“TT Without Muscle Suture, with Lipo of Flanks - Ohio”

Background story:
I had a kid when I was 17, and gained a lot (I mean a LOT) of weight during the last 3 months of my pregnancy, and apparently I don't have good skin, so I've been walking around with a big mess of extra skin, stretch marks, and fat where my belly should be for almost 17 years now. I've been wanting to do this pretty much since I gave birth, but I've been wearing my belly as a kind of scarlet letter instead. Being a single mom who dropped out of high school, I haven't been able to afford it (even though I've managed to go to college and stuff). Well, I still can't technically, but have found a way to do it.

I quit smoking in September. I have tried and tried to quit before, but after a few days, weeks, or months, I would start back up again because I would be gaining weight, I couldn't think because the neurons just weren't firing the way they used to, and mostly because I didn't have a whole lot of motivation to stay quit. I didn't notice any benefit from not smoking because I'm young and in great shape. In fact, it seemed like my health got worse after I quit.
My hobby is running. I like training for and running in marathons, and have even moved up to an ultramarathon this year. I have long lamented the fact that I am too ashamed to run without a shirt. On my treadmill in my basement, sure, because nobody can see my belly flap jumping up and down, swinging from side to side. So, I made a deal with myself - I would get the tummy tuck if I could quit smoking. Quitting smoking was easier with a motivational goal to work towards. When things got tough, I would remind myself of why I wasn't lighting up. My doctor won't do the surgery on someone who smokes, so I can have one or the other, but not both. It's been almost 3 months now, and I figure I definitely can't smoke during recovery, and I think after 4 months, not smoking should be enough of a habit that I don't want to start again. Besides, I also want to try to qualify for Boston before I turn 30, and I probably can't make as much improvement as a smoker (my p.r. right now is 4:12, and I need to be at around 3:45).

I am 5'8" and hovering around 150lbs (I can NOT lose weight while quitting smoking, just couldn't do it, I'm lucky I didn't gain more than the 2 or 3 pounds I did) though I guess that is fairly stable for me since I turned 30 a few years ago. Like I said, though, I'm in pretty good shape. When I met with my doctor in August or September (??) and discussed what I want, he said there was very little separation of the abdominal muscles, so I asked if we could do a TT without the muscle suturing, and he agreed that would be a good option for me. Now I'm beginning to worry (about everything, because that's what I do) whether I will get the results I want.

My surgery is on Dec. 15th, (tomorrow, since it's now past midnight), and the doctor's assistant assured me that he would go over his game plan with me before the surgery, so I can discuss my concerns with him then. I just don't want to go through all this and wish I had done more.

Other concerns include the realization that I have one friend in the whole world. You know how you have to have someone take you home from the surgery, well, I had to call my friend who lives in another city (same state fortunately) to get me. I don't know what I would have dome if she wasn't able to help me. She is going to have to go home to her own family, though later that day, and I'm also worried because I will be alone for the most part. My 16-year old son will be around after school, but not during the day. I hope I don't need anything. Should I sleep on the couch so I don't have to walk downstairs to get to the kitchen?? Is my recovery going to be easier if I don't get the muscles sutured? Easy enough that I will be able to drive myself if I need to pick up something I didn't think ahead to get?

Whew, it feels better to get all that off my chest. Feedback would be most appreciated.
Will update after the surgery!

Updated on 14 Dec 2010:
Oh yeah, I almost forgot. The other thing I'm really worried about is having a reaction to gluten while I'm still healing - I have a gluten allergy and my whole abdomen swells up as if I were several months pregnant if I accidentally eat any gluten. Well, if it's just a trace amount there's only a few inches swelling, but still I'm afraid that might be enough to tear my stitches. I swear my kid is out to poison me by dropping bread crumbs in my coffee cup, double dipping in the butter and so on. But sometimes it's my own fault, too. I only learned this week that my favorite lotion from Bath and Body Works has wheat germ in it. That might explain why, when I've had nothing but an apple, I start to get that gurgly, bloating feeling, because especially in the winter, I am constantly putting lotion on my hands; it transfers to my food, goes in my mouth, etc.

Does anyone else have any experience with gluten intolerance issues or other stomach bloating problems during a tummy tuck?

Updated on 16 Dec 2010:
Well, I got it done yesterday. My doctor ended up suturing the fascia after all. Before I went into the OR, I told him that if, after opening me up, he noticed the muscle separation was greater than we had thought, to go ahead and stitch it up.

Ho-ly crap! It hurts. I'm afraid I may already have torn the stitches. When I got into the car, the seatback wasn't latched in an upright position, so when I put my weight against it, it fell back. Of course, my impulse, to sit up, using my abs, caused me to scream in pain. The nurse was alarmed, but conflicted because it was time for her to go home, and she was hoping I'd be able to leave.

My friend who picked me up decided to stay the night because she wasn't feeling well - she passed out at the surgery center and I was afraid they weren't going to let either of us leave. ... fast forward several hours. She went to bed, and I asked my 16-year-old to check in on me at 10 before he went to bed so he could help me empty my drains, take my meds, and get settled in for the night.

He fell asleep.

