“Looking Forward to my Tummy Tuck on December 7th, 2010 - Belleville, NJ”

I have a lot of excess skin after giving birth to two sons and loosing 85 pounds. I am having four procedures at once: tummy tuck, breast lift and augmentation and a Lipoma remove from the back of my left upper arm. I am very excited and at the same time think of the surgery. I know I will be ok since I have a good doctor. I don't have any pics yet.

Updated on 14 Dec 2010:
I had my surgery on December 7th: Lipoma removal, breast lift, implants and tummy tuck. It took eight hours since the Lipoma was huge. We started around 645 am and to out around 5:30. I was at my private room around 830pm.

I didn't feel pain and felt very good when I woke up the next day. I don't remember and all my family was there to let me know the details. I paid for an extra day at the hospital. I had some minor discomforts such as low BP, low oxygen, a temperature and couldn't urinate. By the evening, all became normal and the next day I was able to go to my first appointment to remove one of five drains. I felt so good that I started to take Tylenol. I ended in a lot of pain and following the doctor prescriptions. I am taking Keflex and Vicodin.

On Monday,the 13, the post op 6 days appointment, three drains, the bandages and tapes were removed. I was put on a sport type of bra with a sleeves jacket over it; then I was put on a tight garment around my midsection.

Tuesday, the 14, I took my first shower and that was scary with one drain left and all the stitches. My left arm is where it hurts the most. It went well and now have clean hair and body. The binder garment was a challenge to put back; my two sons were able to wrap it around me. I keep doing my breathing exercises and walking around the house. I am taking it easy because I want good results. I am taking my multi vitamins and vitamin C, too.

Updated on 16 Dec 2010:
Thursday, December 16, eight days after 8 hours surgery appointment. Today, the last drain was removed and I have a more comfortable garment. Stitches will be removed one week from today. I feel better and better each day. My family and friends are supporting me every step of the way. Tomorrow I have an appointment with my medical doctor to make sure I bounced back to a healthy person since I had low oxygen, low blood pressure, a temperature, low hemoglobin...after the surgery. I am still very happy with my surgeon's staff, so supporting and helpful. I has minimum bruising and swelling around my tummy. I dont take off the garments and walk around the house. I am eating all my meals at the table and able to move well. Only my left arm hurts. I finished all my antibiotics and still using the Vicodin every 6-8 hours because of the arm.

Updated on 17 Dec 2010:
Friday, December 17 went to be checked with my medical doctor. Blood pressure is back to normal and I am looking well. I received a B12 vitamin injection. I have to take over the counter iron. I still have pain on that left arm.

Updated on 19 Dec 2010:
It is day 11th, December 19 and went to church this morning. I felt very good and went out to lunch with friends. After I ate, I felt very tired and very sleepy. I couldn't go to the Christmas Pageant and had to come home to take a nap. I still very weak from all the surgeries. My friend brought me some liver gel caps to take. It increased her hemoglobin on no time. I feel better and better. Thank you God.

Updated on 21 Dec 2010:
December 21, 2010 Two weeks and feeling good. I am off pain medication and feeling the pain (mainly underneath my arm and left breast). I am still weak since I went food shopping last night and felt weird after a little while. I took off the garments to wash them and got swollen. I felt the pain. Today, all the garments are back on. I can not fit in the garments without someone helping me. Showers are easier now. I am concerned about the skin since it looks like it is loose under my arms and belly. I don't expect perfection and I am probably way ahead of myself. I haven't read any postings on how the skin looks after two weeks and if any of my friends here experienced loose skin. My skin is so elastic and pray to God that is going to fall in place.

Updated on 23 Dec 2010:
Thursday, December 23rd going to my PS appointment to get my stitches out and see the scars for the first time. I am a bit nervous since I have lots of stitches and the Lipoma arm still hurts. I am praying is not going to hurt as the drains. I am off medications and feeling good about it.

Updated on 23 Dec 2010:
December 23rd - The outer stitches are out and the rest will dissolve. I am back to the tight binder and have to keep wearing the garments. I am still swollen. My next appointment will be January 6. I am feeling better without the stitches. I have alligator skin and going to apply vitamin E. Any suggestions?

