Tummy Tuck: Stories

Im 24 years old and a mother of two ages 2 and 5. I am very fit and work my butt off every day but still have this gross pudge loose skin that makes me feel so ugly. I really cannot to have this done. The only part I am dreading is not being able to workout for so long! I love to workout its part of me! I hope my belly button turns out natural looking!

I had my pre op yesterday. Persctiptions already filled. All looks good lets do this!!

So I have a question for anyone who has had a tt or knows do I need a compression garment? I forgot to ask at my pre op and my doc is closed right now ( im gonna call later too). What kind is best? How many should I buy? Should I wear them out or just in the house?

Well Ive got two days yes TWO!! I cant believe it. Today I had my marking appointment with my doc. I'll add pics. Suggestions for you on this day are: make sure you ask exactly what hour you need to stop eating and drinking (even water) the night before. Dont wear a shirt/shorts/ especially underwear that are light in color. Thats obvious (because of the marking pen) but I was in a rush and didnt think of it and now one of my favorite underwear have a blue hue across the top. No big deal though I can buy more and they probably wont fit soon anyway. Also, I scarfed down a big lunch b/c I had just done my cardio a couple hrs before so I needed to eat but then was a little gasey and bloated feeling and it made my stomach much tighter while she was trying to pull at the skin to see where she needs to mark it. I had my appointment at 1:30 and it is 7:00 now and the markings haven't come off but my skin around every mark has blue smeared and the skin just looks blue there. Hopefully it doesnt come off much more, but my doc sent me with a marker to fix them up if I needed. Well I am off to do my pm workout, gotta get it in while I can!

My markings were barely visible this morning after my a.m. workout so I went at it with the marker from my doc. But its faded again pretty much gone since my pm workout. Oh well they will probably be redone in the morning anyway!

I did it today!! No lies I feel like CRAP. I cant eat bc swallowing food makes me nauseous. ALL ny abs were fixed; not just the bottom ones and the top ones hurt more than anything else. But thats awesome thatm y doc did a little extra for me I am so nauseous and keep burping. I have been in and out of sleep since I go home. I have two drains. But...this wont last forver and its still worth it!!!

Today I showered! Felt SO good!! I also shaved and exfoliated while I was in there. Ive gotten a few suggestions to get arnica montana and I sent my boyfriend to find some. All he found was the topical gel so Ive rubbed it on my back bc its super swollen and achey. I cant tell yet if it helps. I ordered the arnica pills from vitacost.com so I will get those next week. My feet have been super swollen like I was 9 months prego but went down a little earlier. The most painful thing for me right now is still these darn tubes from my drain. I have them in a really bad place they are in the upper fatty part of my vag so when I sit they pull, when I walk they pull, ugh I just want them out. Even having them cleaned every 4 hours just hurts! My belly doesnt even hurt this bad so I cant wait till Monday bc they come out ohh yeah. I was taking my pain meds all the way until today I took my dosage when I woke up but havent needed anything yet and its almost 6 pm! Im thinking if I dont need them then maybe the swelling will go down too? We shall see. I have been eating some but not like I usually would. I get hungry a couple times a day but then I get full very quickly. The compression garmet and tightness of abs and tummy probably make me feel more full.

Today my tubes and drains were removed OMG I almost passed out. It didn't really hurt but my nerves were pretty high because the last couple of nights I have been in pretty high pain and in tears because the tubes were just hurting so badly. So I would advise laying down when this is done I wish I had instead of sitting bc I had to lay down half way through, was sweating like crazy and my ears had pressure and I was seeing white. I didn't expect the tubes to be so deep inside! I thought maybe they went inside about an inch. But I'll guess they were about 10 inches inside of me! I could feel it being pulled out from around my ribs and ugh Im just glad its over!
I also went to the restroom this morning for the first time not a fun time either but sure am feeling better! I asked the nurse about the arnica pills and she said that they do help some people but its more for bruising and not swelling and Im free to use them but recommends I wait to my 2 week post op time period.
Im so sick of my little apartment I looked for every excuse to stop someplace else besides home. We also passed by the gym today and that was kinda saddening but time will pass. I ate at subway so it was kinda nice to not have soup, jello, pudding or egg whites for once. Later on Id like to go to walmart and pick up some things, with my bf's help of course. Alot of swelling has gone down but my tummy is still numb. Im looking into buying another compression garmet but dont know which one.

Today I am ONE WEEK post op! Yey now only 7 more weeks until I can workout! Booo! (I was told to wait 8 weeks, what the heck happened with 6 weeks!?!) Anyway I feel OK still havent used any pain meds since the day after since they made me feel crappy. I went to the mall to look in some department stores for a different compression garment and the selection wasn't great. I did end up buying what looks like granny panties that go all the way up to underneath my breast. I think it will work.

