No more drains, 11 days post-op

Yesterday I went for a check up with my ps. He said sinceI was so nice and brought him the tag for the binder I bought at Wal-mart, so could recommend it, he wouldntake out my last drain. Lol. It feels so good to be free of all that! Even with loose clothes on, I can tell such a difference in my shape now. Today, I have on jeans!!! (with my "girdle" on underneath of course). It is feeling so good to have normal clothes on again. He also took some sutures out of my belly button. He had told me that all the stiching would be on the inside and dissolvable and only glue on then outside, but there are a few sutures here and there poking out of my incision and I guess some were tucked in my belly button. He said they were all dissolveable and he didn't have to take the ones out of my belly button, but he did anyway to speed up the healing process. So far, I'm very pleased with the results. The only thing I didn't like was that my incision goes almost around to my back on both sides and I didn't expect it to be that long. I think it will be hidden in anything I would wear. Now, I am focusing on taking care of the incision and doing everything I can to help it heal well and minimize the scar. I'll try to take some updated pictured later today.

I didn't post much for my first week post op, so I though I'd add a few of my details here. The surgery went well and I didn't seem to have too much pain, just uncomfortable with the binder and the drains. I took Lortabs and muscle relaxers for the first 3 days and then I switched over to Extra strength Tylenol. I do pretty well during the days but nights are hard, because I have a hard time sleeping. I did a post-op visit the day after my surgery and my ps changed the dressing and checked every thing. I went back for another check on Wed. Nov. 16th and he took out one drain and took off the horrible binder that was wrapped around me one and a half times and all bunched up. He put on the Cupid "waist cinching brief" I bought from Wal-mart for $11.94. He said it was better than the flexees that from Kohls and wanted the tag to recommend to his other patients. I'm feeling much better now and hoping that he takes the other drain out at my next appointment on Monday, Nov.21st.

I had a hard time at first with all the drains and the yuck factor of the surgery and I didn't even have the courage to look until after my ps had changed my binder and and finally let me take a real shower. At first, I was a little upset at how long my incision was and not sure how it was going to look, but now I'm feeling better and better about it everyday. I'm glad I did it and I think once it's all healed, I'm going to be very happy with it.

I finally looked at my new tummy last night. I had one drain removed and finally got to take a real shower. Yeah! I will update more of my experience later today. Just wanted to put the pictures on from this computer.