Tummy Tuck Part 1: PO day 21 - new pics AND new review started!

I had the thought a few days ago that I really have a seroma because God stepped in, knowing that if I didn't have some limitation I'd do too much. I do feel better and stronger each day and have been tempted to get on the treadmill or do a push up, but the water belly has kept my butt on the couch. The seroma does seem to be abating a little bit. I will see when I go for aspiration this morning. But my new concern, though I tried my very hardest to avoid it, is the cold the kids gave me. It is a really bad one with fevers, headaches, and tons of green mucus. Oh, I am so not looking forward to this. But it will serve to keep me on my back and sleeping for another week. Maybe it's a sign.

Yesterday I got fed up with the compression - my ribs were hurting, I felt like I couldn't breathe well and I knew that it just wasn't going to happen for much longer, seroma be damned. So I took my garments off and slept in normal clothes. I was so much more comfortable and slept like a baby. When I woke this morning I was lying on my stomach! That was scary, but it didn't hurt. And I don't feel that my seroma got worse through the night because I was uncompressed. Time will tell.

I think for the first time yesterday it hit me. I was sitting on he couch, with no drains or compression or odd clothing layers, just reading a book and realized with a startle that there was nothing there. I had no roll to rest my book on. Before my TT I thought I would have this moment of tears and joy when my new belly was revealed to me, but that couldn't have been farther from reality. So far I haven't really cared about my stomach or looking better, my main concern was getting well. But now I am beginning to process the reality of my changed body...changed life. This WILL be a process, one that I am excited to undergo.

Many new pre and post ops on realself...welcome gals! Take courage and happy healing!

To read part 2 of my Tummy Tuck journey, please click here.

Went to the doctor yesterday for another aspiration. They pulled 50 cc out, which is 2 days accumulation. So far the rate at which it is collecting hasn't really slowed down. But given that there are many ladies who have their drains for longer than 2 weeks, I am not really abnormal. Would I have rather had a drain this long, or go back for repeated aspirations? Well, that drain really got me down, so I guess I'd rather have it this way, even though it hurts to be stuck and I have to make a 40 minute round trip to the PS every other day. The PA drained me, but then the PS chased me out to the lobby, assuring me it will stop and that this is rare for him. I really believe it is due to the hernia repair, as the collection forms right over top of my new piece of mesh. I am cleared to exercise at week three, provided the seroma is gone. Please oh please...

My back hurts this morning, right in the middle. I think it is from the fatigue of just not standing quite straight. My ribs hurt as well from where the second binder scooches down in my sleep. I took pain killers for the first time in days this AM.

Managed to prevent myself from getting the kids' cold for now. I am going to go on a disinfecting rampage this morning and hope it stays that way. It is a pretty nasty one and I am not interested in getting it.

Today I start back at work. I am a writer. My current major project is as a ghostwriter for a self-help book. I will spend time speaking to my "author" this afternoon and taking notes for the next chapter. Hoping to sit at my desk for a few hours tomorrow and write. I am putting off my other job, as race director for an ultramarathon, until next Monday. Neither of these things are physically labor intensive but they can be extremely stressful and mentally taxing so I have provided adequate space until I was psychically ready to handle them. I hope it was enough time. If i have a nervous breakdown next week, I will get my answer.

Posted 2 week pictures. Skin looks healthy and everything is healing well. Of course there is a great deal of swelling, as is typical between days 9 and 28. Can't stress enough how much reading a million reviews has helped me. I know exactly what to expect by taking surveys from a wide variety of patients. I don't think I have had the "OMG, what is THAT?!" moment, and it is all due to post ops who generously and meticulously share their stories. Thank you ladies!

I have realized that my posts are becoming a litany of negatives, but I want to show those pre-ops that even if there are setbacks and complications there is still always something positive too!

- My scars. First of all - they look lovely. Already the glue is peeling off and they are a light pink. I absolutely love my PS technique of doing layers oF internal sutures and nothing on the very top except glue. There was nothing to remove, no Frankenstein black stitches to look at, no bandages to mess with. And now that the glue is peeling off and I can see my new belly button and the future of my scarring I am very very pleased and not worried in the least about the final appearance.

- I am standing about 90% straight. I can reach my arms over my head. Do an arm bind behind my back to crack my upper vertebrae.

- I sleep on my side, rest comfortably and sleep through the night with no pain meds.

- Am in relatively no pain or discomfort. (Um...sneezing is still off limits though)

- I have read 4 books, hand sewed the binding to a queen size quilt, and learned to let things go and ask for help. Also, I am having more "patience training", which is always good.

- My energy is returning somewhat and I am able to get through a short trip to the store all by myself or make dinner etc. (Wish I could take a small walk, but the seroma keeps me sitting through those non-essential tasks. Again - more patience training.)

- I am learning to accept kindness. Someone once said that it is harder to accept kindness than it is to give it, and they are right. I am amazed by the lengths people are going to, to care for me. My mother stayed in the snowy north for an extra week after Christmas to help me. My husband has worked his full time demanding job and been an excellent house husband and mommy stand in. My children have made me pictures and cards and projects and brought them to me as small offerings, and pressed into my palm special rocks, shells or pieces of jewelry as healing talismen... they are generous, empathetic, caring little girls. My best friend brought over a lovely basket of fancy cheeses, bread and fruit and we took it up to my bedroom for a picnic...just like when we were teenagers. (She also watched my kids during surgery, and brought me smutty magazines when my brain was too hammered to read Tolstoy.) My realself friends have been generous with their support and in sharing their journeys with me.

- There is an end to this. This process is finite. One day I will feel my stomach skin, and pull my chest through upward dog, get dressed without trying on 10 outfits, pull on a 35 lb pack and climb a mountain, leave compression wear behind (for GOOD!), have visible abdominal muscles and run 50 mile races again. There is an end. Though right now it is hard to see, it is there, and it's just waiting for me to make it.