I tried calling his cell. I tried paging the upstairs phone. I tried hollering. I tried waiting and repeating. Finally I realized if I didn't get up myself and take my pain meds and empty the drains, I wasn't going to be any more able later because the pain would just get worse. So, after 15 minutes of pushing/pulling/rocking/straining, I finally managed to get upright. I made it to the kitchen and nearly passed out before I could sit down.

I screamed to try to wake up anybody to come help me, and my son finally did wake up and come downstairs.
Everytime I get up to pee or empty the drains, I either do pass out or nearly do. I'm running a fever between 99.5-101.5 (my thermometer can't make up its mind), but I can't see the doctor until tomorrow because he is in surgery the rest of the day.

I was really dehydrated last night, but I've been making myself drink a lot of water so now I have to pee every hour or two, which means I can only sleep for an hour or two at most.

Yesterday the pain was like a giant mass engulfing my entire lower front torso, but now I can feel all kinds of individual pains, just as intense as yesterday, but now kind of distinguishable as different kinds of pain in different places. I guess that's a good thing?

Updated on 18 Dec 2010:
I'm uploading some pictures. They're not very good, but I'm not taking the binder off again just to get better pictures. Maybe tomorrow. I feel a little better today, can walk to the kitchen without getting dizzy or feeling like I'm tearing stitches. I'm starting to worry about when and how I'm going to have a BM. I started taking a stool softener 2 days before the surgery, but haven't gone since then. I'm starting to get that uncomfortable constipated feeling. I'm wondering if I should take a laxative, or if that would just make things worse. Of course, I'm not eating a ton of food, so maybe I should give it a couple more days.

Updated on 21 Dec 2010:
Day 6:
Yesterday was the worst. I went through the asking myself, "why did I do this?" I was bloated, constipated, and swollen, and it hurt to move and to not move. My son had had enough playing nurse and returned to his normal grouchy self. I wanted to get some work done, but couldn't do more than think about it without hurting. I wanted to cut back on the pain meds so I could finally poo, but it hurt too much. Yuk.
However, today after I woke up, after sleeping soundly for a 4 hour stretch and a 5 hour stretch, with meds in between, I felt the call of nature and all that milk of magnesia paid off. Then I decided to take a shower (after checking in with my doctor's office), and I feel like a whole new person. I'm going to try cutting back to 1 pain pill every 6 hours, so far, so good. If I need more, I'll deal with it then. I'm actually sitting at my desk, and I feel tolerably well.
I took some pictures with my binder off. Looks ok, except my belly button looks icky. I don't know if that's normal, but the doctor did tell me to put neosporin on it once a day, which I have been, but can't bend down all the way to look at it as well as you can see with a camera. I also noticed that the skin tone over my belly is uneven. I don't know if you can see it in the pictures, but parts are reddish, while other parts are whiter. The reddish parts didn't feel any warmer than the whitish parts when I got out of the shower, so I don' think it's an infection (relief), but I was wondering if anybody else noticed this and knew why it was like that.

Updated on 29 Dec 2010:
So, I got my drains out on day 8, and had a bunch of holiday travel, so it was good to have no drains to explain to all the family, but also didn't have time enough to update. I have felt pretty good since then. The only complaints I have left are the swelling as the day goes on, but I hear that's normal, the chafing from wearing the binder (more on that in a minute) and the lopsidedness issue. The left (my left) side of my belly is rounder, that is, it sticks out more than the right side. Now, this was the case before the surgery, too, but I'd hoped that everything would be pulled tight and symmetrical. When I go in for my 3-week checkup, I'll ask the doc about it, but there's probably nothing he can do, even if it is just a thicker layer of fat there (from what understand about lipo, I don't think that could help). That is not to say that I am unhappy with the result, because, as you can see from the photos, I look so much better than before. I can't wait for it to get warm enough to go jogging outside with no shirt :)
The chafing sucks - if anyone has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them. The bottom of the binder is rubbing just below the stitches, especially across the top of my pubic region. The area is red and raw, even though I've been trying to pad it with, gauze, cotton, even tried maxi pads. I bought some spanx powerline high waisted panties, which I've been wearing when I have to go out in public, and these don't rub as bad as the binder, but now that the area is raw, even the pressure and friction from the spanx hurts.
In other news, I rode a stationary bike for a half hour yesterday (on a very low resistance and speed) with no ill effects. I also got the house cleaned up over the last week. I had no idea how bad things could get if I only took a week and a half off of cleaning, but man, that teenager of mine makes more mess now than he ever did as a toddler.
The only bad news is that I have to go back to work on Monday. I was just starting to enjoy my time off.
Thank you everybody for your support. I have to say this forum has been a lifesaver.

Updated on 15 Jan 2011:
Added 4 week pictures

Updated on 30 Jan 2011:
Added pictures of week 6. I took off the tape a few days ago and took these pictures right afterwards. I was swelling from some combination of too much working out, crappy diet, time of the month and constipation, so it doesn't look as good as my 4-week photos. However, you can see the scar, which is pretty dark. It is lumpy, with really hard spots underneath, and uneven, but I knew that before I took off the tape. My belly button is also off center, which becomes even more pronounced when I swell. Oh well, it's still better than before the tt. I just wonder when this swelling is going to stop...