Tummy Tuck: Stories

I'm 32. I have a the raddest 13 year old daughter a mom could ask for. She's smart, beautiful, well behaved, and a destroyer of tummies.

When I was pregnant I was 19 and put on 75 lbs. I have wanted a tummy tuck for the last 13 years but could never afford it. Over the years my stretch marks faded, but the extra skin never went away and the more weight i lost the more skin I had.

I wanted this so bad, anyone who knew me could tell you. In desperation I even joined one of those websites where guys have a fetish for paying for ladies plastic surgery. Mostly guys wanted to give ladies bigger boobs on there, didn't work out.lol

3 years ago I started dating the most amazing man I have ever met and then we got married. knowing how badly I wanted this, he made it happen.

I am now day 3 post op. So I only have before pics. I'm going to take pictures and update once a week. so there will be more to come.

The surgery went well. I stayed in the hospital for one night. The first day was painful but manageable. It was a haze of pain meds, visitors and excitement.

day 2 was hell. one my catheter came out and I had to get up to go to the bathroom. The pain so so bad I thought I was going to pass out. The car ride home hurt and getting situated at home was painful as well. My husband brought the recliner and tv up to our bedroom and recreated the living room in there for me. Every time i had to pee it was a slow painful walk, my husband has to pick me up out of the chair and walk me back and forth. I couldn't even wipe myself. I just broke down, I was crying and a mess. I didn't regret anything. I just felt so bad that i needed help to do simple tasks and I din't know how i was going to make it through the pain. but today....

OMG day 3 was such an improvement. The pain was cut in half. Totally bearable. I still need help getting up but once up I can walk and I'm wiping myself ;) I ate solid food for the first time. I didn't think it was possible to have so much of a difference in just one day. My spirits are up and I have high hopes of a speedy recovery. I'll be updating though the whole ordeal.

oh you'll notice something funny in my before pics. I got a tattoo for the surgery on the skin that was going to be removed. it says "Thank You Dr. Gimbel" My husband is a tattooer so it was easy to do. I thought it would be funny, and it was. My Doctor cracked up. He said it was a first, haha.

Day 4. I'm in the middle of it. My left drain is irritating the crap out of me and my back hurts and I'm itchy, but other then that I'm fabulous. I got up all by myself today! exciting. I still haven't had a bowel movement even with the stool softeners. I'm a little scared of it though so whatevs. The general pain is easing... unless you cough... or laugh... then eek. but yeah. seems to be going great. I have my first appointment tomorrow morning with my doctor, I'll update then. :)

day 5! things are great. I went to the doctors today and I saw my tummy for the first time! It's looking great. I'm amazed at how great my belly button looks. I'll post pictures later tonight when my husband gets home he's going to help me shower and we're going to take a video. I got my drains out. that felt super weird, not painful, just strange. after the doctors I went for coffee and walked for about 2 blocks with the help of my hubby. I'm almost up straight. I'm itchy as hell. Most of the pain is gone, well i thought so until i stopped taking meds then i found out i'm still really sore, so i took them again. but yeah with the meds I'm really comfortable unless i laugh or cough. my tummy looks super great. I still have some stretch marks, which i knew i would, because i had a ton. but its so much better. and my tummy is flat! holy crap.

day 6.

damn, what a journey. I took a shower today. Felt awesome. So before I get into the shower i was hit with a wave of nausea, and i get super clammy and sweat started poring off of me. my body just went crazy right before. I was like oh god, I'm gonna start vomiting. but no. I had to poop, weird huh. all that in prep to take a shit. it didn't hurt coming out. it was just a little crazy. I went out of the house to go get a coffee with my hubby and my baby daddy and the dog. I just got back and i feel exhausted. I now have to start catching up on work emails and everything that i can do from home, ugh. I took some photos and posted them! Everything looks awesome. I'm happy with the shape of the incision, I love my belly button, my tummy looks nice and flat. The only thing is that the scar is very high, no bottoms of any sort will cover it. now i don't care at all because i like scars and i was planning on tattooing over it anyhow, but if i was a normal gal and can see how this would be a big bummer. on the bright side though, the scar looks like its gonna heal up great and i like the smooth curve and shape of it. you'll see what i mean. I might even add more scars in a cool pattern instead of tattooing over it. something like this  right now I'm leaning twordsmore scars, but we'll see :)