Updated on 25 Dec 2010:
December 25, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone. Yesterday, I was able to dress for church and felt so good. No one will believe I had so much surgery. Yesterday, was the first time I saw all my incisions without the tape. I was alone and felt nervous looking at them. I had to talk myself out of my thoughts; thanks to all of you at this website I know it will get better. My skin is very dry around my torso and decided to put vitamin E all over. Wrong thing to do because all my incisions are hurting since then. I am wondering when it is ok to apply vitamin E and massage to the incisions. When did you started? Did you get the dry skin?

Updated on 27 Dec 2010:
December 27, 2010,twenty days post op and feeling good. Last night, I experienced incision pain. I woke up itching like crazy; thanks God for over the counter meds, Benadryl. I was able to go back to sleep. I am moving around like before. My left arm is better since I can lift it today. The first week is when I needed the most help. Once the drains and stitches were removed, I felt back to normal. I am careful with everything I do; five minutes here and five minutes there gets a lot done.

Updated on 29 Dec 2010:
December 29, 2010, 3 weeks and feeling really good. My left arm is not hurting as much and I am able to raise it up. Today, I was able to visit a friend and went shopping to get another garment. I am still swollen. My breasts feel very sensitive to touch today.

Updated on 31 Dec 2010:
December 30,2010 Painful day feeling all my scars.

December 31, 2010 It was a better day and was able to do laundry with the help of my son. Met with friends and came home to rest.

Happy New Year everyone!

Updated on 2 Jan 2011:
January 1-2, 2011,I went to church and out with friends. I am feeling great and can lift my left arm higher. My tummy muscles don't hurt when I sneeze anymore. My breast areola are very sensitive all weekend. My implants are hard and still on top of my breast. I am wondering how long it take for them to drop.

Updated on 7 Jan 2011:
January 3-5 Back to work and feeling the new routine. I felt the pain of opening drawers and moving files around. Everyone likes the new me and my coworkers are helping. I can not wait for my day off on Thursday to rest and see the PS.

January 6 - I went to see Dr. D. The pain and itching is normal. Everything looks good and healed. Time to start exercising the girls and apply the Scar Guard to all the incisions. I made an appointment to have laser treatment. I can go back to the gym to do cardio and lift weights up to 15 pounds. I can throw all the garments and wear a one piece Spanx.

January 7- Back to work and looking forward to the weekend. I went to the gym and was able to do a light routine including crunches. The body remembers my routine and everything feels good today. I don't have no pain.
 

Updated on 8 Jan 2011:
Friday, January 7, 2011 I went to work and felt a lot better since I rested yesterday. I decided to go to the gym and to my surprise I was able to workout. I did 10 minutes on the stairmaster, 15 at the bike and lifted 4 pound weights to test the chest, arm, triceps... I did some leg exercises and tried the crunches. I took it easy to start and I felt really good about it.

Sat, Jan. 8th, 2011 at home resting and feeling well. The pain and itching is gone.

Updated on 13 Jan 2011:
January 9 to the 13 - I am feeling much better, flexibility is back, second week of work, working out at the gym every other day and some of the scars are fading all ready. I am feeling the freezing weather mainly on my breast. I am using a scarf, layers of clothing and heavy coat. My tt and left incisions are healing very nicely and don't feel them at all. I am on my regular routine of cooking, cleaning, food shopping and errands. I feel so grateful that I haven't had too much discomfort and feel very positive about my surgery. My family and friends are a great support and feel Dr. D did an amazing job. I am using Scar guard, vitamin E, Palmers cocoa butter and bathe with olive oil soap. In addition, I am taking vitamin C, Herpanacine that supports skin health, Zinc and OPC Factor.

Updated on 22 Jan 2011:
January 22,2011 - Six weeks after surgery and feeling pains again since last Wednesday. Perhaps, I was doing too much too soon since I felt so good. Time to slow down again. Wednesday night I couldn't sleep since I felt a lot of gas movement and I felt my abdomen turn hard as a rock. It was so uncomfortable that it kept me up all night. The PS checked me on Thursday and everything is healing nicely. I have to keep up with the breast exercises since my implants are very high. He mentioned that I had a lot of procedures done at one time and I am not even two months yet. Swelling and pain are part of the healing process. Since I was feeling so great, I went and booked my vacation for February 6. I am praying all the pain is happening within the next couple of weeks and to be pain free for my 2 weeks vacation.