amazing and I am SO thankful for him. I just tried to sleep as much as possible to escape the situation.

Day 4. By this day I had still not had a bm. I normally go first thing in the morning after I have my morning cup of tea....my body is just used to this...So I didn't go on the morning of surgery either(because I couldn't have my tea and I had to get up so early) that means by day 4 post opt it had been 5 days since I had a bm. Now, I knew this was a common problem while taking pain pills so I had been taking stool softeners every night since surgery...by night time on day 4 of not going(Day 3 Post Opt), I took a laxative...The next day, I was trying to go without success for over an hour....It was hurting so bad because the laxative had worked and was telling my body to go but I couldn't push hard enough because of my abs.....My husband ended up giving me an enima thank god and that worked. It was still really painful to push but, it all came out. I know this might be TMI for some people but, the truth is that this could happen to you....be ready because not going to the bathrooms for days on end is NOT okay or safe. I felt much better after and this morning (day 5 post opt). I went no problem right after my morning tea :)

I think that about sums up my recovery so far....Here are my measurements and weight the morning of surgery....I will check the numbers again in a few weeks when I think things as more normal. Got my before pictures up....I know that there is a lot of them but, I wanted a lot to compare my after pictures to. I have even more on my camera lol. Happy healing everyone :)

Weight 135.4
Bust: 35 1/2
Waist: 29
Hips: 36
Thigh: 22

Days 6-9.......
Things have been getting a little bit better each and everyday. With that said, Christmas was really a hard day, not because of all the activities but, because I was just extra sore...I guess that I slept funny the night before and maybe that caused it. I am sleeping on my couch with a million pillows and have been since night two, it just makes more sense for me and is more comfortable. I would recommend a lazy boy for anyone who can afford to rent or buy one because that would have been a lot nicer. Another thought for those who can't wash their hair....dry shampoo works wonders and makes your hair feel less greasy anyway.

I went for my first post opt appointment the day after Christmas which was 8 days post opt. The ride wasn't too bad (I live an hour and a half away). I was really hoping to get my drains out but, of course that didn't happen. I have to go back on Friday and they will remove them then. I think that I will finally feel like I am getting somewhere with this recovery once that happens. I have to admit that I was disappointed with my tummy when the cg came off. I was very puffy and hard below my belly button. I know that swelling is normal but I usually hear people talking about that being a problem after they have done "too" much walking or standing. I have not done any of that I have been resting all of the time except for getting up every few hours to move around and to use the bathroom. When I mentioned the way my stomach looked, I expected the doctor to say that it was swelling and that it will look so much better in time, instead he said " well you lost a lot of weight and when you lose that much weight there is no way to tell how the skin will respond. We just have to wait and see. I pulled you as tight as I could." Well this was heart breaking to hear because I asked him prior to surgery if it was reasonable for me to expect a flat tummy and he took a look at me and his exact words were "you have a fairly flat shape already, you should be really, really flat after".....well I guess that wasn't the truth. If he had told me that in the first place I would have had the surgery anyway but I wouldn't have had the same expectations. He did tell me that there was swelling I guess I just didn't expect there to be so much on day 8. Is it normal girls? Can I still hope to be flat at the end of this? Honestly, I have seen people that were much heavier then I was and they have flat tummy's at the end. I just would be really disappointed if this is what my finial result is going to look like. Please leave comments and let me know what you guys think.

Side note. I am still having a hard time with going to the bathroom. I am still using stool softeners every night and laxatives and again went 4 days without going, so again I had to use an enemia. I am praying that this problem goes away soon. I am still on pain medicine but, I have cut down a lot.

My vagina....for those who care to know is doing much better. It was very uncomfortable at first. When I left the hospital they gave me NO AFTER CARE INSTRUCTIONS for it. So for the first few days I wasn't doing much except rinsing it with water. It finally dawned on me to take care of it as if I had a baby...So I got a squirt bottle and mild soap. I put a little soap in the bottle with warm water and rinse myself every time that I go to the bathroom. I also spray analgesic spray on it and use tuck pads. The very first day that I started that I started to feel better. I was blown away that the hospital didn't tell me to do any of that. Its like they did my procedure but because it wasn't something that they normally do they didn't bother to look up how I should treat it. Thank god I am an educated person or I am sure that I would have an infection there by now....also at the post opt appointment the Dr. didn't even look at it to see how it was healing....So there is my rant about all of that. I will post my after pictures right now...I hope that you guys can tell me what you think my my tummy and whether or not you think I will ever be flat. Happy healing everyone.

Well I went into the doctors on Friday and they removed the drains. The one on the left I didn't feel at all now the one on the right burned really bad and I was extra sore for a few hours. That was day 10 when they were taken out. I do't go back again for two weeks which is fine with me because it is such a long drive I am glad to not have to go again right away.

Side not I think I am getting a yeast infection from the antibac so I have to buy something to treat that before it gets worse. I am hoping that doesn't hurt because of what I had done to my vagina....we shall see. I am just as swollen as I have been it doesn't seem to change no matter what I do....so only time will tell.

Worse part is the patience....I love the down time but, I just wish that I felt good and could enjoy it more. Happy healing everyone.

Well, I definitely got an yeast infection from the meds. I treated that last night and I am still sore today...it says 3-7 days for full relief, good thing is that I treated it right away so that should help with treatment time. Swelling is still a major issue. I took a shower this morning and it was so hard to reach up to wash my hair....oh well that will get better with time, at least I feel nice and clean now.

Going to the bathroom with the help of laxatives and stool softeners because I am still on pain meds here and there. I am almost out so hopefully soon I won't need any of that.

I have a question for you girls and I would appreciate honest answers since you can never trust your closest family and friends to be brutally honest.....here we go. I want to buy a bikini....not a string one I wouldn't feel covered enough but just a regular one. I never in a million years would have even thought that I would want to but I do....Do you guys think that when the swelling goes down by this summer that I will be able to pull that off strech marks and all? I don't mind them that much because they are a sign that I am a mother and I am proud of that but, if you saw me in a bikini at the beach/pool what would you think? She looks nice, what was she thinking, omg....etc.? Let me know...I just ordered two and I am nervous that I shouldn't have. Honest answers only please! Thanks so much girls....happy healing :)

Post Opt Day 24....3 weeks 3 days.
Still in pain....still getting tired....still feel like things are so hard. I am sure that I will love my results when I feel better but, at this point I thought I would feel better by now then I do. When will I feel normal again?.....I need to know that there is an end in sight to all of this....6 weeks???? 8 weeks??? When do you start to wear jeans again? SO ready to feel better!!!!!