It seems as though I have reached the "nanna" stage of my recovery. I sit in a chair all day watching my programs except for in the morning when I'm taken out for coffee. I hobble around hunched over and have someone walk me across the street and after an hour I'm tired. People come into my room to visit me and since I'm in a chair facing away from the door, when people come in i say things like, "come in here so I can see you".... nanna mel

swell hell has officially started. fuck my life.

anything to help swelling go down? any tips?

day 8

things are great. I'm getting around more, although most of the day is still spent in this recliner. I can almost stand up straight but I'm still bent enough to make annoying and make my back hurt. I still have a lot of gas but took some gas-x and that really helped.

I'm concerned about my binder, i don't think its tight enough. it doesn't compress very much. it's stage 1 medical grade, got it in the hospital, but i just think it may be a size too big. I have a stage 2 cimpression garment that i ordered that seems smaller and tighter and i wonder if i should switch to that. I'm just worried that the stage 2 doesn't have zippers and it may be too early. the areas i had lipo are swelling the most and i think they would benefit from more compression.

I made a video yesterday for 1 week and i had a pre op video as well. they're stuck on my husbands phone though, I'll post them when he gets home from work. it will be late.

anyone have any home remedies that have worked to reduce swelling? any foods to eat or meds to take that have helped?

still day 9, i said day 8 up there but I was a day off.although i guess it depends on if you consider surgery day, day 1 or 2... bleh anyhow.

today ruled. I was able to do so much more. My pal asher came over and he walked me around the block to the sunflower field to pick flowers. you can check out picks here if you wish...

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150280429453429.339631.669288428&type=1

I went out and met friends for coffee and frozen yogurt. I did some light housework. I was all sorts of stoked, but i'm feeling it now, tired out for sure. back in the chair, haha. I texted my doctor and he called right back. I spoke with him about my binder issue and he said the tighter the better and i should switch to my 2nd stage if it fit better. I did, its tighter and it feels 110% better. what a difference. I'm loving it. i got the marena garment. i highly recommend it. I got these 2, since i'll be wearing them for a few months.

http://www.amazon.com/Marena-Support-Certified-Compression-Garment/dp/B0013TYXYG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1314495831&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Marena-Support-Certified-Compression-Garment/dp/B00141B120/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1314495831&sr=8-4

they so rule

I uploaded some videos, before and at week one. the sound doesn't seem to work on them which is sad because I say the best things ever. and i added a few color pictures from yesterday as well.

ok so the sound does work.

day 10

cutting my pain meds way down. got some headaches from it. and i just want to say that I AM LOVING MY RESULTS!! I couldn't be happier. My doctor is very talented. YAY TUMMY!
now i just want to stand up straight and stretch more then anything. Just be done with this whole healing thing. I want to get to the cute clothes portion of my recovery ;)

day 12... I've been weening myself off the drugs. I went from 2 pills every 4 hours to 2 pills every 6 hours, to one every 6 and now I'm at 1 every 8. I'm really sore when the meds wear off. especially in the lipo areas. I have 2 pills left so after today I'm done. I'm feeling crappy too, with headaches and soreness, I think half of it is from the surgery and the other half is withdrawal, ha.

Today I am med free. Well I'm still taking ibuprofen, but I'm done with the hardcore stuff. Feeling sore and crappy, probably some of that from withdrawal, but otherwise doing well. My dog has been sitting with me on the recliner literally all day for the last week and a half. it's funny so I posted some pictures of my recovery puppy. everyone should have one. they really help.

day 14... my surgery was 2 weeks tomorrow, counting surgery day as day one makes it weird, lol.

anyways...