I just came back from my one week post op appointment and my PS changed my closures and just asked me how I was doing. I really didnt have any questions except when can I do arm workouts aand about the different compression garments so the one I got seems to fit.

Today I am NOT feeling very happy. I am really down Im tired of being in my house all day, I feel like Im gaining weight since I can't work out, my tail bone is digging into my butt cheeks from laying on my back and sitting so much. I feel like Im gonna go nuts!

Today I am 11 days post op. Feeling better than the other day. I have been doing my plies and standing push ups and my dumbells. I started driving again yesterday because my boyfriend left to visit family in another state. Hes not being selfish, we have a deployment coming up so this is his only chance before we go. At least I had him for 9 days after :). I have been wearing my own compressions during the day and the one I was given only at night. I do not like the way it shapes my belly it gives me rolls. Im going to bring this up tomorrow because I have a 2 week post op( 2 days early) appt. Im also going to bring up how I still have too much extra skin I can still grab a good amount, I didnt expect this since I didnt even have an awful lot in the first place. Hopefully it gets better and better.

12 days post op-

went and got my sterri strips taken off today so now you can see my scar (pic added). Also was cleared by my PS to take arnica montana and my resveratrol w/ calcium capsules again( a supplemet I usually take), but she didnt recommend that I could continue taking my biosil hair skin and nail drops. So, I will wait on those. Otherwise, she thinks I am healing well.

Tomorrow I will be 3 weeks post op! yay, now just that time one more time and I can go do some working out at the gym with weights, ect just no high impact or cardio. I am feeling a little better than I was last time I posted. Im not as down, maybe because I ve been more busy. I am back at work now since my 2 week mark and its not that bad except that my uniform makes me swell like crazy and it doesnt go away after work either... but on my days off I am pretty flat. I am still doing my squats, wall pushups, and dumbell lifts. I can also do some butt workouts, pilates style. Most do not effect my abs and make me feel much happier. So far I think its worth it except for the fact that my belly button still doesnt look better. My surgeon was supposed to give me an entirely new one durin the surgery but didnt end up doing it at all. I sort of remember asking about it at my next day post op ( I was drugged up) but dont remember exactly what she said or why she didn't do it. Some one asked me if it was "floating" and I had to look that up. I dont think it is, but I hope it is because my belly button was one of two things that I felt looked the worst about my stomach. Well, next week I have my 4 week post op appointment and will find out.

I am about 5 1/2 weeks post op. i have been walking a couple miles a day and decided today i would get on the stationary bike. It felt awesome to do that and to lift some (light) weights at the gym. I am finally getting muscle tone back and getting back into shape since I got the surgery. I really did gain weight and look horrible since. My swelling is always very minimal. I think working out and my diet help the best. Its worth it so far. One down I do have, but believe will change once I can workout abs, is I have some love handles now which I had none before. So that definetly looks unattractive but if it doesnt leave after I work out, I give it till next summer I will have to go get that fixed now. Belly button still looks like crap too.

I am now 12 1/2 weeks post op! Yay and I started working abs now (ahh finally) and am running daily, on the stair stepper and able to stretch like i used to. I am pretty clear to do anything now but feel uncomfortable doing fast jumping type exercises like burpees and 8 counts. My pushups and pullups are drastically down in number. Pretty embarassing bc we do them a lot at work and everyone kinda looks at me funny bc I cant keep up. No worries.. In a couple weeks I'll be the best again! I have also gone back to wearin my vest and all that so thats about 45 lbs of gear and I will be deploying soon as well so hopefully no problems arise while I am overseas. And my boobs will be getting done the minute i get back ohh yeah!!

Overall I am still undecided if i am happy with the tt. I definetly still dont like my belly button and for a week straight I had a small piece of cartlidge just beneath my incision, it was a very small bump and if it moved to the right angle hurt like bs. It IS still there but stopped hurting. I didnt have time to go to my doc but my 12 week post op is tomorrow so I will show her then. I know my body is just trying to get rid of it anyway. I will also ask her about my belly button. I'll post pics soon and then I dont plan to post again until 1 year post op and/ or for my breast augmentation review.

Well, I am just over six months post op. Still very numb and I cannot stand that. I am back to all physical things. I really dont like my tummy tuck right now b/c I am deployed to the middle east and cant eat right b/c they dont provide us healthy choices, at least not to my standards and I eat a certain way. But I am still swollen and numb and it just doesnt look like I'd hoped. I still have loose skin since she cut only 2 oz of skin. So, Im not even calling it a tummy tuck anymore Im calling it abdominal repair. I just cant see my bottom abs so nothing has changed yet. the only difference is my scar. Its not a bad scar but its there and so is everything else.