Tummy Tuck: Stories

I am going to give you a little background here. I have had three children, had an emergancy surgery for a ruptured overy in 2008 so I have a large scar and have recently lost 85 lbs - I could probably lose more but the weight I am currently at is easy for me to maintain. Besides I was a size 22 and am now a size 8. Needless to say I have a lot of excess skin, a large belly bulge and lots of stretch marks. I'm not so worried about the stretch marks but the bulge and extra skin bother me. I would love not to have to tuck my tummy into my my pants.

I have scheduled a full tummy tuck and muscle repair for 3/21/2011 (no lipo cause while I'm curvy all the doctors I interviewed seemed to think I didn't need it - at least in the flanks)

I have been pouring through this website reading everyone stories and am very excited. I will post some before pictures soon.

Here are my before pictures.

So I tried to upload a profile picture but it won't work. Is anyone else having an issue with it?

My surgery is in almost 3 weeks! I have everything in order and will be paying for the surgery on Monday - whoa that's a chunk of change. No turning back now. LOL.

I think I am going to forgo getting the pain pump. It's 300 extra. I've researched it a little bit and it seems to be 50/50 whether its worth it or not. Has anyone else had a pain pump and do you think it was worth it?

4 Days away now! We live a few hours away from where the surgery will take so we reserved a hotel at the doctors request. Kids are set up with a sitter and dogs are set up with the kennel. Now its time to prep the house. I'm so excited to get rid of this tummy.

Day 4 Post op. Sorry I haven't posted anything I just haven't been up to it. The first day the pain was awful and I am still in pain but can move around a bit now. There are moments in the first day you will question your sanity on why you would do this to yourself - is worth it but the first day sucks. Thank god for my fiance he has been such a great nurse! I had to take the foam bandages off due to my skin having a nasty reaction to the glue so I have a few very ugly sores from that. Other than that I can tell this is going to look fabulous. :) I am posting a picture today but I can't stand up straight yet so it really doesn't show how great an improvement there is yet. A few pointers for those who haven't had the tummy tuck yet.
1. Get a recliner! I borrowed one from a friend and I couldn't imagine life without it right now.
2. Stay on top of your meds! Its no fun sleeping through med time and awaking 3 hours later in a lot of pain.
3. Start taking milk of magnesia the day of surgery - it will still take a few days to go number two and that pain is almost worse than the surgery pain.
3. Whatever you do don't cough!!!!!!!
4. You will tire easily. Take naps as needed.
As a matter of fact its time for a nap now. :) I will post again soon.

I am now 3 weeks post op, have returned to work and now know what swell hell is. I still have one drain which is leaking now yuck. I knew I was going to be swollen but holy geez I didn't think it would be this much. I did have a little area near the incision that wasn't getting enough oxygen fortunately the black peeled of to reveal healthy skin. You can see in my post op picture where the skin had started turning color. I will post more pictures after the last drain is removed whenever that will be. I can still tell the results will be great the swelling is just frustrating.