I did too much today, I mean its fine, but dang I'm sleepy and achy and swollen. Nothing crazy, but I'm sure not ready for normal life yet. probably another week. I'm not sure how some of you ladies go back to work in a week or two. kudos to you.

this morning I went for coffee, came home and rested and then went to the doctor. He said everything looks fabulous, and i agree. I can ALMOST stand up straight, so close. then I went home and rested some more and went for a mani pedi. it was my biggest day out so far. my reasoning for the mani pedi was just to sit in the massage chair. I was like well its just another recliner but it massages. so it won't wear me out to sit in theirs and my back has been killing me, as I'm sure most of you know. I went to a new place and they didn't have massage chairs! boo, that's the only reason I went. now I'm exhausted, but hey my nails look great. I don't need another doctors appointment for 3 months. I'm excited, things are looking good, I'll post pic tomorrow. oh and wearing the tighter garment has helped swelling dramatically. I'll post pics and a new video tomorrow.

muah!

week 2 bitches!

ok so I'm super constipated still. today was rough so I've been drinking smooth move tea and taking magnesium. it helped. I can't wait till that's all back to normal. I've stopped taking the percocet so i think it will be all good soon.

last night I slept in my bed for the first time, a bit uncomfortable but it was good to be out of that share. Also had a bit of slow, careful, quick, careful, sort of uncomfortable romance.

all an all I'm feeling much better, although I cut off all my dreads today (except a few in the back). I think I'm going batty cooped up in the house.

ok so last night I tried sleeping in the bed again and got horrible uncomfortable and had to go back to the chair *sigh*

on an exciting note, I was psyched on the day 6 photo results and I'm amazed at how much better my tummy is looking in the new 2 week photos. there is a bigger difference then I thought. It's neat having the photos to compare. if you do a side by side of before, then 6 day, then 2 weeks it's pretty nuts. In the end i think I'll photoshop the sort of torso shot from each week side by side.

this is a cool website

http://theshapeofamother.com/

feeling good. doing more and more every day.

here's whats bugging me, and its hard to explain. but the holes where my drains were feel not really painful, but weird. when i get up it feels like the tunnel inside of me where the drains were kind of unstick. it gives me the heebie jeebies.

I'm off of any kind of pain reliever, and i'm sore, but generally ok.

HOLY SHIT AM I SWOLLEN! not like scary go to the doctors swollen or anything. but damn I'm tight and sore and a bit round, haha. I feel like I'm going to burst. ugh. I spent a good part of the day on my feet, cooked 2 big meals for the fam, did some cleaning, and went out for an evening work meeting. we were talking to a new artist for our tattoo shop. I did spend the first half of the day resting, but even half a day up and around was rough. now I'm back in the chair... feeling explody.

tomorrow i have to go to the dentist, I think after that I'll sleep for a day. A band that I love is coming tomorrow, I want to go so bad. I feel like if I sit down in the back I'll be ok, we'll see how I feel.

sorry it took me a few days to update. I had to go out of town suddenly for a funeral, no one I knew, a friend of my husbands. I took the photos and video on friday right at 3 weeks, I just didn't get a chance to post them.

I went back to work today, swollen and tired at the end of it, but good either way. I'm a laser tech, I had 5 clients. I seem to be able to do normal stuff, I'm just super tired all day and swollen at the end. either way, it's still getting better and better. one day soon I hope to just wake up and go, hey I feel totally normal. I'll let you know when that happens. :)

ok so some of the feeling coming ack around my incisions and it feels WEIRD. I don't like it. nope

Well I'm past the one month mark. woo! I didn';t post a one month photo or video because I don't look much different then at 3 weeks. I'm going to wait until it's more signifigant. maybe at 1.5 months or at 2. And as far as journa entries, same deal. nothing new unfolding. I'm back to my daily routine. Doing normal stuff, working. (no exoecise yet) and I'm pretty good, other then the expected swelling and soreness. Still not sleeping on my tummy, but it's coming soon. I can feel it. :)