A year and a half later after surgery...
Hello everyone! Please allow me to introduce...
Hello everyone!
Please allow me to introduce myself, my name is Kelly and I am scheduled for abdominoplasty and lipo contouring on December 22nd! A little background about me, I am 22 years old and I spent four years of high school and three years of college being overweight. I have lost 100 lbs over the past two years thanks to some help from the Lap Band, but mostly from my commitment to exercise and watching what I eat. Needless to say, the excessive weight stretched out the skin on my stomach terribly and the weight loss has left my stomach decorated in stretch marks, sagging over itself and looking generally unappealing. Additionally, I have a ridiculous scar on my belly button from where there was once a piercing that left my belly button looking kind of disfigured [thankfully, my PS said the scar would be gone after surgery!]. The rest of my body looks relatively normal, my legs and arms all came back without any problem, my boobs are much smaller, which has been an adjustment, but I can deal with it. I feel like my stomach is the only thing that really needs help. This is a big life decision for me right now because its an expensive surgery, for one, and I'm a poor college student. Also, I haven't had babies yet so some day it'll have to stretch out again, but thats fine by me… I'll cross that bridge when I get there, and that won't be for a long time. I think after all of my hard work I deserve to have a normal looking body while I'm still young.
With only about 10 days left to go before surgery, I'm very excited to have a normal looking body and see the results, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous about the pain I'll be in the first few days following surgery and horrific weeks of recovery I've read so much about. I'm expecting the worst, but hoping for the best. I probably won't post my before pictures until after my surgery because I don't have the nerve to do that until my ugly, sagging belly is a distant memory. Its pretty difficult to focus on anything right now when I have all of these thoughts playing through my mind on a reel, like what I'm going to look like after surgery, or in 6 months time. I guess I'll know soon enough =) ! Im just hoping that I can focus on school for one more week so I can finish my work and get through finals (my last exam is Monday the 19th, I think 2 days should be sufficient time to worry about all of the details of my surgery lol).
10 days and counting!
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4 more days until surgery. I'm obsessing about...
I should be obsessing about the final exam I have to take tomorrow. lol
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Hello everyone. I went in for surgery...
I went in for surgery yesterday morning at 9:00 am. Got to the surgery center and they took me in almost immediately. I had to change into a gown, take a pregnancy test and then the surgeon came in and marked me up. Starting up the IV was horrible… I had no fluids in me so finding a good vein in my hand was difficult, and it hurts like hell getting it in your hand. I was pale and then green in no time, seeing starts and ready to pass out, it caused a lot of commotion… had to have the nurse put oxygen on me and a cold cloth for my head. I finally came around and they started giving me antibiotics and then wheeled me into the surgery room. I don't remember falling asleep, but I remember crying when I got on the operating table.
Before I knew it I was in recovery waking up to terrible cramping pains in my belly. Unlike everyone else that I read about, my first day out of surgery was not all sleeping and unconsciousness, I was wide awake for most of it and the Vicodin barely takes the edge off my pain, even though I'm taking 2 every 4 hours. Getting up the stairs was much easier than I anticipated. The worst part is getting up and down, which I have to do every hour to pee since I'm drinking so much.
My first post-op was this morning. They took off my binder and all of the bandages. It was so painful! I don't think I was prepared for that at all. Its still hurting pretty bad from all of that. I have to get these shots in my belly all week to reduce the risk of a blood clot, so its probably a good thing I'm so numb. My belly button looks pretty silly right now, which is to be expected. My incision is longer than I had imagined, but very low and nice and straight so I'm happy about that. Hopefully some of this swelling goes down and the pain won't be so bad so I might be able to enjoy my Christmas a little bit.
I'll post more pictures when I can.
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I just did a quick update so check it out! Take care.
I'm hoping to take a new picture every day to document the swelling. Happy Holidays to you too !
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Congratulations on your weight loss! That is amazing. You look great.
I bet you're going to love having a flat tummy. And I agree, enjoy your young bod! Who knows, pregnancy might not stretch you out all that much. Everyone is different.
Please keep us posted. You're getting close!
Best wishes and good luck!! You're gonna love your new tummy!!!
Being 19... now 20.. I'm so glad I got this surgery done. I'm enjoying my body and couldn't be happier!! I'll be watching for your updates!